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 ...
Da Morning Floof is all worn out from working so hard to be cute.
Good morning.
I’m off to the shower, but I’d rather be back in bed watching movies. Or streaming with the Roku. But it has to wait for payday.
I’ve been watching videos about classical ruins of the Mediterranean. I was just telling DP that it would be much cheaper to send me on a long trip to the less-popular Greek islands than to the Crazy Ladies’ Home.
It rained all night again.
You could certainly live well over there in The Med, compared to the costs Stateside, what with all the hands out for your income.
I’d like to do that, but the cost of renewing my passport is prohibitive. And I could live a lot better over there, for sure, on my meager income.
I’m sure we’ll all feel better about everything when the weather improves. We had almost 2” of rain over night.
We may have had rain, but whatever it was that fell has made the roads very slippery from the looks of things out my door.
I don’t know what the insulation factor in these apartments is but I’m thinking it is over R-19, just because they were built for student housing in Cedar City, then moved down here. All I know is this apartment is much tighter than the one in Hooterville, and sounds from my neighbor don’t carry. What a relief!
I saw a photo on FB this morning of the Luxor in Vegas being covered with snow. The last time it snowed there, I was stuck in Little Rock because McCarran IA has no “snow removal equipment” and had to borrow some from CA. I saved the photo.
Now, I’m going to try and start on the letters because I don’t know how my thought processes are. And by the way: Happy George Washington’s Birthday!
Best wishes to old George W., and good luck with the letters. I need to make a casserole.
This doesn’t look like a good idea to me. What does it eat?
Well, if in fact it is a black government project, it eats tax payers dollars....
Oh, that’s brilliant! I’ll have to find a way to use it.
Friday!!!!!!!
Considering I was at work until around 9:30 last night I can use one.
Make it a double.
Will you have a Saturday?
Is it organic? Is it natural? It looks tasty.
I keep walking by the Peta people in the subway stations who want to ask if I like animals.
Every so often I think I want to stop and say, “It depends how they’re cooked.”
Either that or go off on, “We just made it easy for a woman to kill her baby right up to the moment of birth and you want me to be upset because a shelter might have to off a few cats?????”
But I just walk on.
Saturday is forecast. We’ll see.
I’m recovered enough from my fall to go to the gym. I have no idea whether that will ruin it or not.
I’m glad you feel better!
Then we should probably scratch that op. When brainstorming, all options are considered. You never know....
I should just have asked you first.
Thank you for the beautimous kitteh!
That is ingenious! There were calendars available called the “Play with Your Food” series (I think) that had all sorts of cute food art.
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