Bomb-sniffing plants.

Read about this in my local paper this morning. The research has received $7.9 million from the US government.

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/01/27/bomb-sniffing-plants-fight-terrorism/

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_17210850

 

Well, my purely personal opinion is...God help us all.

gb.

 

For this amount of money, imagine what could be done with Mimosa pudica, or Venus Fly Trap ('Little Shop of Horrors'?)---jimsonweed, manchineel, Dieffenbachia, giant hogweed, or Ecballium elaterium.
The mind boggles.

 

It certainly raises the question: We can, but should we?

 

Lorax - Has that often or ever stopped Human Beans from doing something? I have heard rumours that Marijuana breeders are genetically engineering the ability to produce THC into another species. There's a poser.

...Homo shortsightedlygreatlyenthusiaticus?

 

Oh, very very rarely. We have a number of examples of poor foresight, Hiroshima and Nagasaki being a pair with a really high and obvious toll....

Even so, the question is raised. Whether Homo experimentwitheverythingicus ssp. regardlessoftheconsequencesiense will heed it is another debate entirely.

 

Debate overheard at a watercooler somewhere in the world:

"Let's genetically modify a plant!"
"What for?"
"I dunno, whatever. We can probably get a grant tho' "
"OK, great. Can you do the paperwork?"
"Sure"
"Let me know when it's accepted OK? See ya!"

Lorax - Is this the debate you meant?

percy.

 

Yep, that's the one.