((Celacanto ))

((( Pentagon trains bees to 'sniff out' bombs )))

deu no Ananova, 13/05

Bomb-sniffing honey bees are being trained in the US as a new tool to fight terror attacks.

Pentagon scientists have succeeded in making hives ignore flowers and instead swarm around traces of explosives.

Bees have extreme sensitivity to molecular trails and are able to scour every minute part of an area as they search for food.

"It appears bees are at least as sensitive or more sensitive to odours than dogs," Dr Alan Rudolph, who is overseeing the operation, told the New York Times.

One plan being considered is to place a hive of trained bees near important security checkpoints and use them to guard against possible bomb attack by terrorists. The swarming detection system could also be used to find truck bombs and land mines.

Scientists used sugar-water rewards to condition bee colonies to hunt for DNT, a residue of TNT, in 99% of cases.

After one bee is trained to follow a different scent, it transfers the knowledge to others and within hours the entire hive, and often other nearby hives, have switched to the new smell.

A special radio transmitter the size of a grain of salt, due to be tested in the next few weeks, could allow individual bees to be tracked as they follow parts of bomb ingredients to their source.

Bees could also be used for sniffing out illegal drugs, which are easier to trace than explosives, the scientists said.

Pentagon officials told the paper that the idea of bomb-sniffing factors has a "giggle factor" that makes it hard to sell. Bees also have limitations, and do not work at night, in storms or in cold weather.