Researchers Train Bees to Detect Bombs

bees

No Gadget at this time! Los Alamos National Laboratory researchers have published a report that claims they were able to teach bees to detect bombs.

Researchers working at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico have successfully trained bees to sniff out explosives in a move that may have a strong impact on U.S. Homeland security and the battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan. What is the logic behind it?

Well, Honeybees with their proboscis, the long, slender tube that used to feed on nectar, detect the scent of explosives ranging from C-4 plastic explosives to some of the materials used in improvised explosive devices made by insurgents.The genetic and physiological differences between honeybees with good olfaction and those without good olfaction have been researced.

Why honeybees and not doggy? One dog can be trained and could do same job for many years compared to bees. They do not live all that long to their offspring.

Logic behind that. Honeybees were chosen because they have an acute olfactory sense, which is claimed to equally compare to that of dogs. The honeybees were conditioned to stick out their proboscis if they wanted a sugar water reward, according to researchers.

Umm, if that easy if the bomb are made of sugar-water. LOL. Another Q, how about an aggressiveness bees? Can they be trained also? Wondering these bees are not passive and will act like Killer bees..

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