The Pentagon Wants to Make an Army of Virus-Spreading Insects. Scientists Are Concerned.

.livescience.com ^ | October 5, 2018 12:57pm ET | Brandon Specktor

[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."

[Silentgypsy]

One of them has to be tall enough to apply it to the high areas. I see a few risk-management issues with using more than one young person inside a small enclosure simultaneously. Maybe sequentially would be a more pragmatic approach, and make sure they do the floor last.

[Tax-chick]

Good points. PatJamesVlad are all adequately tall, although Tom is the only one who could reach the ceiling unaided.

[Silentgypsy]

Caution: I’ve never used it on surfaces other than fiberglass or glass.

[Tax-chick]

Our showers are fiberglass.

[Silentgypsy]

Eye protection is a good idea!

[Silentgypsy]

Our ceiling above the shower is painted. I thought you were going to have Tom paint the ceiling—my bad.

[Tax-chick]

No, I was just observing that he could, with his Height.

[Silentgypsy]

Please excuse—life experience induces specificity when giving instructions to young persons and husbands.

[Silentgypsy]

Off to feed the cats. Godspeed!

[Tax-chick]

[Covenantor]

I'll see your kitty and you raise two chickens.

[Tax-chick]

That’s weird.

[Silentgypsy]

What a cute, innocent little face! I bet this one’s a passel o’trouble.

[Silentgypsy]

Poultry jacuzzi?

[Tax-chick]

The poster says the kitten is a passel o’trouble.

[Silentgypsy]

We had one like that. He liked to tip full glasses of liquid and watch it run all over the place. If I opened the cabinet that held the cat treats and turned away for a minute, he’d jump inside the cabinet and throw the contents on the floor until he found the treats. Then he’d claw the baggie open. When he wandered into the guest bathroom, I’d hear this really loud thunk-a thunk-a thunk-a noise. It sounded like he was bouncing around in the bathtub, but every time I looked in there, he just sit in the bathtub looking innocent.

[Tax-chick]

It’s like they’re an evil species.

[Silentgypsy]

Actually, they’re kind of fun. They remind me of (I’ll probably get this wrong) the Japanese houseboy in the Pink Panther who’d sneak attack the Inspector. The Inspector thought it was helpful in terms of keeping in shape, but you could tell that the houseboy really didn’t like the Inspector and took joy in attacking him.

[Covenantor]

Poultry jacuzzi?

I suspect a salt water bath, aka a brine soak for the unsuspecting chickens.

[Tax-chick]

“Fun” and “evil” aren’t mutually exclusive, at least not for cats.