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 ...
Lol! Kitteh certainly can!
Amazon.com, or cheaper yet, usually with no S&H (without having to pay for Prime) eBay. That’s where I do 99% of my online shopping. I would have used it for the locking gas cap, but I hadn’t found eBay, yet.
Yes, he kept saying he was trying to be helpful, because he really did want to help me, and what else did he need to do to get a good rating? I said, as coldly as I could muster with a failing voice, “Not a thing.”
In the 20+ years I spent in telephone customer service, I can’t recall ever being put in the position where I had to beg someone for a good rating. I assumed the alternative was that one more of those bad ratings and he would be looking for a job elsewhere.
And no, I have yet to receive the email asking me to rate the CSR. Maybe he knew better.
If it comes down to it, I know a good gas cap therapist who charges reasonable rates.
So..
One of the Rituals of the Catdom is that when I come into this room to sit at this computing device I am followed by however many felines observe my actions. Once I am seated, not always totally, but still seated (sometimes there is a cat in my chair helping my posture) I am subjected to all manner of cat attentions including but not limited to rubbing against my leg, meowing loudly, purring, circling the chair (or the desk, or the side table, or..), hopping on the desk, standing on my laptop (which gets them unceremoniously picked up and dropped on the floor).. All of this is supposed to entice me to dispense assorted cat treats to each feline in attendance.
Earlier I was subjected to the usual catmob and dutifully dispensed treats to all who presented themselves. They all wolfed down their apportioned allotment and then wandered off to wherever they wander off to when they’re not milling around my feet. I noted that Tipton T. Longcat was not present, but one or more missing the disbursment is not all that unusual.
A few minutes ago, as I was sitting here reading, filing, and deleting emails I heard a strange noise that I couldn’t quite identify. It sounded sort of like someone out in the distance scraping something but not that distinct. I glanced out the windows to see what might be making the sound but saw nothing. Still the sound continued. The direction of the sound was also indistinct which is why I thought it came from outside the house. I finally decided to get up and look out a window and in the process of doing so swiveled the chair around. That action revealed Tipton T. Longcat sitting on my work traytable (which at the moment is not occupied by a ‘project’) directly behind me purring. Quietly. With a purr that was not his usual. And thus unrecognizable as a purr. This as opposed to his usual direct ‘I’m here human’ approach..
So I spread out a catplate (which comes disguised as a segment of paper towel) on the traytabletop and gave him a portion of cattreats. He received them gladly and then hopped down from the traytable, walked to the couch, hopped up on the pillow containing the petwarming pad (formerly owned by the late White Furbeast With No Tail To Tell), curled up, and went to sleep.
Now I’m wondering when he ‘found’ that purr. And how long it will be before Jinx (who also missed the daily distribution) presents himself..
I have graduated away from that line of work, and indisputably though reluctantly moved into the absorption and redistribution of medical information.
Next, please.
No future in the absorption and redistribution of medical information, Bob. I’ve been doing it for the last 20 years and it ain’t all that.
That’s interesting about Tipton T Longcat finding his purr. Has he never had one? Or just never in a place where someone could hear him?
He’s always purred. What was strange about today was it was different such that I didn’t recognize what I was hearing was a cat purr.
Either he subscribed to a ‘purr-of-the-month’ club or there’s an unseen cattrilogist hiding somewhere..
And on another note, I see Zuckerflake’s empire is having difficulty right now. At least in this end of the country. Can’t post anything - which may be a good thing anyway. ;-)
Howya. I’m having a dafternoon.
Hopefully, that’s a good thing?
When we moved from AZ to TN, we had two cats. Then, somebody planted two TN cats in our yard. There was a vixen in the neighborhood so we took the kittens in. The vocalizations of the two sets of sibs were completely different. Then, they gradually started copycatting. Our household now has homogeneous catspeak.
Livable, at least. Jake has it best, of course.
Back when I had to deal with cats I informed them that a laptop with a glide pad has no mouse, and the attentions ceased.
There’s another way to do it?????
Tigger used to like getting under the covers with me for a nap. I’d lift the sheet and ask, “Would you like to play tent? He’d purr, get under the sheet, and we’d continue to converse about the virtues of such a good tent, how much we liked it, etc. Then, I’d launch a story about the mighty lion entering his lair, more etc. And that is how one becomes a crazy cat lady.
Jake usually emerges when he senses meat being prepared in the kitchen.
The chance of forgetting something is directly proportional to ...
to ...
uh ...
Sort of like from an idle to full bore with no discernable change in the gearbox? OK. Got it.
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