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 ...
That is true. I’m using up lots of stationery, which is nice. The current cards with my name on will be gone before Elen graduates, although I suppose I can stop writing a day or two before that, because they wouldn’t get there in time.
Not bad at all.
Sooooo beautiful! Thank you.
You’re welcome.
Julien K is (mostly) the same band as these guys:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NczLNctogZk
Kinda like how Duran Duran had an “off season” band on the side.
What a strange little floofy face!
Good morning.
I slept in.
The milk is still frozen.
Kitten lives in France. It’s raining here.
Something for fun from my niece on FB:
A pessimist sees a dark tunnel.
An optimist sees the light at the end of the tunnel.
A pragmatist sees the train coming.
And the engineer sees three idiots on the track.
That’s very insightful.
Isn’t it, though! LOL!
I couldn’t figure out why the flight cage was so hard to clean, and this morning, I figured it out. The bottom of the cage is a tray so putting in clean gravel paper is easy to do.
The previous owners evidently had no idea there was a slot in one side of the bottom for that purpose, so if they wanted to change the paper (in their case it was newsprint) they would have to actually disengage the wire loops that hold the cage sides in place and lift the entire cage.
Its fixed, now. I was going to just change their water and clean their food dish, but 25 minutes later, I have a real cage for the birds. And they were surprisingly calm throughout the entire thing! (I hate fixing other people’s mistakes!)
That is a beautiful kittah!!!
Yes, it is. How are you today? It’s raining here.
*tagline*
Good morning, NtI! How are you these days?
Better facilities for the birds is a good thing.
I’ve had a shower and put some cookies in the oven. They’re for the Spirituality Committee Evening of Reflection (and pizza dinner, and desserts). I made some last night, too. I asked Sally to help, but she was making Korean flash cards because her current boyfriend’s parents don’t like her because she’s not Korean, so she’s trying to learn some Korean phrases. She still won’t be Korean, though, so it’s probably no use.
Nothing you learn is wasted, of course, but I wish she had a boyfriend whose parents wanted her to learn calculus!
Raining here also. Prayers that all is well with the two of ya and all family. Tomorrow will be a good day. Breakfast is at 7:00
Breakfast will be about 6:00 here. Some of the boys are going to help with a yard sale starting at 7:00, and then we have choir practice, a Cub Scouts outing, and a function at the stable. Also, I think someone mentioned the youth group Hallowe’en party. Pat can dress as a nerd and James as a slob.
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