Swat team: US Navy experiments with ‘cyborg locusts’ to find bombs
- Researchers say they were able to hijack a locust’s olfactory system to detect different explosives
- Cyborg locusts could be cheaper and more effective than bomb-sniffing dogs
Bomb-sniffing “cyborg locusts” could be the next wave in US national security, according to military news agency Stars and Stripes.
Washington University researchers, funded by the US Navy, reportedly indicate that locusts can differentiate between TNT, ammonium nitrate and other bomb-making materials, and locate their origins almost immediately. Locusts are known to have a well-honed sense in their antennae, but scientists weren’t certain the bugs could detect objects that are foreign to their natural environment.
Biomedical engineering professor Barani Raman and his team’s US$1.1 million study found that apparently they can.
“It turns out … the insects do have sensors for them and very exquisite sensors … because they can pick up some of these odours at extremely low concentrations – of parts per billion and below,” Raman reportedly learned.
If scientists can better understand the brains and receptors of locusts, they might be able to develop swarms of artificial “electronic noses” superior to what’s being used to search for explosives now, according to Stars and Stripes.