Sep 13 2007Bees Sniff Bombs, Make Explosive Honey
A company called Inscentinel Ltd. has developed Vapor Detection Instrumentation, which is scientific speak for a couple bees taped to a piece of foam. The bees stick out their tongues when they smell an odor they have been trained to detect. They have been tested on explosives, drugs, counterfeit goods, food quality, and even cancer. I guess it is pretty neat stuff they're doing there, but I can't help but feel sorry for those little bastards taped up in there looking all cute and cuddly. It does say though that "Bees are happy undertaking their sniffing tasks and are comfortable throughout." I'm just curious what metrics were used to determine the level of bee happiness while working. "Hey little guys you happy in there?" "Bzzzzzzzz" "See, totally happy."
UPDATE: For anyone concerned about the poor bees, according to the company "After their working shift the bees are returned to their hive where they happily live out the rest of their lives and are integrated back into the hive." See, sometimes life does have a happy ending, just not in my case.
A couple more pictures after the jump.
Company Site [thanks to DaveAtFernie, the man all the ladies are buzzing about, for the tip]
Reader Comments
1. Spartacus - September 13, 2007 10:14 AM
Make those babies work....... Oh yes, FIRST!
2. Zoe Ward - September 13, 2007 12:50 PM
Absolutley buzzing! What will they think of next?
3. Jen - September 13, 2007 4:18 PM
bees have tongues?
4. Felipe - September 13, 2007 4:21 PM
Will the poor bastards starve too death?
#2 I agree.
5. Anon - September 13, 2007 6:43 PM
@4, yeah, bees have tongues. Don't imagine them as human-like though. You can probably find an image on google or something if you're curious.
6. NekoNeko - September 14, 2007 5:10 AM
I know that it's for a good cause, but I agree- I just feel bad for the bees in there. Please tell me that once they're done they at least have some sort of hive they pop the bees into instead of killing them or leaving them to die in that box. If they don't, then how are they going to restock the bees? What are they going to do, say "Officer Steve, we have a bomb threat in _____ high school. Can you go to the park & try to catch some bees?"
Besides, aren't all the news stories telling us that bees are going extinct or something?
7. Twinkle - September 14, 2007 9:13 AM
me too... i feel sorry for the bees... uhuhuhu... i want to roll on the floor and cry for them... uhuhu
8. Claire - September 14, 2007 11:42 AM
I feel sad for the bumby bees :(
9. guate6 - March 6, 2008 6:05 PM
Bees don't have tongues, they have what's called a proboscis, which is sort of like a tongue. In any case, they use their feet, antennae and proboscis to do the work. I do feel a bit bad for having those poor bastards taped there.