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The Pentagon Wants to Make an Army of Virus-Spreading Insects. Scientists Are Concerned.
.livescience.com ^
| October 5, 2018 12:57pm ET
| Brandon Specktor
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 ...
TOPICS: Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: aphids; boycethompson; cornelluniversity; crispr; darpa; hurricaneutah; insectallies; ithaca; molassesmiasma; monkeyfacerules; newyork; nithaca; ohio; ohiostate; pennstate; pennsylvania; texas; undead; undeadthread; undeadthreadhere; uoftexasataustin; workingdogs
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To: Tax-chick; Monkey Face
We seem to be dangerously close to the post of no return.
5,981
posted on
05/08/2019 1:11:17 PM PDT
by
ArGee
(Celebrate diversity! Excellence is out.)
To: Monkey Face
I hope you have a good night.
5,982
posted on
05/08/2019 1:34:02 PM PDT
by
Tax-chick
("The villain is not the market but the state." ~ Jonah Goldberg)
To: ArGee
5,983
posted on
05/08/2019 2:00:08 PM PDT
by
null and void
(The press is always lying. When they aren't actively lying, they are actively concealing the truth.)
To: ArGee
What? It’s not like he won’t have the TV on. That’s the genius of the plan. He’ll be so focused on the game, he won’t even hear his own voice saying it!
5,984
posted on
05/08/2019 2:02:04 PM PDT
by
null and void
(The press is always lying. When they aren't actively lying, they are actively concealing the truth.)
To: null and void; ArGee
5,985
posted on
05/08/2019 2:31:44 PM PDT
by
Tax-chick
("The villain is not the market but the state." ~ Jonah Goldberg)
To: Tax-chick
As in “Does this raw marmot kidney taste funny?”
5,986
posted on
05/08/2019 2:39:25 PM PDT
by
null and void
(The press is always lying. When they aren't actively lying, they are actively concealing the truth.)
To: null and void
You’d have to have tried it several times.
Eeeeeew.
5,987
posted on
05/08/2019 2:40:18 PM PDT
by
Tax-chick
("The villain is not the market but the state." ~ Jonah Goldberg)
To: null and void
5,988
posted on
05/08/2019 2:41:55 PM PDT
by
Tax-chick
("The villain is not the market but the state." ~ Jonah Goldberg)
To: null and void
It looks like a mini-beaver with a squirrel tail.
5,989
posted on
05/08/2019 2:42:20 PM PDT
by
Tax-chick
("The villain is not the market but the state." ~ Jonah Goldberg)
To: Tax-chick; null and void
Darwin award winners, I hope.
5,990
posted on
05/08/2019 4:54:22 PM PDT
by
ArGee
(Celebrate diversity! Excellence is out.)
To: ArGee
Seems so. Raw marmot organs carry bubonic plague.
5,991
posted on
05/08/2019 6:54:07 PM PDT
by
Tax-chick
("The villain is not the market but the state." ~ Jonah Goldberg)
To: ArGee; fanfan; ColdOne; Cyber Liberty; null and void; Tax-chick; Anoreth; Monkey Face; ...
5,992
posted on
05/09/2019 2:35:57 AM PDT
by
Tax-chick
("The villain is not the market but the state." ~ Jonah Goldberg)
To: Tax-chick; All
Well kiddoes, my router died, and McDonalds didn’t open for 45 minutes, so I’m at Walmart. GAH!
I’m not sure how long I have to wait for the new router to get here, but I’m sure it will be a very long time, by my own standards. If I can hook up to the WiFi in the office, I won’t have to go insane trying to find a place with free wifi.
In the meantime, I have an appointment in St George today, so I’ll tex you with news on it when I get home.
Dang. If it ain’t one darn thing...
5,993
posted on
05/09/2019 4:01:01 AM PDT
by
Monkey Face
(Eat a bullfrog first thing in the morning and nothing worse can happen to you the rest of the day!)
To: Monkey Face
Kitteh is shocked!
Good luck.
Elen, USMC, phoned this morning. She’s going to Australia in June, maybe for 3 months. She’s going to learn to drive a Humvee, and then she won’t be afraid to drive the van, if that ever comes up again.
5,994
posted on
05/09/2019 4:22:33 AM PDT
by
Tax-chick
("The villain is not the market but the state." ~ Jonah Goldberg)
To: Tax-chick; Monkey Face; NicknamedBob; NoCmpromiz; null and void; no-to-illegals; Silentgypsy; ...
Hello, world. It’s Friday eve! Happy Thursday.
I hear kitteh saying: “It wasn’t me. I was in Mongolia at the time. Plus, my paws aren’t that big. And nobody can prove I was anywhere near the toilet paper at the time. Ignore what you see in my claws. It’s unimportant.”
5,995
posted on
05/09/2019 5:47:49 AM PDT
by
ArGee
(Celebrate diversity! Excellence is out.)
To: Tax-chick
She’s going to learn to drive a Humvee, and then she won’t be afraid to drive the van, if that ever comes up again. However, if she learns to drive Marine style, women and children will clear the streets when she starts the engine.
5,996
posted on
05/09/2019 5:48:56 AM PDT
by
ArGee
(Celebrate diversity! Excellence is out.)
To: Tax-chick; Monkey Face; Darksheare; null and void; no-to-illegals; NicknamedBob; NoCmpromiz
We appear to be on the edge of the abyss.
I know the UT has gone farther in the past, but it always makes my feet itch.
5,997
posted on
05/09/2019 5:50:32 AM PDT
by
ArGee
(Celebrate diversity! Excellence is out.)
To: ArGee
Think of it as “the next great adventure”.
Who would have predicted we’d encounter an aardvark, before we did?
5,998
posted on
05/09/2019 6:36:54 AM PDT
by
NicknamedBob
(If you can't do something well, you won't do anything good.)
To: ArGee
Have you considered fast actin’ Tinactin?
5,999
posted on
05/09/2019 6:37:40 AM PDT
by
null and void
(The press is always lying. When they aren't actively lying, they are actively concealing the truth.)
To: null and void
6,000
posted on
05/09/2019 6:38:01 AM PDT
by
null and void
(The press is always lying. When they aren't actively lying, they are actively concealing the truth.)
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