the B's have it

Gregory Alan Bolcer (gbolcer@elysees.ics.uci.edu)
Fri, 21 May 1999 14:45:47 -0700

It's like a mixture of the X-Files and
genetically engineering killer bees from Brazil.
DARPA uses bees to find land mines. This is
very interesting. Last year's announcement was
using cancer cells to detect chemical warfare
agents.

Greg

http://www.foxnews.com/js_index.sml?content=/scitech/052199/bees.sml

pecial Agent Bumblebee
Scientists Explore Ways
To Use Bees for Land Mine Detection
8.17 a.m. ET (1217 GMT) May 21, 1999
By Amanda Onion

NEW YORK - A bumblebee zips out of its hive and toward a
distant field. Spotting some flowering plants, it meanders through the
blossoms,sucking out nectar with its long tongue and collecting pollen
on its furry hind
legs.
Minutes later, it's back in its hive. Mission accomplished.

Meet agent bumblebee: the latest
recruit of the Department of Defense.

Under a program known among
scientists as "the big bee project," the
Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency is funding research into using
the nectar-collecting behavior of the
bumblebee to detect and locate harmful
chemicals and even land mines.