Posted on 10/06/2018 2:02:35 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Pentagon research project called "Insect Allies." Funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the project involves using gene-editing techniques like CRISPR to infect insects with modified viruses that could help make America's crops more resilient. If a cornfield were hit by an unexpected drought or suddenly exposed to a pathogen, for example, Insect Allies might deploy an army of aphids carrying a genetically modified virus to slow the corn plant's growth rate.
According to the DARPA website, these "targeted therapies" could take effect in a single growing season, potentially protecting the American crop system from food security threats like disease, flooding, frost and even "threats introduced by state or non-state actors.
… Insect Allies, is less concerned. "Anytime you're developing a new and revolutionary technology, there is that potential for [both offensive and defensive] capability," Bextine told The Washington Post. "But that is not what we are doing. We are delivering positive traits to plants… We want to make sure we ensure food security, because food security is national security in our eyes."
Insect Allies is still in the early stages of development, and at least four U.S. colleges (Boyce Thompson Institute, Penn State University, The Ohio State University and the University of Texas at Austin)have received funding to carry out research. Bextine told The Washington Post that the project recently achieved its first milestone — testing whether an aphid could infect a stalk of corn with a designer virus that caused fluorescence. According to the Washington Post, "the corn glowed."
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
About your freezer, remember it’s likely to be cold during the trip, too, so there will be less heat loss than in the summer.
I believe the last bird I cooked was about 10 pounds, because it was the smallest I could find. My usual cooking method is to slather the bird with mayonnaise, turn it breast side down and cook it at 250°F for about five to six hours. The meat falls off the bone. The breast meat is always juicy.
I suppose if I ever have occasion to cook a turkey again, I could try the oven bag, but since I live alone, a Hungry Man turkey dinner fills the bill. Followed by a delicious dessert.
Yes, I’m not as concerned about external heat as I am about internal cold. I hadn’t planned on even opening the freezer the last two or three days, but I’m considering taping the lid shut because people have a tendency to open the lid to “see why its so heavy.”
Now, I have to get off my backside and take a shower so I can start my day.
Little fluff ball! Squee!
Good morning.
I’m off to the shower! See you in a bit.
Good morning. I plan to shower after breakfast.
I agree: tape the door closed!
Prayers said that Thanksgiving was a great time for one and all
Excellent idea, that taping the lid shut! Meanwhile, I’ll try to use up the meat in there, although Charlie won’t eat ham hocks and beans, he WILL eat country ribs. So I just need to get some potatoes and maybe some pearl onions to go with it.
(Hurry, pay day!)
Now for the breathing treatment. Still not happy with that company and I hope its counterpart in Washington County is easier to deal with.
I was thinking that I needed to stay until my next prescription for morphine, (Dec 8) but I think I have enough of a stockpile of it to last until I can get the medicos up there in place and get a referral to the pain clinic there. (Probably there because of Zion NP and all the bike trails in the surrounding area.)
So, hopefully, I’ll have everything set up and ready to function by the new year.
:o])
Yes it was NtI, and I’m hoping that your Thanksgiving was truly blessed with that new pink arrival to pass around and go gah-gah over!
Take care of you and yours! <3
One step at a time. My opinion is that you should move at the earliest opportunity that you can be ready to go.
Speaking of the new pink arrival : the nurse instructed us to pass the turkey around but not to pass the new pink arrival around. We complied with the nurse’s though. I told her Dad I would get my stick ready to beat away the boys. The little lady already has stolen everyone’s heart and I’m in no mood to share her .... Hugs Face !
Grandma’s Batman my Grandson said so !!!
I sorted the pills and filled the ice cube trays, then went in and bagged up as many clothes as I had bags for, so when they’re pulled off the closet rod and put into the truck, I won’t lose any. I ran out of bags, though so I couldn’t finish.
However, I’m going to finish the note I started to New Nephew and will put it in the box with the genealogy and then take it to the USPS to send today.
If I could be out of here by the next weekend, it would be awesome, but I don’t know if I could pull it off. I still have to gather the loading and driving team, and the unloading team in Hurricane. I think I can get 3-5 people there. The driving is the one I’m worried about, but it will all come together.
Maybe by Dec 7. There’s not much to do, but I have to coordinate it all so I’m not running around like the proverbial chicken.
Yes! Coffee! Thanks, Covenantor! :o]
It sounds like the little lady is in good hand, with Grandpa on the alert! Hugs back!
Short treatise on the benefits of putting ice cubes in bags:
That idea I suggested about freezing water in plastic containers, and leaving room for the expansion? -- Made much easier by making ice cubes, putting them in sandwich or quart-size zip bags, and using them to pack around the frozen stuff in your freezer prior to moving the freezer.
Then there's the everyday utility of having a bag of ice cubes be the first thing you see when you open your freezer. -- It's visible evidence that your freezer has not thawed and refrozen since the last time you opened it up. Those of us who worry about power interruptions should appreciate this idea, and its very low cost.
Theoretically, you might need a bunch of ice cubes one day and, voila!
By the way, you'll need to put the ice cubes in sealed bags or most freezers will evaporate the ice.
I’ve seen that “evaporated ice” and it was actually amazing to contemplate.
And I always have at least one bag of ice cubes in the freezer if not two, because. Clumsiness sometimes.
I suspect I’ll find something to at least weigh down the food in the lowest section of the freeze (next to the motor section) to keep the items from banging around, since it isn’t all that “full.” And it will be covered in the truck because I don’t want it to be dinged up by the jostling of the truck.
(This is NOT my first move ever! I’ve done this 100+ times and that’s not stretching it. I used to write down every new address I moved to, but when I got to 45 or so, I gave it up. I could see no end to it.)
I still live in the house in which I was born.
Is there a bug outside the frame?
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