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 ...
This is only the First Monday of the week, yes?
Well. I’m having a singularly Monday-ish Monday.
No one wants to load on Friday. No one wants to drive on Friday. Some want to load on Thursday. One wants to take my car up “deadhead” on a tow truck and leave it untended until I get there on Friday.
Only one person wants to help unload on Friday, “if he can.”
Now I’m ashamed that I bragged about how flawlessly my past moves have been. If I could afford to hire one person on each end, it’s still doable, and I could drive the truck towing the BB SUV.
I don’t even know what to do at the moment. The phone call advising me of this was received at 0820 this morning. I’ve shoved it to the back of my mind until now, probably hoping I could come up with an idea between then and now.
Nada.
:o|
Could you hire someone if you could afford it? Could you do the whole thing on Thursday?
I could hire someone, yes. I can change the date to Thursday for the equipment pick-up if I need to, and which other people want me to do. I would also have to pay someone to help me unload on Thursday, and let Chuck know I was coming a day early.
But it may be, that if I changed it to Thursday, one of the original persons who offered would be able to do drive the truck. But I still would need someone to load and unload.
Let me check and see if she’s serious about Thursday.
(It would also mean I’d have to ramp up the little packing that is left.)
Well, maybe Thursday should be the day.
It would also work with a Boston accent..
Saw that. I was contemplating jumping in but didn't know whether you would appreciate it..
Nope. Since I wrote that last post I’ve decided two things: 1. I can hire loaders here, and unloaders there, and 2. I will drive the truck myself. I need that extra day to finish up the packing since my stamina is so compromised anyway.
Trying to leave a day early will cause more problems than it will solve.
I still have some money in the AmEx account and maybe a couple of residents here will feel well enough to help with the loading. It will be slow, but they will feel they have earned whatever little I can give them, since Christmas is just a few weeks away. They all have Grands or Greats, and money is tight for us all, here.
In Hurricane? No se’. I’m open to suggestions. There may be, as Gandalf said, help in unexpected places, to paraphrase. I need to leave on schedule and I will.
JFK pronounced Cuba as Cube-ur, So JFK would likely pronounce it as Cheat-ur, which brings us back to Argee.
;>)
You have my permission to jump in, any time you see I’m out-numbered, out-gunned or out of my mind! And believe me, I will always appreciate it! :o])
Some days, I just can’t deal with stupidity and I have to leave it alone. He’s always “one of those days.”
Perhaps when you pull up at your new apartment, there will be someone who says, “Ah, a new resident! I can help her unload!”
Oddly enough, I recall JFK’s speech patterns very vividly, and will always wonder what could have taken place in this country if he had been given another year, two or four.
If my slow loaders take enough time to get me out of here, my grandson and nephew may both be in Hurricane waiting for me. The thing is that I need to do what will not tire me to the point of exhaustion, because at that point, I won’t be able to drive.
And, needless to say, I have to do what I have to do. Tomorrow, with any luck, I’ll get the bulk of the packing done. There really isn’t much, and except for a few things, it will all be “Misc I, Misc II,” etc.
And nobody knows how Benedict Cumberbatch might pronounce it, although he pronounces “penguins” as “pengwings”.
I’ve got relatives out in Hurricane and St. George. Hafen family.
Let me work some magic & see if I can round up a posse.
Don’t forget a kitten.
Cute! Thanks!
Good morning. I slept in. I woke up in the middle of the night, worrying myself into not being able to breathe. I always sleep later when I do that.
So. Another day, and things are moving but slowly. I’m thinking, once I get there, if I can just get the bed and the freezer in the apartment, the rest of the stuff can be unloaded on Saturday. I don’t know why I thought it all had to be done on Friday!
Anyway, there may be someone who can at least drive, but I will need to call them this morning. They go up to Hurricane several times a month as her mother lives there. So I can’t put off calling them.
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