[CPEO-MEF] Pentagon researchers train insects to detect explosives

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Agency abuzz with bomb-sniffing bees

Pentagon researchers train insects to detect explosives

Monday, May 13, 2002

By ANDREW C. REVKIN
THE NEW YORK TIMES

Scientists working for the Pentagon have trained ordinary honeybees to 
ignore flowers and home in on minute traces of explosives, a preliminary 
step toward creating a buzzing, swarming detection system that could be 
used to find truck bombs, land mines and other hidden explosives.

The research, under way for three years, initially focused on using bees 
to help clear minefields. But the effort has broadened, the scientists 
say. In two tests last summer, before the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 
trained bees picked out a truck tainted with traces of explosives.

The work is in its early stages, and bees, like bomb-sniffing dogs, have 
limitations. They do not work at night or in storms or cold weather, and 
it is hard to imagine deploying a swarm to sniff luggage in an airport. 
But they also have extraordinary attributes, including extreme 
sensitivity to scant molecular trails and the ability to cover every 
nook around the colony as they weave about in search of food.

This article can be viewed in its entirety at:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/70197_bees13.shtml

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