Mk-II Spybot Snails downloading collected data to Comms-CPO masquerading as Princess Laia.
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 ...
We went to church. Next, after Pat gets home from school and eats lunch, we’ll go to the park for the non-optional family exertion expedition.
It’s a sunny day but it’s a cold one. Some days, I feel like I need a non-optional single exertion expedition.
Perhaps I should concentrate on something I don’t have to go outside to do, just yet. Looking at the Not-Always-Accurate-Weather beeber on my Not-So-Smart phone, I see where Henderson is quite a bit warmer than it is here, and has been for quite some time. I’m homesick for the heat!
One possibility, the phone is a gateway to The Other Place.
It sometimes wanders in order to find people to send there.
The more unsuspecting, the better.
Those who currently wield it are unaware of the true nature of the thing, it acts benignly in their presence.
Will have to ponder this to some extent to flesh it out.
Not loving that possibility ...
Flesh phone, gives off a slight cooing sound when held, warm and somewhat soft to the touch, everyone wanted one.
But they come with a price.
Mk-II Spybot Snails downloading collected data to Comms-CPO masquerading as Princess Laia.
Brain eating snails, or Beats Lab headphones
Well..
Maybe.. ;-)
Something tells me the snails in my yard will live longer than I will, at this rate.... ;o]
I think that's a given, actually. And the roadway is the Internet.
Poifect!!!
I have a collection of frogs, some actually looking like real frogs, complete with warts. But I have no interest in collecting snails and this photo is kinda creepy.
Well.. do you have any French neighbors? You could always gift them with some butter and garlic and then point to the snails..
Haven’t seen any snails here, all we have are the divorced ones with no house.
Crickets sit on the dragons’ heads sometimes.
Tom the Son got me an e-book program for Mecklenburg County libraries. He couldn’t figure out how to get the AccuWeather app to stop sending me notes about the weather, though.
Delete the AccuWeather app. Simple. ;o])
I got an email from the library, saying that “Grantchester” is in, so Wednesday, I’ll stop and pick it up on my way home from getting x-rayed.
Now, I’m off to bed. Ta!
Thank you for beautiful kitteh!
G’night and sweet dreams, y’all!
The green anole I had named Wretched Ratchet was asleep in his marble queen pathos when a cricket plunked itself onto his head and began chirping.
Ratch turned an astonishingly dark color and went on a “kill everything” rampage.
It was a sight to behold.
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