[VEGirl3]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main...02/wbees02.xml

Quote:

Scientists at America's leading nuclear weapons laboratory are training honey bees to sniff out bomb-making explosives in a project they claim could have dramatic implications for public security and the safety of troops in war zones.

Researchers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico have trained the common honey bee to stick out its proboscis, or tongue, when it smells explosives.

The aim is to place the bees in hand-held detectors the size of a shoe box, monitor their responses and use them in areas such as airports and roadside security checkpoints.

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The "air force of bomb-sniffing bees" could even be placed in robot bomb disposal equipment and used to detect threats such as the improvised explosive devices confronted by troops in Iraq, scientists say.

Dubbed the Stealthy Insect Sensor Project, the research involved "training" the bees using Pavlovian techniques. The insects were rewarded with sugar water when they responded to the smell.

 

[Scythe]

How do you train something that lives for what, three weeks (or is it days?) outside of the hive? That's a lot of re-training....

 

[Dirty Martini]

 

[VEGirl3]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scythe

How do you train something that lives for what, three weeks (or is it days?) outside of the hive? That's a lot of re-training....

Workers live for 5-7 weeks in summer, and drones (males from unfertilized eggs of the workers) live only a few weeks.

It's unnecessary. I know i wouldnt want my life spent smelling for bombs...

 

[Scythe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by VEGirl3

Workers live for 5-7 weeks in summer, and drones (males from unfertilized eggs of the workers) live only a few weeks.

Overall or once they are actually outside the hive?

 

[troub]

I thought bees were vegetables?

 

[VEGirl3]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scythe

Overall or once they are actually outside the hive?

overall, probably.

 

[VEGirl3]

Quote:

Originally Posted by troub

I thought bees were vegetables?

 

[Scythe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by troub

I thought bees were vegetables?

and peas are stinging insects.

 

[Pirate Ferret]

WHo the hell thinks up these things?!

 

[~Wonder]

They have a video about it on CNN:

http://www.emailthis.clickability.co...oID=1748357543

The bees look like they can't move. They train the bees to expect food when they sense bomb making materials. They use cameras to tell when the bees stick out there tounge. Novel concept, but I can't say I approve.

~Wondre

 

[GhostUser]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ~Wonder

They have a video about it on CNN:

http://www.emailthis.clickability.co...oID=1748357543

The bees look like they can't move. They train the bees to expect food when they sense bomb making materials. They use cameras to tell when the bees stick out there tounge. Novel concept, but I can't say I approve.

~Wondre

omg! That movie

They are like..stuck in little boxes and whatnot

ew.