November 2, 2008

All Things Must Pass

bluerose_1054016f.jpg

A long, long time ago
On graduation day
You handed me your book
I signed this way:

"Roses are red, my love.
Violets are blue.
Sugar is sweet, my love.
But not as sweet as you."

Bobby Vinton

World's first blue roses after 20 years of research

The blooms are genetically modified and have been implanted with a gene that simulates the synthesis of blue pigment in pansies.... The world's first genetically modified blue roses were created in the laboratory four years ago, although further research was required to make them safe to grow in nature.
I'm never fond of reading the phrase, "to make them safe to grow in nature." I always wonder what happens if there is a slip-up. But then I'm so old-fashioned in this regard. Rampant genetic modification? What could possibly go wrong?

Posted by Vanderleun at November 2, 2008 9:37 AM
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"It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood." -- Karl Popper N.B.: Comments are moderated and may not appear immediately. Comments that exceed the obscenity or stupidity limits will be either edited or expunged.

Blue Roses.
Wasn't that in 'The Glass Menagerie'?

Posted by: Mikey NTH at November 2, 2008 10:24 AM

This answers the question of what to give Michelle Obama on Valentine's Day: Blue roses for a red lady.

Posted by: Gagdad Bob at November 2, 2008 11:02 AM

Good grief. BLUE? Arguing about color is like arguing about socialism with a left liberal, but that flower is lavender as it appears in that photo. Blue is here:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1374/544463920_70502359b1.jpg

As for the seed bank link, that is all and well, but without qualified (non-urban) living people to steward those crops through the seasons, years and millennia, vault storage is just more self-serving doomsday science. It is not the seeds per se that are valuable, it is the specific relationship between growers and their environment to specific crops. Farming live organisms requires living knowledge passed from one generation to the next. If that cycle is broken no amount of stored germplasm diversity will save us.

Posted by: Hannon at November 2, 2008 12:24 PM

But if an asteroid hits Spitzbergen, we're screwed.

Posted by: rickl at November 2, 2008 11:26 PM