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 ...
There’s also a big problem when people believe children when they rant about their parents.
One of our daughters loved the attention she got when she told people how terrible we were. People who actually knew us and could have talked to us believed her.
Yes, this has happened to us. People who have been in our house and seen all the food and the doors that don’t have locks believed that Sally was being locked in her room and starved.
The internet is dreadful for teenagers, a negative feedback loop/echo chamber. The more horrific your sad story is, the more positive attention you get from your peers, so they all constantly exaggerate their incredible miseries, and then they all agree that they’ll act like they believe all of it, instead of using common sense.
/rant
Good wishes for all, no matter what your activities today!
Thank you!
Roflol!
Actually, that might be a good idea - but not for Hallowe’en ;-)
To put in a sandwich maybe...but there's not enough to feed a bunny. Besides, one should never buy salad fixings in an opaque bag, that's asking for trouble.
“Is that a joke?” asked James, not the sharpest son in the room.
Given the PC world he's been exposed to he can be forgiven asking that question.
Stilll, he must be far ahead of this millionaress Rhodes Scholar.
A masterwork of eeeviiiil!
LOL
We gave out pencils one year. We spent November 1 picking up pencils from our lawn. Since then we have given nothing.
If kids can’t appreciate a gift, they can’t have one.
Absolutely, it would! Thankfully, I recognize the symptoms when I get to the point of stupidity. It's called (in Biblical terms) "a stupor of thought."
So yes, I know when to quit.
This is the very first time that ANYone has come to me about what my daughter has said about me. Unfortunately, it has opened a can of worms that may have been better left alone.
He was curious enough to ask, so the least I can do is respond in truth.
This happened in Fremont, when CPS knocked on our door and wanted to know if it was true that we only allowed our daughter to eat once a day.
I had no idea how to address that. Except to call my daughter downstairs and let CPS look at how "frail and emaciated" she was. Which she wasn't. She was actually overweight because she stole lunches from the kids at school.
Thanks, SG! The same to you! (Late, but nevertheless, meant!)
BWAHAHAHAHA! I’m sure Mommie Dearest set her straight!
(Am I alone, here?)
Someone?
Anyone?
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