Bugs: Best weapon against toxins and explosives


	Bugs: Best weapon against toxins and explosives

dorine

6-11-2007 9:11 AM

403 views

tags:

insects, bees, war against terror, science

dorine says:

Remarkable.

2 Comments |

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6-11-2007 9:23 AM

mugofcoffee

really a remarkable find

6-11-2007 10:46 AM

michellezm

Second that MofC. How interesting Dorine. Love the accompanying pic.

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/f7f7635b-cce3-414e-bf3a-ca523e697f3f/FC0C64D6-08D6-48D1-B9B1-BEE131AA0474/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.popsci.com/popsci/technology/243434a70e131110vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html" href="http://www.popsci.com/popsci/technology/243434a70e131110vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html" style="font-size: 11px;">www.popsci.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.popsci.com/popsci/technology/243434a70e131110vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html"><div align="center"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.popsci.com/img/B428D902-2255-47C5-8D8E-80775145723A" alt="" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.popsci.com/popsci/technology/243434a70e131110vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html"><STRONG>Wings, antennae and scales may be our best weapons yet against toxins and explosives</STRONG></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.popsci.com/popsci/technology/243434a70e131110vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html">Annoying as they are, you may want to think twice before you crush a cockroach or swat a fly—you could be killing a future foot soldier in the war on terror. Increasingly, scientists are turning to insects and other creatures for better ways to identify biohazards. “Cockroaches can detect all kinds of things, from anthrax spores to DNA,” says Karen Kester, an entomologist at Virginia Commonwealth University. With $1 million in funding from the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), Kester is studying ways to use roaches and houseflies as toxin sentinels inside contaminated buildings or subways. This, of course, spares humans the job, and it may prove more effective than mechanical sensors, which often lack the range and sensitivity of their living counterparts.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.popsci.com/popsci/technology/243434a70e131110vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html">Bees and fish are also in demand.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.popsci.com/popsci/technology/243434a70e131110vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html">living sensors are “the wave of the future.” </blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/FC0C64D6-08D6-48D1-B9B1-BEE131AA0474/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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