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 ...
I think our stove top is ceramic-surfaced metal. When I was cleaning the cupboard under the sink earlier today, I found some products that seem to be intended for cleaning the stove. I’ll try them next time!
Blueing fine, thanks! How do you blue?
Two choices..
1) Hold my breath..
2) Stand outside without a coat. (Note: Only seasonally effective..)
Oh, I’m in the pink, thanks.
Red any good books lately?
Well, once upon a time I hung my laundry outside on a line and the wind blue it.
I know just how kitteh feels.
Can I go back to bed now?
Dang. It took me longer to get on than I’ve got hairs on my left eyebrow!
Sitting here with all the farmers from hereabouts. I’m in my elephant, now: Interwebs and a taste of home...or smell. Nothing like natural gas and old armpits.
Hi, Ganag! It’s nice to walk into a place (McD’s) and not have to dodge boxes and containers of some kind. Now if I can only find the bag with my facial stuff in it, maybe my face will quit burning and feeling so tight and dry.
I’m still trying to get in touch in Amex to put a stop order on the deposit check, but it looks as though I’ll have to write to them. Or wait six months for the check to be reversed. oy vey.
Every time I’ve left the complex in the dark, I’ve gotten lost, either going or coming back. *sheesh* smaller than Henderson and I get lost! LOL!
Well, at least you’re on.
I find that in the McD’s here I have to go to a browser and navigate to a page I don’t usually go to so I can get the McD’s “accept and sign-on” screen. They need a tech update.
Pretty much the same here. However, until such time as my own is installed, I’ll take this interwebs.
Yesterday afternoon, just about the time I was ready to head off for bed, someone knocked on the door. One of the “older men” who came to help on Saturday showed up with a friend in tow. Seems the friend is ‘single, too.” And he brought a plastic box of pumpkin spice bread. yay.
This morning, I tried to open the front door to come here and something was blocking it. I had to push really hard to move whatever it was, and when I finally got out the door, I saw that it was a gift bag with loose nuts, candy and three apples and three oranges. the fruit promptly rolled down the slight incline to the sidewalk, and I had to chase it all!
So much for the new perils of ‘Face.
And now that it’s daylight, and overcast I’m going to fold this up and head for home so I can start to go through the tubs. Mostly only books are left in the boxes but the tubs hold the small breakable stuff. I have to find my dishes, but I found the metal bakeware yesterday, as well as the cookware.
Progress is slow, and I need to find the coax outlet in the living room so I can hook up the tv.
Later, guys!
Lol! You really know how to git ‘er done!
Alarm clock, kitteh consigns you to the deepest level of heck.
I sometimes feel that way, too.
Yes. “The Grownup” by Gillian Flynn. Now up to part six of “The Wolf of Wall Street” and plan to return it to library unfinished.
I think your mama did that. I remember seeing mine dunk the ball of blueing in the washtub rinse water. We never had a washing machine.
You are Superwoman. You can’t fool us.
Way back when they used to advertise blueing on TV. Haven’t seen any such ads in decades.
Do they even sell the stuff anymore?
You have been welcomed to the neighborhood—happy times ahead!
Dunno. Never used the stuff.
Bluing is very much available, used to darken denim stuff if not to whiten. Whitening is mostly done by bleach these days.
White cotton and linen yellow over time. Small amounts of blue dye counteract the yellowing.
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