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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051203/ap_ … fing_wasps
*Might also be used in medicine, i.e. in the detection of cancer and other diseases [I'd put this in the Medical Science Potpourri thread, but it mostly concerns deterrance of criminal activity so will create a new thread just for it]:
Trained wasps could someday replace dogs for sniffing out drugs, bombs and bodies. No kidding.
Scientists say a species of non-stinging wasps can be trained in only five minutes and are just as sensitive to odors as man's best friend, which can require up to six months of training at a cost of about $15,000 per dog.
They can work for as long as 48 hours, then they're released to live out their remainder of their two-to three-week life span.
"What we have ... is a technology-free organism that you can quickly program and use in a highly mobile way," said Lewis, who believes the Wasp Hound could be used to search for explosives at airports, locate bodies, monitor crops for toxins and detect diseases such as cancer from the odors in a person's breath.
"They're very cheap to produce and very sensitive," Rains said of the wasps. "Dogs take months to train and they need a specific handler. Wasps can be trained on the spot."
Bees also a possibility.
Other scientists also are working to harness the sniffing power of insects...
"Insects and their antennae have an olfactory system that is pretty much on a par with a dog," Bromenshenk said. "They're a whole lot more plentiful and a lot less expensive to come by."
Sounds terrific.
--Cindy
We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...
--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)
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