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 ...
Outstanding!
And, to quote The Great Gonzo, “There’s not a word yet, for old friends who’ve just met.”
It seems Monday has a grip on me.
Happy Monday II all.
It has. I just tripped over a worm. Or something just as insidious and calculated to be invisible when someone is looking for the cause of the balance loss.
Good Monday morning to you as well!
There. I fixed it.
Call me Joe. My real name is unimportant.
I can’t talk about what I’ve done. If you’ve read books or watched movies about dark ops you’ve seen the tip of the iceberg. I can tell you it really messes with you. If you haven’t been there, you can’t understand just how it can mess with you. It impacts everyone differently. For me, I just needed something peaceful to keep my mind from thinking about manipulating events and blood. I really needed to stay away from blood.
When I saw the job opening for a building janitor I jumped at the chance. There’s not much in the way of muck or mire that bothers me. A typical NYC apartment building, at least one not in the Heights, sounded like just the ticket. And, not to denigrate experts, how hard could it be?
The building supervisor was walking me around, showing me the typical jobs I would have. There was removing the sausage bags from the compactor and placing new ones. There was walking around to the recyclable pick-up places to put the recyclables into the correct bags. There was pulling the bags to the curb for Sanitation pick-up, verifying that the right kinds of trash were in the correct piles. And there was cleaning up the laundry room.
That was interesting. The super pointed to a pile of wet clothing in the corner and swore. “I asked the last two janitors to pick that up,” he said, “and neither got it done. But they never came back to work and I never asked either one why. But both had at least thought about it, because each of them left the trash barrel by the pile.”
That got my attention. If I’d learned nothing else in the field, it’s that you don’t trust coincidences. I had no idea what could have been involved, but something was wrong and it was in the corner where that pile of wet clothes was.
So, as soon as the super left me to start working, I grabbed a broom and poked the pile with the handle. Nothing much happened, except nothing on the pile seemed to give when I poked it. There was a towel on the top, so I tried to put the broom handle under the towel to lift it up and take it to the trash barrel.
The next thing I knew, the broom was swung at me full force. I couldn’t tell how, but I took a pretty good hit in my left shoulder before my reflexes kicked in and I rolled. The broom was tossed after me. I got up and I started looking for what might have grabbed that broom handle.
... to be continued ...
This is getting exciting!
Later morning, epople. I’ve been to Weight Watchers, and then we went by my friend’s house to pick up some Girl Scout cookies and leave a check, and since we were there, we let Eddie the Rottweiler out to pee. He was disappointed that we weren’t there for a long walk!
Now we’ll try to do some Academic Instruction or Educational Activities until it’s time to get Pat from school at 2:30.
It’s starting to get that way. I just hope it isn’t resolved by blowing up a building full of innocent residents. That seems to be Hollywood’s preference these days.
Of course, if it’s the building where AOC lives, I withdraw my concerns.
Blow it up while the nice people are at work and the cleaning people are on break ... but I hope it’s a no-pets building.
Ohboy! A “Whodunnit” Plan 9 from Outer Space!
:zither music:
Now you’ve done it. I want some GS Thin Mint cookies!
Hah! As if anybody knew where that might be! Even Amazon can't find her.
AOC is sure showing up on FB a lot!
There are more pets in Manhattan than there are children. Just sayin'. Of course, this isn't necessarily in Manhattan, but still.
There are more pets in Manhattan than there are children. Just sayin'. Of course, this isn't necessarily in Manhattan, but still.
I love the way you look at life as one big smorgasbord!
G’daft ernoon, y’all.
What she said.
AOC is a self-writing meme..
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