[centurion316]

Despite the positive test results, DARPA said it does not see a future for bomb-detecting bees in the military.

The Army figured this out almost two years ago. It turns out that the bees don't like it when its too hot or too cold. They don't do well in wind and don't like blowing sand. In other words, almost every day in Iraq is not a good day for bees.

The Army thanked the scientists for their idea and sent them on their way. Looks like they went to DARPA and got $1.5m.

[GalaxieFiveHundred]

Killer bees?

[operation clinton cleanup]

bees stuck out their tongues when they smelled explosives

I didn't even know they had mouths.

[Rb ver. 2.0]

"Aye carumba! I have lost my job!"

[lepton]

So...one peaceful summer day you're sitting in the field having a picnic. You reach out to open the basket, when suddenly you notice that all of the bees are sticking out their tongues at you. What do you do?

[Jaysun]

"Bees are not reliable enough for military tactical use at this point," the agency said in a statement this week. "We see no clear pathway to make them reliable enough to make it worth risking the lives of our service men and women."

This is neat but it's seems impractical from the get go. I mean how does someone get the bee to communicate back to them without putting themselves in the way of harm? Are the bees trained like falcons to leave and return to a certain person, and then stick out their tongues? Can they fit them with little camera collars?

[timer]

There you go, drop a zillion bees on iraq with explosive detecting noses and poison stingers....

[Citizen Soldier]

Great, now maybe they can train the bees to find all those missing security discs and laptops that keep disappearing from Los Alamos.