https://www.afinalwarning.com/499723.html (Natural News) Microsoft founder Bill Gates is mulling the use of genetically modified mosquitoes to “vaccinate” people. The technology bigwig and vaccine advocate brings his jab obsession a notch higher with the “flying syringes” project. To make this idea a reality, Gates has provided funding to a Japanese scientist who has pushed the idea of genetically modifying mosquitoes.
Japanese professor Hiroyuki Matsuoka was among the awardees of a $100,000 grant, an October 2008 press release by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation said. The grant allows scientists “from [a] diverse set of disciplines and regions … to explore bold, untested projects.” The
Genetically modified squirrels could curb growing population of greys
Researchers say releasing 100 mutated squirrels into a population of 3,000 greys would wipe out the population within 15 years
Scientists suggest genetically altering squirrels to pass on infertility genes
Credit: Peter Byrne/PA
Mutant grey squirrels, genetically modified to spread infertility genes, could be released into the wild to tackle the burgeoning population, the University of Edinburgh has said.
North American grey squirrels were imported to Britain in the mid-19th century by landowners, and their population has now grown to more than two million.
Not only do they out-compete the native red squirrel, they also strip trees of their bark, causing a threat to woodlands, as well as preying on eggs and chicks.
Dogs can detect laurel wilt in avocado orchards
Credit: iStockphoto
The sensitivity of the dog nose is legendary, 10,000-100,000 times more sensitive than the human nose, and capable of detecting odour concentrations at one to two parts per trillion. So the use of dogs to detect illegal drugs, for example, is now routine, and detection of human cancers and Covid-19 seems a realistic prospect.
Naturally enough, the thoughts of botanists have turned to using dogs to detect disease in plants. One example is laurel wilt, a fungal disease of avocado, which has recently become a problem in Florida’s avocado orchards since the introduction from Asia of the redbay ambrosia beetle. The beetles inoculate avocado trees with the fungus as they bore into the wood, which is great for the beetles, which use fungal “gardens”within excavated galleries as a food source, but not so good for the trees, whose attempts to defend themselves lead to blocked xylem and ultimately death.
The Atlantic
The most concerning versions of the virus are not simply mutating they’re mutating in similar ways.
Simoul Alva
For most of 2020, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 jumped from human to human, accumulating mutations at a steady rate of two per month not especially impressive for a virus. These mutations have largely had little effect.
But recently, three distinct versions of the virus seem to have independently converged on some of the same mutations, despite being thousands of miles apart in the United Kingdom, South Africa, and Brazil. (A mutation is a genetic change; a variant is a virus with a specific set of mutations.) The fact that these mutations have popped up not one, not two, but now three times that we know of in variants with unusual behavior suggests that they confer an evolutionary advantage to the virus. All three variants seem to be becoming more common. And all three are potentially more transmissible.
CRISPR gene-editing urgently needs an off-switch – now we have one
Making changes to genes with CRISPR has the potential to cure diseases and feed the world, if we can learn to control it. Now it looks like viruses hold the solution Technology 13 January 2021
Pete Reynolds
THERE is a technology that could tackle some of life’s most pressing problems, from disease to malnutrition. It could fix medical conditions such as cystic fibrosis and sickle cell anaemia simply by changing a bit of genetic code. It could eliminate malaria by making male mosquitoes infertile. It could wipe out pests that destroy crops. And it could modify other organisms to increase their usefulness, helping to create foods that are tastier and more nutritious.