Sniffer bees set to snare suicide bombers

Daily Mail ^ | 28th November 2006 | BARRY WIGMORE

[annie laurie]

A similar article was posted on FR about a year ago, although using wasps instead of bees, and a somewhat different apparatus:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1507355/posts

[Uncledave]

Oh, I know there's a yummy bomb in here to go boom in my tummy

[Lorianne]

Ooooo I wonder when they'll let a swarm of them loose in the security area at airports so we don't have to take off our shoes any longer.

[SIDENET]

How about locusts?

[aculeus]

Unlike sniffer dogs which require three months training, it takes 10 minutes to train the bees.

And they don't need to be taken for walks.

[xcamel]

And when they detect something.....

[listenhillary]

PETI (People Ethical Treatment of Insects) will probably put a stop to this.

[Jet Jaguar]

ping.

[Indy Pendance]

[previousposter]

Sorry for my stupidity - but I don't understand why this is better than a dog?? Is it just because it takes less time to train the bees, or are there more reasons? Thanks!

[Rembrandt_fan]

We raised bees in three supers on my Stepfather's farm, harvesting the comb honey. This is going to sound strange, and I haven't heard mention of it on any science program, but it seemed to me that each of the three hives had its own distinct, collective personality. One of the three was more, well, laid-back than the other two--downright friendly, even. I didn't have to smoke them nearly so much when I worked with them (although I still treated the hive with a healthy respect, and never approached its entrance).

Bees are fascinating and wonderful--and now they get to save lives, too. God sure knew what He was about when he made them.

[goldstategop]

Honeybees are the only insect sucessfully domesticated by humans.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus

[jeddavis]

Somebody's going to declare this to be offensive to Islam....

[ThomasBurn]

I believe that these are better than using dogs because 1) You can produce these with more ease than training dogs 2)Probably easier to maintain and so forth.

I think this is way cool and the 10 minute training is amazingly quick.

[annie laurie]

From this article:

http://www.physicist.org/dbis/stories/2006/15189.html

"The olfactory sensors in their [wasps] antennae can sense chemicals in the air in concentrations as tiny as a few parts per billion."

"ADVANTAGES: Unlike dogs and the electronic sensors more commonly used today, wasps are cheap and disposable. It costs pennies and takes minutes to train them: Feed them sugar water while introducing them to a target smell for 10 seconds; give them a 30-second break, repeat the process twice more, and they are completely trained to track that single scent."

I'd imagine that the advantages of bees are at least somewhat similar :)

[annie laurie]

Fascinating indeed, thank you! :)

[jdub]

now if they could just cross them with killer bees, you could kill two birds with one stone. detect bombers, and sting the crap out of them.

[annie laurie]

And it wasn't a stupid question at all ... we're all here to learn :)

[yldstrk]

Awesome!

[Revolting cat!]

we're all here to learn

Uhm, speak for yourself, please. The cat is not here to learn!