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 ...
Oh my golly! That brought back some memories from childhood. Time to wash dishes after the evening meal and its someone else’s turn to wash while I dried. Thirty minutes later, I’m Shanghaied into washing and once I got started...my goodness! Look who stepped out to dry the dishes!!
I’ve never understood how one can be forced out of the bathroom. I mean, short of just going in and grabbing the person. But that only works if there are no locks on the inside knob. Pounding on the door is only mildly effective, I’ve found.
It’s even worse now, because some of them take their phones into the bathroom. I wish we were allowed to have outdoor facilities here!
I don't feel about Monday any differently than I do about any other day of the week.
But then, since everyone knows what a sourpuss I am anyway, that really doesn't say much, does it?
Didn't the Mamas and the Papas tell us you can't trust that day?
I'm glad everyone is here too. If you weren't here, where would I go to find you?
Matthews Public Library.
Hurricane ol' fogie's place. Or Hurricane Walmart when the BB SUV is running...
There are no trees around?
You have to do your laundry with a top loader????
Even when all the kids were living with us I could still carry all mine.
So true.
On the other hand, even a long book eventually ends ...
Well, you could always disable the internet for a minute and see if the bathrooms are suddenly available.
Unfortunately, they have stand-alone internet access on their phones. It’s not excellent, I guess, because they complain when I cut them off the house wi-fi, but it’s there. Also, they have games on the phones that work even without internet.
Umm..
That’s a guy thing.. ;-)
Well, if all the machines are occupied just go to Home Depot and get some Homer Buckets.
Then you could use a bucket loader..
You could always tell them their phones are not necessary for anything they do in the bathroom.
In other news, my toaster oven has died. I don’t understand it. I’ve only had it since 2000... It will be payday before I can replace it.
I’ve looked through all my paperwork to see if I could find my 1099 for 2018, but the only one I could find was for 2017. So I’ll call SSA tomorrow and see if they can send me another one. With luck, it will be here by the time I get back to the driver’s license store!
Oh darn. I still have to make the bed. This day, I have run late on everything, and here I am congratulating myself for getting the letters finished and up to the mail drop, and realized I have some cards I need to send! Help!
So I’ll go in and make the bed and come back and see if anything has changed. (ha-ha)
Good luck on getting everything put together. Cub Scouts starts up again today, which is always stressful, because I’m always in a tizzy.
Have you talked to Chuck about getting your oven working?
Yes, as a matter of fact, I did talk to Chuck today about my oven working and he placed a phone call while I was in his office. However, I think the entire stove is wonky because I tried to cook up a pork chop (Lin’s meats are excellent!) and the burner didn’t even warm up until I had jacked it up to 3. There shouldn’t be quite so much discrepancy in the temperatures from Low to Medium, but its like the thing has to think about getting warmer before it actually does. So I’m going to leave him an oh-dark-thirty message for in the morning.
He really does try to do things for me, even though I’m the newcomer. But it seems that this stuff should have been thoroughly checked out and either repaired or replaced before I moved in. I’m having flashbacks to SNRHA where it took five years before they fixed the burner on the stove.
Remind me, please, to make the bed early on wash day when the morphine is at its peak. This event reminded me that the morphine is a tool that is at its best when used properly.
Hopefully they’ll get you a nice, new stove!
Good luck with your Cub Scouting again. I had almost forgotten that you were a Den Mother. Wow!
Welp, I’m on my way to bed before I fall over. Tomorrow, I’ll make some phone calls, and try to get some filing and shredding done so I can begin to make this place look “normal.”
Take care and have a good night! :o]
You’re coming along excellently. It hasn’t even been a month!
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