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 ...
Probably the last time I watched an Our Gang movie! <3
Send it right over.
Maybe you’ll find the central heating in your new apartment works better.
Whose bright idea was it to put this ridiculous thing on my neck?
Christmas-themed?
Guess you could try to present it that way to kitteh....
The heating works fine, here. Its just that I can’t afford to pay the monstrous bills the winter brings. So space heater is my choice.
I doubt he’d fall for it. Jake wouldn’t.
Heh, there’s that.
Lol!
Cover it with whipped cream!
Precious floof! I heart dat!
Good morning. I’ve been up an hour, and found that the genealogy which went out Friday morning (evening, by the tracking data) was delivered in Folsom CA yesterday afternoon. it would seem the New Nephew and his wife had absolutely no idea how truly massive that genealogy is. In the last year I’ve sent them enough additional data to fill another binder the same size as the two they already have — 3”.
Before they even got it, they had sent me a Thank You in the form of a Jim Shore Father Christmas (I don’t know what he named his work, and I’m not digging it out again) figure about 14” tall. It will stay in the box until I find enough Nativities to surround it in true ‘Face’s Christmas style. My first reaction was *face palm* “something else to pack” and then I chided myself for being ungrateful. It really is beautiful, and I know Jim Shore items are mostly limited and therefore, should be in the category of “heirloom.”
The bed has been made and the steroid has been had and I’m about ready to sort clothes. I realized yesterday that after today, I will have one more trip to the laundromat and them I’m gone. My Monday mornings will then be filled with walking my laundry cart to the laundry room!
*tagline*
(VERY tight fit!)
*correction*
When I get back, I’ll try to rephrase it so it fits and makes sense!
Later.
What the heck?
Why not?
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