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 ...
Sometimes one wants a hot meal.
Is that a echo? Is that a echo?
Some days I get two servings of oats on the same day, but that's only because I'm lazy.
Thank you, Bob!!!
We found a kitten that the mama kept dumping away from her litter. (Know that because we replaced him with the litter and found that she had dumped him again.) He lived to be 15 months old. (FLV—95% of his thorax was filled with tumor.) The vet never tested him because of common belief that kittens infected in utero don’t survive beyond a very short time after birth. My point is that, when he was relatively new, he was black with a white stripe and I didn’t know whether he was a cat or a skunk. His ears were more than halfway down the sides of his head, and the stripe was on the wrong side unless he was built funny. I kept turning him over and over, arguing with myself. He matured into the most spectacular cat either of us have ever seen! A yuge blessing!
Yahoo, Elen! Can’t wait to hear reports, etc.
G’orning, y’all!
G’afta’on.
We’re getting the ‘You’re all gonna die’ warning from the weatherguesser folk at notalwaysAccu(rate) Weather informing that we are in for floods of Noahic proportions.
The sump pump is working, or was a few minutes ago because I heard it cycle and observed its discharge visible out the east kitchen window. Under most conditions that should keep things under control.
It remains to be seen if this event will be sufficient to cause the infiltrating water to come at a rate that overcomes the continuous pumping capacity of said sump pump. That has happened several times in the past.
We know we are in trouble when we hear the pump running continuously instead of cycling. And we know we are really in trouble when that event is followed by opening the basement door and observing a pond at the foot of the basement stairs. And we’re really screwed if that occurrence is accompanied by a power outage. Under those conditions it doesn’t take too long for the water level to reach the furnace and mess up the burner.
The last time those events occurred simultaneously was hurricane Sandy..
Also an excellent example of how to get rich playing the lottery. Or not.
We had a sump pump when we lived in Houston (pronounced up here as House-ton) and we only had water try to move in with us when the power went out.
The sump pump was courtesy of the previous owners. It was necessary because the back yard was significantly lower than the curb in the front. We finally hired someone who put in a drain field that could keep up with the rain without the pump.
When we sold, we were told of an easement into the back neighbor’s property where we could have connected to a storm drain.
Ah, well, we only spent money.
Good morning from flash-flood-prone Jacksonville, NC. We’ll be leaving momentarily for Elen’s graduation. Hope there’s an above-sea-level route!
I was doing other things when the UT woke up. Posting on another thread, checking FB, shower, making the bed, and uh... um... thinking. Yeah. That’s it. I was thinking. ;o]
(Did all y’all smell something burning? That was my brane engaging.)
I hate when I learn of something that someone had done previously that could have spared me time and/or money. It would seem the realtor who was trying to sell you the house would have done due diligence and checked with a title company.
Good morning. I hope your day is dry and that you have a great time at the graduation. Congratulations to Marine … Elen.
But, as my niece in Idaho says, “Pictures or it didn’t happen!”
Good morning, everyone. I managed to wade into work today.
Happy Friday.
Wet fall and cold as icecubes. May none of us lead. That could be a sign of red flowing out bka bleeding leading or is that leading bleeding ?
At least you didn’t have to row.
It is indeed, a happy Friday. I’m finally seeing floor in the living room rather than a pile of boxes and storage tubs. And today, I’ll take a bunch of stuff to the local Catholic thrift store. This would be stuff that is overkill, like things I bought to replace what was packed and a collection of nutcrackers that I didn’t want to donate, but realized some things needed to be sacrificed in order to live in an uncluttered environment.
After living with the containers and boxes for the last three years, I want an apartment that looks like home.
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