Rescue-kitten in Thailand
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 ...
It's nice that we have lived long enough to be able to purchase miracles.
It’s incredible what surgeons do.
Heart replacement was just a dream
when I was young. But then Mars
had canals, the corresponding shapes
of continental shorelines was just a
coincidence, and nuclear fusion was
just around the corner. ;)
Because moving south left you with only three choices, none of them great.
Comiefornia
Juan McCain's world
Mexico..
Any kittah is a good kittah! Thank you very much!
Isn’t that wonderful? But wait. There’s more. Cataract surgery was done in Egypt over 3000 years ago!
The Egyptians also had a basic knowledge of how important the large toe is for balance, and a wooden “toe” (complete with carved toenail) was found in a tomb. the prosthetic had a leather thongs and pad to attach it to the right foot.
The article was in a volume of Discovery magazine in the year 2000, and I found it so fascinating, I took it to my podiatrist. He was extremely excited about it.
Oh. Yes. McCain’s Shame. I love the beauty in AZ, but I think it’s becoming too Left for me. I already have a niece there who is a Democrat (”Soft” Left) living there and a younger version in Idaho who seems to have the makings of a Millennial. The one who decided I was “filled with hate” because of a factual meme I posted.
Yes, NoC, I think I’m in the right place, after all. Thanks for the reminder.
I hope your trip was uneventful as far as surprises are concerned. I saw a photo of some bathroom buildings at Aspen CO on my birthday and all that was visible were the eaves and the vents.
I suspect not too many campers spent any time there last week!
And of course, its always good to get home, so welcome back!! :o]
Hi, we’re back.
Meanwhile, nuclear fusion is just around the corner!
We checked everyone. No ticks. Kathleen got a spider in her hair, but I gave it a name and made it a friend.
And while we wait for that, we are having thundergrumbles and atmospheric light shows..
They tell us in their you’re-all-gonna-die-warning that we are to expect tormential water-delugement also.
Philo Farnsworth, the inventor of television, was doing fusion in the late sixties.
Since that time, we've developed extremely powerful lasers, higher-temperature superconductors, and incredibly powerful rare-earth magnets.
Is any laboratory anywhere trying to put all of these elements together, or all they all pursuing their own pizza the pie?
Well, someone once said everything
that rises must converge. So there’s that.
I had the thought that sounded like a bit of nonsense. I don't think I was wrong.
O'Connor must not have been a student of Physics.
I don’t know. The expression originated
with philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.
Home brewed... Not sure I'd call my product "crafted". Sounds entirely too artsy for the fermented honey beverage I produce.
Turns out, as I've gotten older... I'm more susceptible to things like the sulfite's they use to stop yeast/bacteria grow and as a preservative. There are very few commercial wines that I can enjoy without first taking a Tylenol and an antihistamine.
I blame my Wife's cooking. I'm starting to gain her allergies via some weird osmosis...
In 30-40 years, I fully expect us to meld into one hybrid being with 4 arms, 4 legs, 4 eyes, and a vague dislike of Brussels sprouts...
... and of course Researchers who would rather chase unicorns and pet theories than actually produce a result to keep their coffers full of government tax monies...
Another four hundred posts or so and you can score some sixes.
Rescue-kitten in Thailand
Fortuously for me, I don’t have to come in from Lon Goy Land. But even the subways get slower in a snow storm.
I don’t know why, but they do.
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