Awesomely cool read about DARPA’s Insect Allies program.
The initiative comes from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the research arm of the military. According to Blake Bextine, program manager in the agency’s biological technologies office, protecting the food supply is a matter of national concern and insects can help.
…when disease or disaster strikes a crop, the farmer loses the crop and can’t try again to produce food until the next growing season…An insect-delivered therapy could shorten the recovery timeframe, Bextine said. By quickly delivering a remedy to plants, DARPA hopes to have the therapeutic benefits take effect within the same growing season.
Other plant-related DARPA projects include research into ways to develop plants that could alert people of danger. For example, a plant could change in appearance in the presence of a chemical or biological threat, providing a visual cue warning people to stay away, Bextine said. DARPA is also interested in insects as a possible a food source…
