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 ...
I think it’s just that cats are magical.
No.
The pilot of the one aircraft got “violently and immediately ill” in the cockpit.
Well, I’m glad they didn’t try to put THAT into “Airplane.”
It was almost comical.
Mmmmm, that, too.
I like that little cotton ball at the tip of the kitteh’s tail! That’s pretty cute.
Good morning.
Does the poster say where this little floof lives?
*tagline*
Richmond, VA.
The floor reminded me of some of the old derelict homes Igor and I visited when we lived in Bealeton and he worked in Fairfax. Interesting. Thanks.
Do you have many plans for today?
People with lots of cats often seem to neglect their houses. Or maybe it’s a rental and they can’t do much about the floors.
I need to go shopping to get ice cream cake for Tom’s birthday. At noon, I’m going to the dentist. We’ll go to Mass at 6:30 and then have Tom’s birthday dinner. And somewhere in there, I’ll take Pat to school.
I hope your van gets good mpg!
Yesterday was DeRay’s birthday, so meeting up with them was fun. We went to Marie Callender’s because it was closer that Mimi’s. I ordered the chili with cornbread but the cornbread wasn’t as good as I remembered and the chili was far too spicy, so the biggest part of my “lunch” was the Chocolate Satin pie.
I was very tired when I got home, and wanted to just take my pills and go to bed, but my daughter’s Rob’t had to have a private message session on FB with me over what he perceived as my “objections” to her trip. WHAT??? Since when is common courtesy (or in this case the lack of it) something to be objected to? (I don’t even know if that’s a real question, but it ticked me off...)
Her lies and confusion have turned a lot of people against me because they took her word and didn’t bother to get to know me or find out the truth. (Eighteen years after Igor’s death, his influence is still being felt.) I see its still going on. Oh well.
Anyway, it was 1800 before I even got to bed, and then I had to get back up for the breathing treatments. My so-called life.
At any rate, Rob’t will either accept what I said or not. But I’m always here to answer questions. (They make a good pair: Mr & Mrs Drama.)
Happy Birthday, Tom!! <3
I think texting is a big part of the misunderstandings people have. “It must be true: I saw it in a text!” GAH. Fill in my standard rant about Drama Queen, who is currently in bed, therefore being Neglected rather than Abused. *sigh*
I’m glad you enjoyed your pie!
This was more like FReepmail on FB. But still, I came away thinking, “why?” I woke up this morning, read the exchange and decided if he doesn’t understand I’m not an ogre now, he never will. The more things change, the more they remain the same. I’ve had to go through this with every man my daughter has ever been with, and it just gets “plumb tedious,” as my mother would say. So I decided to let it go.
He can deal with his own demons. I don’t appreciate him stirring mine up from 40 years ago.
Yes, the “neglect rather than abuse” which is still abuse. But who’s keeping track? Not me!! I gotta quit leading with my heart!
Yes the pie was very good! I shouldn’t have, but I did and I’m not going to apologize to me! ;o]
Sometimes one just needs chocolate pie. This is a law of nature!
Drama Queen is dressing up for Hallowe’en. I have secured the keys to the Avalon, so I can make sure she doesn’t leave for school wearing any of my shoes.
LOL! Good mom!
Yes, one needs chocolate pie on occasion, and though I had it before the exchange with Rob’t, it went a long way to making me feel better. Until I got so tired I was stupid. At that point, I closed the conversation. :o]
If we all stopped conversing when we were stupid, it would be a better world.
Happy train your kid to be a Democrat day.
Actually, as Democrats are increasingly becoming the embodiment of evil, that moniker is even more appropriate.
I actually appreciate much of the sentiment in the tagline, but I find U.S. Christianity is really filled with pablum that doesn’t have anything to do with what Jesus or His apostles taught.
For example, what does that tagline mean to a Christian in Syria who is being shot at by Muslims? What does “possible” mean in that situation except to rise again to new life?
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