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 ...
Frappy Eyeday Heave to y’all!
If gas was $1.88 a gallon, I’d think I was in the wrong country.
Can’t do it today, Bob. I’m in no mood to deal with gubmint offishuls. Tomorrow will be here before you know it! And my vehicle and I will be legal in the state of Utah for as long as we live here. ;o]
I’ve given up trying to find the things I want at Walmart and Ace Hardware, so I’m going to find some large cup hooks so I can hang the curtains in the bedroom and kitchen. I need to get a longer rod for the living room, but I suspect it will have the brackets.
After I get the BB SUV legal and get Beaker fixed. The latter will happen on the 9th.
I also need to get a plastic rug protector before I put the rug down. That should brighten this place up a bit.
You don’t have $1.88 gas? I went to Lowe’s and got five new house keys made. Now all the parties have them, and if they forget them and get locked out, they can be fined or evicted.
Yes, there's nothing like a plastic rug protector to really make a place feel like home.
Cold on bare feet, though.
When I filled the tank on payday, gas was $2.81
I always got my keys at the kiosk in Walmart because they were cheap and available when Wally’s was open. I didn’t look to see if this one has a key kiosk.
Oh, goody, fined or evicted? Why not “and” evicted? ;o]
The rug, which isn’t possible to put down without the rug protector, will brighten the place up with its light color. :o])
I wouldn’t know, Bob, since I have peripheral neuropathy in all four appendages. (Another thing brought to me by CFIDS.) If by chance, I can feel the cold tile or the texture of a rug, even for just a split second, I am elated beyond words.
The neuropathy is why I no longer go barefoot, even though that is one of my joys — feeling the different textures with the soles of my feet.
Just putting it out there.
There are reasons other than temperature to not go barefoot.
And I think I found every one of them before I realized my feet were numb!
I don’t go barefoot because the Dept. of Environmental Protection keeps getting called when I take my socks off.
Heh-heh! Good one!
It depends on the circumstances. I can’t evict Vlad: he’s only 12.
Vlad’s kinda special status anyway, having been born between planets, like the Heinlein story.
LOL! My bad!
Welp, this is about the end of my day, and if I hurry, I may be able to relax a bit with some mahjong before the evil sleeps come to take me away.
Tomorrow is DMV day, and I want to look human when I get my mug shot done so I’m outta here!
May your night be a good one!
Ah. Yes. We were on the move at that time, weren’t we? So Vlad was born under an auspicious circumstance, wasn’t he? And he’s 12, now? My goodness! Time flies, and all that. Or we were flying at the time. Whatever works, I say!
Vlad will be 13 on January 30. How time flies!
Seems like a waste of a good opportunity, if you ask me.
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