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 ...
They’re having a greyhound adoption event next weekend, but we won’t go, because we can’t have one right now.
It probably wouldn’t be a good idea anyway, what with the way your schedules are. Since Greyhounds are high-maintenance, I think they need their own personal human who does nothing but spend time with them, all day, every day. They are so beautiful!
Not fair to the cats, either. And it’s so crowded here since all the children got so big.
Yes ma’am. Cats were there first. Well, OK, the kids were there first, most of them, and like all kids everywhere, they grow and take up more space. But you really don’t need big dog. Small dogs are mostly nervous and excitable, and you don’t need that. Stick with cats. They are regally, softly, purringly demanding, and that’s the way it is! So when the kids move out, be a cat lady!
Between caring for Eddie the Rottweiler and visits from Anoreth’s Dog, I get enough reminders of how much nuisance a dog is. Cats, much easier.
Yes, cats are much easier to deal with than dogs. It seems the pet du jour is a nasty, noisy little dog in this apartment complex. I thought Henderson was bad! NOT!
The critters bark when I go out to my truck. They bark when I go check the mail. They bark at everyone for no reason. Noisy, nervous little rats.
Cats are quiet unless their motors are on High Idle.
RE: Greyhounds and cats..
As a thing to do and in the process pick up a few dollars I print a newsletter for a lady from church that fosters Greyhounds that have been retired from the track. Usually page five of her monthly newsletter is the adoption page. Typically it features four or five critters (cats and dogs) from the local humane society and four of five Greyhounds from Greyhound Friends of NJ.
I have noticed that the description of most of the Greyhounds includes the comment “loves people, no cats, please.” On the rare occasion that the Grey is described as cat tolerant it invariably also says “with supervision’.
Ash, the Best Dog on Earth, got along fine with the cats. However, the cats are much older now, more set in their ways, and there’s no guarantee of getting another dog with the personality of Ash.
That's probably because cats look like bunnehs.
Since I’m not feeling well, I’m going to bed. Its shaping itself into relapse, and it doesn’t look good.
So I’ll say “goodnight” and head for the Blanket Show.
Tune In Tomorrow
When you go into a theater,
To stumble to your seat,
You hear the music starting,
And know you’ll have a treat.
That is just exactly,
The way I feel each day,
When morning has arisen,
And birdsong starts to play.
The shuttered light is showing,
The screen attracts my eye,
The scrolling credits roll across,
A brightly colored sky.
As every day the show begins,
I sit back and enjoy,
The special scenes and music;
The methods they employ.
Who would have thought a cricket,
Would be a music source?
Yet when the light goes down again,
The stars are shown, of course.
They wryly wink, and stately stroll,
Across the up-built stage,
Where generations of my folk,
Have watched throughout the age.
Somewhere there is a Writer,
Producer and much more,
I’m tuning in Tomorrow.
Who knows what lies in store?
NicknamedBob . . . . . March 23, 2008
That was my thought.
Oh, thank you, Bob! Your poetry says more than you know.
Did you ever compile the poems to put them into a volume? I’m still waiting for that.
What a preciously sweet little face!
Good morning. I didn’t want to get up but its wash day so here I am. I’ll make this post then sort clothes. I’m out of breath already and that’s not a good sign. However, I’ll do what I can do and call it good. I’m not quitting!
I also have to sort pills, strip the bed, and finish sorting laundry, so I’ll be back in a bit.
Good morning. Kitten lives in Colombia.
Best wishes for the day!
Thank you, Bob!
She was probably just preoccupied with the bunnehs. It was an error that I took our bird dog to Petsmart obedience classes. He only focused on the parrots with that thousand-yard stare. The instructor said he didn’t take me seriously. However, he didn’t listen to her, either. They said they never had a flunkout, so we were destined to make history. Wonder of wonders, he finally got the hang of it and passed the final!
Done with the pills and with the laundry, and only have to hang the sleep shirts (I need one more!) and make the bed and the day is done. Oh, yes, I need to finish the letters, get them addressed and out to the mailbox.
I see your weather is colder than ours is. But we still have winter. You’re probably heading for spring, very shortly.
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