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 ...
Yes, both.
Feel free to share. We’ll pray for generic sigh-ness if you want to keep it close for now.
Mom’s going through the angry paranoid stage. She will NOT like being taken for a neurological evaluation next week.
Awww...kitteh is serenading us!
Lol!
What ArGee said.
They don’t allow firearms but they allow darts and axen?
Prayers for mom and you.
I’m sorry to hear that. My mom didn’t go through that. She started getting anxious when she wasn’t in a familiar place, which included any doctor’s office, but she was always willing to go where she needed to go.
Sorry to hear that. I hope it works out better than expected!
Yes. Strange, isn’t it?
Well, life is not dull, wherever ‘Face is. I got the stuff for the oil change at Walmart and decided I’d get a battery when I got the Engine Restore 4. I called Napa Auto Parts and they had the stuff and the battery, and soon as the positive lead was attached, the alarm started to sound. It’s really rather loud when the hood is open.
I didn’t have the clicker on the key chain because it wasn’t working for almost five months before I moved. I was going to walk (Napa Auto is less than a mile from here) but was given a ride, and it didn’t shut the alarm off. No battery in it! So I had to buy a battery for the clicker before I could drive away with the new battery in the truck!
I forgot to go get the prescription this morning, because, chaos. So I’ll have to get it tomorrow. I still want a haircut but I haven’t got that far, so it isn’t going to happen for Easter.
Sharon was here and I forgot to ask her about her son, but I will do that when she calls. My brane. The funeral trip has left me with more than a modicum of discombobulation.
UNNGHH!
Give Mom my best. Maybe it will help her with the angry paranoia stuff. {{{Mom}}}
At least you made it back to start in one piece!
Yes, in fact, I did make it back. And Sharon came right behind me. She left her prescription glasses in St George yesterday, so she had to go back and get them. I would have gone with her, had I felt up to it.
I’ll see her on Sunday. I’m tired, but its too early to go to bed just yet. I could play mahjong, but sometimes, I wish I still had the old Nintendo and a Tetris cartridge. (Kara played “Trunk Tetris on the trip!)
My eyes are getting itchy.
A Happy Friday. Happy Passover. Happy Good Friday, to you too my friend.
Had a feeling you where safely back.
There was a tribe of Injuns riding back from the Canyon Pass making fighter pilot type gesticulations with their hands. Somethings never change. :)
A good night to all. I’m off to church again with a pack of brothers.
We have Ominous Threatening Weather bearing down on us. Looks as if the front runs from Montreal to Key West.. It’s just to the west of us along the Delaware river and it looks as if Gropin’ Joe’s home town is getting wet already.
So far the concrete canyons of Gotham are avoiding a cleansing
though.
Yes, Moosie, I’m safely back and ready to get on with my life. I might go down, but it takes a lot to make this ol’ broad to stay down. Not gonna happen!!! :o])
Thanks for your words of encouragement! It helped enormously!
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.