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 ...
*facepalm*
And my failbrain says it read “Construct inefficient thought for serious pay.”
I’ve lived in New York too long.
My dad used to hunt in Wyoming. We got plenty of venison when he was alive.
One time he was eating at some common place for the sports-types in Wyoming. He looked up as a very big man came in the room and said, “Hey, that’s Larry Csonka!” It turned out it was Larry Csonka, who was so glad to be recognized that they ate lunch together and reminisced about the 1972 Dolphins.
I thought you were going to say “effective vengeance” but I guess your answer is what I should aspire to.
I am very confident that he was not. He might have been a trifle miffed at some overly religious types. I suppose that's possible. Compare to the Twilight Zone episode about the cornfield, (with Billy Mumy).
We writers who think of ourselves as professional do not need chemical stimulants other than caffeine and alcohol, though I suppose an aspirin or two could be considered acidic.
For whatever its worth to anyone (besides me) my son sent me a package from AR containing something from their recent trip to MN. After it was mailed he took a photo of the receipt with the tracking number on it, so I could track it.
I did. Yesterday, USPS.com said the package was in Henderson and would be delivered by 2000. The mail has been so late the last two months with all the campaign “post cards (ENORMOUS)” that mail hasn’t been getting here until sometimes as late as 1600. So I decided to wait until this morning to check for the package.
HAH! All of a sudden, USPS.com says the package is still in transit and would be delivered “at a later time.” I actually was able to catch the carrier when she was finishing up with her delivery, and she handed me the mail. There was the package I was expecting. Except that there were only 15 digits of the possible 20+ left on the package. It looked as if someone had tried to rip off the tracking number. For whatever reason.
At any rate, I took a pic of it and sent it to my son. We both laughed. But it was not a good feeling to think that someone could tear off the numbers that way.
The package was actually a small padded mailer and the item inside was a fridge magnet in the shape of the state of Minnesota. I told him it was now on the fridge between Dick and Jane and a Bhuddist temple in Singapore...
I’m glad you received your refrigerator magnet. I’ve never had one from Minnesota.
Naproxen makes your joints feel better.
I’ve been through MN several times and actually went there for the wedding of my husband’s brother in a cathedral in St Paul. I was never impressed with the state, though a sister lived there for a while.
As for Naproxen, its one of those things that makes my eyelids heavy and increases the pain sensitivity. And in the wrong dosages, it can cause me to faint. So I stay away from it at all costs.
Everyone has her own personal biology.
Exactly. There are folks here who thrive with Naproxyn, and others use other drugs I can’t take. But I will never tell any of them that whatever they use to ease the pain is “bad.” It’s only “bad” for me.
I haven’t been in Minnesota for 53 years.
The library building is the only ‘original’ building from what was there when I went to school there. And the school isn’t there either. They relocated to St. Bonifacious.
That’s before I was born. I’ve missed the whole Upper Midwest: Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin.
Survived.
Spent time in two of those states but my only exposure to Wisconsin was riding through it on the CB&Q Twin Cities Zephyr or Northern Pacific North Coast Limited between Chicago Union Station and SPUD..
Westbound the Northern Pacific left an hour and a half before the Burlington and once I found out that my CB&Q ticket was good on the NP that’s the way I went. Returning eastbound Burlington had the better schedule.
Glad to hear that. ;-)
I’ve been to all of those states. But then, my home page here has a map, so...
I think it's been 51 for me...when we headed back to San Diego from Gt Lakes, and went to So Dak to visit my husband's family. In the winter. Unngh.
YAY, Nully!! *hug*
I hope it was fun, at least some of the time.
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