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 ...
W00t!
And, since she’s on her way to Hurricane it’s probably OK to waft.
No, I was thinking of a cloud.
How great to be a cloud
Floating in the blue
Every little cloud
Always sings aloud
- Winnie The Pooh
The loaders are here and I’m off for now. See you all later!
How great to be a cloud
Floating in the blue
Every little cloud
Always sings aloud
- Winnie The Pooh
***
Clouds
Soundless giants of the air,
Drifting slowly everywhere,
Softly flowing, gentle flight,
Unseen shadows in the night.
Summer skies of azure blue,
Often hold a cloud or two.
Snowbank castles looking down,
At the lowlifes on the ground.
In Winter skies they do convene,
To cover up our muddy scene.
Some ugliness just has to go,
So then they cover it with snow.
Grazing sheep of soundless tread,
Passing slowly overhead,
Our miasmas upward creep,
To make these gentle creatures weep.
NicknamedBob . . . . December 29, 2004
Thank you for the beautimous!
Frappy Hiday and have a great weekend, y’all!
Thank you, Bob. Gazing at the clouds and the stars makes a body dreamy....
We have horses in our neighborhood, and they’re no problem at all. Well, maybe one was a problem once.
Just try not to fantasize about my dreamy body.
It’ll take a great deal of effort....
On ArGee’s street in Manhattan, suitable arrangements for horses would be difficult.
Horses are accommodated in Central Park, along 59th street (where they wait in line to pick up riders), and on the avenue back to the stables.
Owners must pick up their own road apples.
Have you ever seen the stables? I always wondered where they kept the horses, what with Manhattan being, well, Manhattan.
I haven’t seen them. I know they’re somewhere downtown of 50th street on the west side. The only reason I know that is I’ve been behind a carriage going back to the stables below 50th street.
Are the Claremont Stables gone now? Never mind, they closed in 2007. Were on W89th between Amsterdam and Columbus. For awhile I lived on the same block. It's where riders could rent horses for meandering in Central Park.
Owners must pick up their own road apples.
Was not a problem back in my day...aged Grateful Dead hippies in matching purple tie-dyed tee shirts scheduled their walks to follow the horses, apple picking along the way for garden fodder. People used to inform them of the latest equine movements, causing the Purple Gang to hustle lest some other West Side hippie gardener shovel the... stuff up first.
‘Face texted me to say she and her rescue-parakeets are safe in Hurricane, UT. Yesterday had many alarums and excursions, but she got there in one piece, and that’s the most important thing. Her grandson, his wife, and some of their friends are supposed to be there in an hour or so to help her move in.
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