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 ...
You’re kidding.
RIP, Barbara Bush.
Why would anyone want to quote any New Jersey liberal?? ;-)
You know that 'a minute' is an undefined variable in OPL.*
*Offspring Programing Language..
Oh, that makes sense.
My last “just a minute” in Home Depot was at least forty-five of them.
But that was not the most tedious part of my day, that day.
“Just a minute” in Home Depot goes more quickly than “just a minute” in a car in the parking lot. I like to look at the kitchens I can’t afford.
They aren’t connected to power. Or plumbing.
Or the realistic state of most people's finances.. ;-)
I see in the news that the MegaBazillion Lotto jackpot is now at $1.6 Billion. With that in mind I donated two bucks to the state to increase my odds of winning from a flat 0% to 0.00000033%. Knowing the reality of those figures I am not waiting with bated breath for the money to roll my direction. As a matter of fact, winning that amount would drastically alter what remains of my life. And reveal relatives I never knew I had. Among other mostly undesirable outcomes. ;-)
So I’ll stick the ticket aside and probably not glance at it again unless I hear in the news that the winner is someone in this state who bought a ticket at a gas station in the city just northeast of here. That might make me look at it again. And if there is any reason to proceed beyond that point I’ll deal with it then. In the meantime, I’m so glad I don’t need to count on winning the lotto to pay the mortgage. ;-)
On top of all that I’m thinking that the Lord knows how irresponsible I can be. Since my Theology is far removed from the Joel Osteen School of Divinity (on just about every theme) I’m not looking for Joel’s version of the Best Life Now.
But there IS this verse in Proverbs chapter 16 about the Lord determining the outcome of the lot..
Central america has something even better, an army of virus carrying humans...
Build the wall.
Wow! That's impressive!
Those virii must be strong.
Maybe they’ll get featured on CNN.. ;-)
Bwahahaha! I LIKE it! Good one, Bob.
So they’d cost twice as much with water, electricity, and gas.
DP bought shares of some tickets with a group of his coworkers. It must be almost impossible to resist, “What if I didn’t put in the $5, and they WON?!?”
Such a tiny, well-armed, dangerous floof!
Good morning. I don’t know why I’m here. I have no idea what I will do today. I’ll think of something. Maybe mop the floor in the bedroom and try to get rid of the water stains. If there are stains on the floor, there is most probably mold in the walls.
And if I feel up to it I can do the rest of the floors. :o]
Kittehs love tearing up baskets.
Good morning. I was dreaming that I was driving too fast, and then my alarm went off.
A dream of driving is a warning to “watch your wallet.” At least, that’s what the book says!
At some point, in the next 30 minutes, I should probably get my silly backside up off this chair and go to some cleaning in the bedroom. I don’t know how well I’ll be able to clean the water stains, but I have to do try, anyway.
I also have to write another missive to the manager about the smoking that is still going on next door. Even a new filter doesn’t mask it more than three days, and my A/C hasn’t cycled in over two weeks.
In a way I wish my sense of smell wasn’t so pronounced (CFIDS/ME) and that I didn’t have COPD, so the smoking wouldn’t bother me.
Yes, in many ways it would be useful not to notice environmental irritants about which one can do nothing. My father would shut off his hearing aids when the roar of the Offspring was excessive.
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