Scientists teach bees to sniff out bombs

Sniffer Bees
Sniffer Bees

Researchers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico said they trained honeybees to stick out their proboscis – the tube they use to feed on nectar – when they smell explosives in anything from cars and roadside bombs to belts similar to those used by suicide bombers.

By exposing the insects to the odour of explosives followed by a sugar water reward, researchers said they trained bees to recognise substances ranging from dynamite and C-4 plastic explosives to the Howitzer propellant grains used in improvised explosive devices in Iraq.

The findings followed 18 months of research at the US Energy Department’s Los Alamos facility, the nation’s leading nuclear weapons laboratory.

External Links:
Bees to ‘sniff out’ explosives (BBC)

Advertisements

CW Staff
CW Staff

In the late 80s I started investigating UFOs and crop circles and joined the CCCS (Centre for Crop Circle Studies) and a local group researching strange sightings and reports along the south coast of Dorset (UK). In the early ’90s I started my own research group called SPS (Strange Phenomena Studies), this was renamed in 2004 to Cryptoworld.

Articles: 760

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *