Posted on 05/07/2021 7:37:06 AM PDT by Red Badger
Scientists in the Netherlands have trained bees to identify COVID-19 through their sense of smell, according to a press release from Wageningen University.
The research was conducted on more than 150 bees in Wageningen University's bio-veterinary research laboratory.
The scientists trained the bees by giving them a treat – a sugar-water solution – every time they were exposed to the scent of a mink infected with COVID-19. Each time the bees were exposed to a non-infected sample, they wouldn't get a reward (a process known as Pavlovian conditioning).
Eventually, the bees could identify an infected sample within a few seconds – and would then stick out their tongues like clockwork to collect the sugar water.
Bees aren't the first animals to detect COVID-19 by scent. Researchers have also trained dogs to distinguish between positive and negative COVID-19 samples from human saliva or sweat with fairly high levels of accuracy. A small German study found that dogs could identify positive COVID-19 samples 94 percent of the time.
That's because metabolic changes from the coronavirus make an infected person's bodily fluids smell slightly different than those of a non-infected person.
But researchers still aren't sure whether animals are the best bet for sniffing out COVID-19 cases outside the lab.
"No one is saying they can replace a PCR machine, but they could be very promising," Holger Volk, a veterinary neurologist, told Nature. PCR machines are what lab technicians use to process standard COVID-19 swab tests.
At the very least, certain animals could be useful for identifying COVID-19 in places or countries in which high-tech laboratory equipment is scarce or inaccessible.
Wageningen scientists, for instance, are working on a prototype of a machine that could automatically train multiple bees at once, then uses their skills to test for coronavirus aerosols (tiny virus-laden particles) in the surrounding environment.
They are going to have to manufacture billions of itty bitty bee masks. This is prolly what caused all the hives to collapse
“Bees Have Been Trained to Smell COVID-19 And Identify a Case Within Seconds”
So when does the Smelling Bee start?
I see what you did there....................
I noticed the date says 5/16/21, so it won’t be posted for another 9 days................
How do you reward a bee?
Hunny!.................
Imagine what the Murder Hornets can do
Not the Babylon Bee.
Psychic News Network?
Well I can smell a vaccine Nazi a mile away. Take that!
:)
Unfortunately, the bees are murder hornets.
Killer bees?
Train the murder hornets to sniff out and eliminate anyone with covid
Now if they can just get the bees to automatically vaccinate you!................
I have zero confidence in this. Mink have a strong natural musk that would screw up any other odor IMO.
Ever smell a Ferret?Yow!
Yes, we had one....................
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