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’ve seen them on “Planet Earth.” They’re terrifying.
Sounds like "Tank Girl".
An hour ago, after ten days and 18ish hours he was back on our back doorstep. He has been in a fight which unfortunately is the norm for feral tomcats, has what appears to be an infected wound behind his right ear and was walking with a limp but did not appear to have lost much weight. We of course cannot touch him, he won't allow any of us to approach close enough to even sneak a quick caress, so we are left with visual monitoring of his condition.
He didn't eat much so he wasn't famished but he did drink all of his small bowl of warm milk. I think the 'small bowl' is more properly called a 6 ounce custard cup. Or ramekin. Or both..
Since he did not appear to have lost any noticeable weight and was not famished, either hunting has been really good even with the snow and ice or he has another human subject in his catdom that gives him offerings of food also. I'm leaning toward the latter explanation since if hunting were that good our trio of in/outdoor cats would have been bringing us many gifts over the same timespan.
We will see if he returns to his 'normal' schedule of visitations or not.
Animals teach us so much; and they teach us so much about us.
Prayers have been answered! So happy for you and your family that he has bestowed a visit upon youse!
Good morning to you, too!
I’m glad your part-time feline overlord is back! Jake gets in fights, too, even though he’s not a tomcat.
Dat kitteh was up before me! Lolz!
I woke up at 0115 and went back to sleep, knowing I would wake up at 0204 when the blanket shut off. HAH! Oh-three-hundred is more like it!
So I’ll sort clothes and start on my letter to Charlie. My neck is sore as the dickens this morning, but I hope the stuff I just put on it helps. It’s called “Deep Blue” and my friend Bonnie sent it to me. If iherb has it, I’ll order some. I’ve never heard of it before.
The skirt allowed me to pin it about half-way around, so that’s good. But its an A-line skirt and there is a pin about every inch. She said she would have done it had it not been A-line. She didn’t tell me that until she brought it. I’ll probably use a blind stitch.
I’m babbling and it’s still oh-dark-thirty. What will I be like the rest of the day?
Can’t say. I know how it is, putting a hem in an a-line skirt. Slow and steady wins the race!
The hard part of the hemming is the pinning. As for cutting off the excess, I just used a rigid ruler on the inside of the fabric and used tailor chalk to mark the cut line. Simple. But time consuming.
So it will be easy to finish today. Then maybe I can start on the genealogy for James and Abbie. Unless the DD comes in. If it does, I’ll be paying bills!
I guess it won’t be hard to put James into your existing genealogy, but you’ll have to incorporate Abbie’s family. I bet you’re all related! I mean, even before they were married.
If Abbie’s parents/ancestors are from Pioneer stock, they probably are related, though with my son diluting my own with his Russian-German father, its no doubt that it would be far enough away. At the moment, I have no idea how much of their genealogy has been done.
Since the LDS church has the largest genealogical data base in the world, its quit possible and Abbie’s line and James’ will meet at some point. I don’t know what his mother’s line was, as I was only able to take it back three generations beyond him, 18 years ago. Now? All bets are off! ;o]
And the laundry is done, except for hanging it up. Once that’s done, my day can start.
Congratulations! I’m hassling Pat over incomplete homework. He was working on it when I left for church yesterday, but he must have abandoned it as soon as I left the house. *sigh*
Frank is watching a video about the Korean War.
Thanks! This week it was clothes, and its a good thing because I only had enough to wash three loads or two with one dryer.
I hate when I can’t wash clothes!
G’orning! Doesn’t that make you want to hug and squeeze kitteh? You have to have backup to staunch the bleeding, though.
That does not look like a kitteh who would accept hugging.
Moppy Handay, everyone!
Kitteh is saying, “Red Alert. Red Alert. Monday imminent.”
But it’s too late.
My shin is still sore where I nailed the barrier, and my shoulder is still saying I should eschew the gym for a few more days.
Given that, I’d be happy to just be babbling.
Was there a Korean War? I know we sent people over there to do shooting and dying and stuff, but I don’t remember Congress ever declaring war.
Of course, my history could just be bad.
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