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 ...
Do you think an NSAID or aspirin would work or do you sleep comfortably without taking anything?
Thank you and g’orning.
G’Morgnin’
Hey Moosie!! Welcome back! How’re things on your side of the world?
Good Morning, nearly afternoon.
They need to pay the heat bill in this place. You’d think 4WTC would be able to do better.
Greetings ‘Face!
A lovely clear blue sky all day today. Needed the ol’ shades on outside.
Woke up this morning to a layer of snow so deep Ants had to have the day off work. First Snow of the year evaporated within four hours.
The rest of the population is just as insane as ever.
The log fire in the Pub at lunchtime was just wonderful.
I trust you’re doing well?
I’m much better, Moosie, now that I’ve moved out of harm’s way, and will be doing much better as the year progresses. My hair is no longer falling out and I’m losing weight. Both excellent signs.
Snow on the mountains here, so I’m good. I could see it when I was in Hooterville, but it was over 50 miles as the crow flies, and this is “right here in my back yard!” I’d have to go north/uphill another 40 miles to have it close enough to walk/drive in, but like riding a bike, one never forgets how to drive in snow or ride a bike.
But I need to get the defroster fixed!
I’ve been here almost two months, and have yet to get an electric bill. Because I’ve never had baseboard heating, I’ve kept my thermostats (one for each room) below the “comfort zone” marking because I don’t want any nasty surprises come February. Which is when they said the bill would come.
But I agree with you: you’d think 4WTC WOULD be able to do better. Because I was in a call center, I wore sweaters, legs warmers and had a space heater in the knee hole of the cubicle. I even went so far as to cut the fingertips off a pair of cheap knit gloves.
It wasn’t a perfect solution, but we were in a room with 30 massive desktop Compaq computers, thermostat set for 67°.
A defroster on a bike. Hey it's America. Why not?.....
Hahaha!
1kw fan heaters are small enough to smuggle in .
It’s 68 in my house.
The Galileo says its 66° in here. I know I won’t be warm until spring, unless I’m on the dry side of the bed. ;o]
Those old Intel CPUs put out so much heat that I suggested to the guys at Compaq (I was there when the 486 was a new chip) put heat-conducting pole to the box and put a coffee warmer plate on the outside. The coffee would have dissipated a lot of heat while staying at a nice warm drinking temperature.
Unfortunately, nobody took me seriously. I think it would have been much more useful than those noisy fans.
Those old Intel CPUs put out so much heat that I suggested to the guys at Compaq (I was there when the 486 was a new chip) put heat-conducting pole to the box and put a coffee warmer plate on the outside. The coffee would have dissipated a lot of heat while staying at a nice warm drinking temperature.
Unfortunately, nobody took me seriously. I think it would have been much more useful than those noisy fans.
I don’t know much about computer-geeky stuff from the inside, but I have a sneaking hunch you’re right!
And now, it’s my turn to go to bed. See you tomorrow! And I’m glad you’re back with us! :o])
I don’t sleep comfortably even with Naproxen and Ibuprofen, except on the rare occasions when I’m in my tent. If it’s not DP, it’s the cats. However, the sciatica is improving, just as the Mayo Clinic website said it would, if one is patient.
This kitteh was photographed in Scotland, but obviously not in recent days.
Tabby looks like she just woke up!
Good morning. Nothing is on the docket for today except maybe to vacuum the rug and the bedroom floor. Oh. And the rug runner I have in the kitchen in front of the sink and stove.
It will be nice when Chuck gets that new fridge in here, but I guess he has to wait until the new fiscal year, or some such nonsense. The one that’s in here is just not big enough. I have to keep a box of soda in it because the odors from previous users are overwhelming. And probably, the door was left shut when the apartment was vacated.
Do you have a box of baking soda?
It’s raining here, but not cold. Cats are annoyed at not going out. We’re out of 13-gallon trash bags.
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