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 ...
Don’t forget to tip the ferryman.
My commute from NJ to midtown Manhattan only felt like a daily trip across the river Styx...
Yes, that seems reasonable.
But did T. Rex babies eat eggs? Frank asked me that yesterday, as if I would know, of course.
The Morning Floofs are very floofable, again.
I need floofy things. Its still cool out, but no wind, and the moon is absolutely gorgeous. But I feel like Sam in Rivendell...I don’t realize how much time has passed until I see the moon at the full again.
Just stepped out to get yesterday’s mail, and my body did a quick weather forecast. Unngh.
I will look for some very nice wool sweaters, but I don’t know if it will be today. I have to make some phone calls. And that means I have to wait until 0900 or later. Unngh. I just don’t get this — wasting half the day. When I open my own thrift store, I will set the hours for 0800 to noonish. Or as the Hawai’ians say, “’til pau.”
Poor cold little Sphinx kitteh. Did you notice the sweater he has on underneath?
Looking at his nose and ears, poor thing needs to be cleaned asap. Such a high maintenance Floofless!
W00t! At least the frog is right... ;o]
Like the buttonhooks I used for my shoes, according to my daughter as a child...
The moon was pretty here this morning, too. I think it’s going to be warm here today. I’ll go to Walmart after dropping Pat at school this morning, and then we’ll see what eventuates.
I know how it is. I can’t even get dressed when I get up, unless I get clothes out and bring them downstairs the night before, because other people are still sleeping. And you can’t make phone calls or send texts until well into the day, because so many people have their phones in bed with them and you’d wake them up.
/rantoff
Thank you for the preciouses!
And off to the hospital. He drank coffee before I woke up but they said they might be able to do the procedure anyway.
Unghhh.
Yikes.
Beautiful!
Wow!
Good morning, all. It appears to be Friday Eve again. It’s also Maundy Thursday, but I never understood what that meant even when I was going to an Episcopal church.
Well, that's a silly question. How are they supposed to hold the fry pan with those stupid arms?
And that's ... bad?
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