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 ...
How wonderful!! More valiant spirits to fight the bad guys!!
Congratulations to the family, and prayers for all, including the Bristol NICU medicos. <3
What an interesting photo. Thanks!
In case anyone is interested:
I’ve had to repack my suitcase and change backpacks, and now, I’m going with the monsters I took to Pak, back in 2004. Several times, I thought of donating that backpack, but changed my mind and now I know why.
The portable nebulizer was the culprit this time, causing me to remove it from the suitcase and put it in the backpack. Only the one I was going to use isn’t appropriate for whatever else I have to take. *groan*
I’m going to take a shower, then re-stock the pill sorter and then change the birds’ feed and water. Chuck will be in on Friday to check on them. And then I think I’m ready to go. *sigh*
I don’t like funerals.
Congratulations! Prospects are good, these days, for such young babies.
I needed that! Thanks!
Good morning. Thank you for the pretty kitteh!
It seems to be getting the sleep I’ll be missing all this week.
Ditto. We are planning (unnngh) “primitive” camping this weekend. I have to tough it out to set a good example for the youth ...
Maybe one of these days you can say, “Oh, no. I’m too old for this primitive stuff!”
I have no idea when the peeps are going to show up. I printed off some fun pictures that my brother sent by email yesterday. (It will be strange to just refer to him as “my brother.”) Then someone in AZ sent me some texts on what the birth names were, and the current names of the surviving siblings, and I’m sorry if I stepped on any toes, but the brother that passed was never adopted by my dad.
What a mess. Am I going to make it through this?
Somewhere in the vast, echoing halls of my personal library, there is recorded a journal of the Waterloo campaign.
After having been unceremoniously dumped into the harbor by a captain whose instructions had been to unload the horses and men with all deliberate haste, and having made his way to shore, and through the town and the rain to the dubious shelter of an empty barn, where his men were attempting to dry out and get some rest, the commander observed that “All of our comforts are a study in contrasts.” At least he was dry, or nearly so.
Always remember that the lament, “It can’t get any worse than this” inevitably ends with the complainer being proven wrong.
I always think, “OK. What else is going to happen, now. I know this isn’t the end of it.”
I’ll get through this just like I do everything else that comes my way. Because I have to! :o])
Is that James Comey?
Good news. Hopefully they won’t be raised liberal.
I sent a text to my niece about an hour ago, asking if they had left, yet. “Soon,” was the answer. It’s a six hour drive to here and another five hours to AZ. My body is going to hate me by the time I find a good floor to sleep on.
I will spend at least one night with my brother’s kids, and maybe the rest of them with my brother’s widow. I just talked to her, and she sounds like she’s pretty doped up. Poor old thing.
Happy Tuesday, everyone. It’s foggy here. Spring is trying, but Manhattan is fighting back hard.
Whenever someone asks a question like, “Can this day get any worse?” I always respond, “Don’t ask a question you don’t want answered.”
Good luck!
Thanks. Kara just sent a text asking about the weather. Ugly. I WILL take a hoodie!
LOL!
He’s not that artful...besides one can’t see his vainglorious face, so not his posting.
BTW...Comey’s twitter handle until recently was Reinhold Niebuhr, his crypto-commie idol.
Awwwww.... Thank you!
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