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 ...
Thanks, Bob. That’s very nice!
Sonnets are a lot of work. I think that’s my only one.
I always liked Sonnets, but only rarely have a been able to produce a piece of poetry of my own. I think my sister has the only copy of my best effort, and I can now only recall the last line which makes no sense when the entire poem is missing.
I remember poems in fragments, but all of life’s that way.
G’daft ernoon, y’all!
Goo daftern Oon!
Thank you, Bob!
Howwwwwwwww-DEEEEE!
That’s the best I can do Minnie Pearl when typing.
An ode to my favorite things
My favorites aren’t that consistent
As circumstance throws them awry
I ask them to be more persistent
It seems that they don’t even try
In evenings I’m tired so it strikes me
My fave is the quiet of thought
In mornings I start with an orange
Which shows why I should never rhyme
-ArGee 3/7/2019
That’s good. I read it to the
tune of My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean.
Thanks Bob
Priceless.
Just remember that cremation is your last chance for a smokin’ hot body...
*groan*
Well, that works. I certainly isn’t “Raindrops on roses and noses and toeses.” Or however that song goes.
Rise and shine!
No kitteh cuteness but I can say Happy Friday!
And then the work will start.
Happy Friday! My work has already started and I’m almost ready for a break. It hasn’t been non-stop work, but for me, it’s been work, and I’m still fighting this chest cold. They just drag on with my lungs they are. If I could, I’d turn back the clock 20 years.
Wow. The sun is actually shining and the rain is gone somewhere else for the moment. Be still, my heart!
CODE BLUE IN HURRICANE! Let's get a crash cart up there, STAT!
Oh, wait ...
Happy Friday, y’all! Have a great weekend, too!
Thanks! The sun is trying hard to stay shiny, but I think its going to lose the battle. More rain in store. For the next five days. And that’s as far as I want to look ahead.
So. Have a safe and happy weekend and don’t forget to Spring Ahead. (What a ridiculous thing DST is!)
PS: How is that grief-thing going? Is it easing, somewhat? I hope so. Losing an animal that has been with us for so long if a very difficult thing to endure.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.