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 appreciate receiving the picture after I’m awake. It wouldn’t wake me up coming in earlier, since the phone is downstairs, but I wouldn’t notice it until whenever if I didn’t hear the sound.
We can borrow it, can’t we? For a while?
That's me when I'm in another room. Like this morning. I've spent a couple of hours in the bedroom, trying to make some sense out of chaos. But! So far this morning, in that little bit of work, I've managed to empty four more containers!
I know...what will I do tomorrow?
I messaged my granddaughter and asked her what she and James are doing Saturday, and if they're not busy, I've invited them for enchiladas. Of course that means I need to get some tortillas and something for them to drink. I know he likes cola, but I have no clue what she likes.
And yes, my oven was fixed yesterday, so I can cook to my heart's content! (FB tells me Abbie has accepted employment with the Washington County School District.)
Congrats on your oven, and to Abbie for getting a nice, secure job.
I’ll tell her you sent congratulations! James has a job with a fire extinguisher company, as he learned his skills in AR with his maternal granddad. He could do a lot worse, for sure!
As I was opening another storage tub yesterday, I found an “old age” doll that my sister had sent me years ago. Somehow, it got wet and all the “ailments” faded/bled out. I was able to find something similar online, and it made me want to make some of them to send to my aging nieces. LOL! I know they’ll get a kick out of it. I just have to find a source for “granny glasses” (wire bent to form them, which I can probably do,) little blobs of gray curls and a small square of “farmer’s handkerchief” for the babushka.
Now I’m excited! I need something new to do while I begin my first new year in a new place! :o])
Good morning. I have a lot of last minute things to do. I’m not sure I’ll be on again today.
Good morning! Do what you need to and we’ll see you tomorrow. Or...another day. You know where we are! ;o]
*tagline*
Looks like a nice place. I’m game.
I’m back. I lost weight. I’m cold and tired and my back hurts, and it’s not even lunchtime yet. Jake would really like me to get into bed with him.
I use the duck and ixquix search engine, never the google.
I empathize with that “cold and tired and hurting back,” because I feel that way far too often.
Congratulations for losing weight! I really need to get back on the hypoglycemic diet, but it will be payday before I can get the foods for it. At least I have enough meat to help me stay with it for a while.
Today, I’m very tired, and I don’t understand why. I got about nine hours of sleep last night but it doesn’t seem to have been enough. Whatever I’ve done this morning seems to have been out of necessity, and not because I felt like it.
Abbie said she would talk to James to see if he has to work Saturday. If not, they will probably be over. I really need to have them at my kitchen table! I have most of what I want to feed them, but I’m thinking also that I need to get some guacamole and make sure I have tortillas. But what for dessert??
Those kids are so cute together.
I’ll have to check ixquix, as I’ve never heard of it before. Thanks!
:o])
;)
Cupcakes!
Hey! I can make cupcakes! I can even make the molten lava cupcakes, if I can get to Walmart and buy the mix! Those things are awesome and they don’t need to be frosted! I have the pan for them, too. They hold those gimonstrous muffins that you can share one with five people.
I’ll go to Wally’s in the morning, because it will be fun to bake for someone besides me!
And now, I’m off to bed. The rain is depressing me.
Hope you have a good night.
Math gifted, feel the horror of d=atan/d(d).
Mwuh-hah-hah-hah-hah!
(Yes, it is as structurally and mathematically illiterate as it looks. But it’s fun to feed it to various programs that eat such and watch the Carnage.)
Dat floof is sleepy, and doesn’t want to play.
Good Morning.
I had to print out a copy of the utility contract from the city because Chuck’s bosses want a copy.
* - * - *
Jeepers! The “Ooohhhh! Shiny!” effect kicked in and I went to check FB to see if Abbie or James replied, and from there, I took a shower.
My son has his new work shirts, and his friends from GB/UK have asked him to send them a couple so they could give him “some overseas exposure.” Wow.
Now I need to know where he got them as I want to order a hoodie for his birthday. I’ve asked him but he’s probably going to tell me something like, “the work shirt place,” and that will be the end of it. So I’ll check with his wife and see if she can do some sleuthing for me.
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