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 ...
That sounds very unpleasant. Did you have a long trip, or were you stuck somewhere?
It has been a nice day here in Boring. My dog-sitting job, which added nearly two hours in the van plus at least an hour with the dog to each day, has ended for now. Eddie the Rottweiler’s family came home about 2:30 today.
He’s a good-natured dog, and $30 a day or so is better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. They gave us part of our fee in Girl Scout cookies this time, which was a hit with the Offspring.
Hopefully, that’s the exception rather than the rule. My commute to college was 90 minutes plus, one way. Got a lot of reading done.
Maybe they’ll let you borrow Eddie when you’re in doggie deficit.
Mine too-in fact, my college was less than a mile from my HS, so I became very familiar with that neighborhood.
I don’t know if you’ve heard, but an old man was killed when he was pushed off a bus in LV by an irate, nasty passenger who was belittling a lot of the other riders. The old guy didn’t die immediately, but knowing the LV bus system as well as I do, the driver shut the doors and locked them from the safety of his plexiglass “cage” until police could come to arrest the woman and call an ambulance for the poor old guy.
I don’t envy anyone on public transportation in this country. People are too evil.
In the 90’s when I first moved there, public trans was the only way I had to get to work. It took me 14 hours to work an eight-hour day so I’m happy I have my own vehicle!! Especially out here!
I used to have mixed emotions about Brian, but now I just think he had some really fun things to deal with. Kinda like the rest of us, eh, Br...er...Bob?
I saw the reports on that. The perp has been charged with murder.
Yes, she has, and she is probably well known by all the bus drivers and most of the passengers on the routes she frequents. She has probably been doing this for a long time (harassing the passengers) but this time, she didn’t get the thrill she expected. And just think: IF she gets out of prison, she will be an old person riding the buses one day.
Look! Da Morning Floofs are Eeny, Meeny, and Moe! Miney was probably still at the snack bar!
Good morning. It’s 46° and we’re looking at a high of 61°. With clouds.
I’ve had the shower, the pills, the steroid and made the bed and I’m ready to go to Walmart. But I sure don’t want to face that Walmart Wind!! That is always cold and always blowing.
When I get done there, I’ll come home and turn on the space heater while I write to Charlie.
That’s a depressing analysis.
I’ve been working on paperwork for Cub Scouts. Next, I’ll have a shower and dress, and then I’ll work on packing for the campout until I have to leave for a funeral, and then after the funeral, we’ll finish packing for the campout.
It may be a depressing analysis, but that’s what the peeps do in Vegas. Some of the less desirables are hard core criminals who may or may not have done actual time behind bars. Many have learned to be clever in their crimes and they end up being bullies on the buses because of the many senior and disabled victims who have no other form of transportation.
Henderson was a haven but the crimes have followed the people seeking to get away from the crimes.
I hope they don’t follow me here!!! I like my little getaway! Ah! Yes. A deterrent: CCW permits in 19 out of 20 people. :o])
No such fun for me. Besides, its far too cold for that!
I hope your campout is a good one!
PS: I don’t like funerals.
Sounds like what Robert A. Heinlein said: "Never let your morals keep you from doing what is right."
Unfortunately, personalities may or may not know how to achieve results, but they can lay land mines. So you can't ignore them entirely.
Mood Gorning! Frappy Hiday!
The pull fourt cress is on. I’m a dit biscombobulated. But I’ll bet getter.
Sounds like a typical commute home here in a snowstorm.
Good morning and happy Friday to you! We made it through another week.
I don’t know about Manhattan, but we’re still having winter here. We’re up to 47° right now and the sun is shining. Yay! About the time it really does warm up, it will be time for winter to come around. *sigh*
Manhattan spring is an exmple of MPD (which I'm told is now called dissociative disorder). One day a high of 53, the next a high of 78.
Today is much like the latter.
I’m very sorry I put away my winter clothes!!!
I even had to put the quilt back on it because a blanket and a throw wasn’t warm enough.
:o|
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