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 ...
Now there's a scary thought.
“Nearby” is in the eye of the beholder. Our Walmart, 2-1/2 miles away, is “nearby” for the boys, because there’s a sidewalk the whole way. The library is only a little further, but there’s a US Highway in between.
Sounds ominous...
Eh? San Fransisco sidewalks are good to go!
I think they’re referring to the many news stories about human waste on the sidewalks in SF.
Precisely. Good to go.
We’ll be ‘hopefully’ making that same adjustment someday.
San Francisco is a very nice city to walk around in.
But, if you drop your wallet, don’t bend over to pick it up without making sure your back is against a wall.
No, it’s just the way it goes.
But, I’ll be back.
Oh, now I get it. Dang.
I recall those days vividly. How on earth did we do it? Friends joke that we probably would have lasted longer in the field if they hadn’t been so hard on us.
Soooo happy for you!
Sweet! Thank you!
There’s so much beauty in the world! Thank you!
G’daft ernoon!
You’re welcome.
Sally and Pat are back from school. Pat took notes today, fortunately for him. Pat turned in his Student Records Release form - required if anyone, including a parent, wants to see a student’s records - and brought me a copy after it was signed by a school employee. Sally told me the employee she gave hers to wouldn’t take it, “because you don’t really need it.”
Blithering ballistic missiles! It’s their own form, from their own website, listed as *required* for any exceptions to student “privacy.” I told her to try again Monday, and if the employee doesn’t wish to sign it, give back a copy, and file the original wherever such things go, Sally is to imagine she’s her grandmother and say, “I’m sorry that there seems to be a problem with this. May I speak to your manager, please?”
If it doesn’t succeed a second time, I’ll go in myself, on Tuesday, and make Sally walk up to the Registrar desk and watch me pretend to be my mother. You smile, fix your eyes just above the person’s right shoulder, and speak slowly with precise diction.
Tom’s was easy: I put it in the mail. However, I want the verification of receipt from CP, especially now, since I can’t trust them not to throw it away if they get it in the mail.
In other news, the bad news is that the rear brakes and some seal on the van need to be replaced. The good news is that the refund from Tom’s tuition is how much the repair will cost. The other bad news is that it will take until Monday. The other good news is that we can wrangle the transportation without the van until Monday.
Funny how bad news knows exactly how much bad news to meter out to sop up any good news you get.
The good news is that the refund from Tom’s tuition is how much the repair will cost.
You didn't happen to have been chatting about getting this great refund from Tom's tuition before you asked how much the repair would be?
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