Hertfordshire (England): An ingenious new combination of nature and technology could help fight the war on terror.
A British firm has now found that a mini-army of honeybees and they could be our next defense against terror attacks on targets like airports and train stations. Bees have an intense sense of smell and scientists are training them to have a nose for explosives.
“What we do is present the smell to the bee and at the same time we give them food and so they associate that this smell, equals food. The food is sugar water served up on a q-tip,” says Development Scientist, Inscentinel, Mathilde Briens.
Here's how it works - The bees are trained to stick out their tongues when they smell explosives. The bees are strapped into a cassette and that cassette is put into this sniffer box. The sniffer box has a series of tubes exposed to the outside air. And if there is an explosive present, the bees will pick up the scent of explosives through these tubes, they will stick out their tongues. The camera inside the box captures that motion on a video.
Computer software measures when bee tongues are wagging, they alert security teams, at metro rails or roadside checkpoints.
Scientists say the bees learn to make the explosive association in about 15 minutes, a lot faster - and cheaper - than it takes to teach bomb-sniffing dogs to do the same. They also say that bombs covered in honey can’t fool bees. watch video here
Terrorists beware! The bees are here!
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