NationStates Jolt Archive

Scientists are working on training wasps to sniff out drugs and explosives (http://www.thecurrentonline.com/media/paper304/news/2005/10/24/Opinions/BombSniffing.Dogs.Could.Be.Replaced.By.Trained.Wasps-1031931.shtml?norewrite&sourcedomain=www.thecurrentonline.com)! Yes, WASPS! Those little bugs that sting the shit out of you!


This is just WAY TOO FUCKED UP!

You watch, next, a drug dealer or terrorist will train a bigger bug to kill them, and it will escalate, and we will all be over run by crazy mutated freakin bugs!

Anyone else as disturbed and intrigued about this as I am?

yeah that doesn't make sense though
you can't train wasps
you can alter them to be attracted to the drugs
but thats all
and anyway we're going to have biosensors that are better then most of these sytems anyway soon.

I love biology

yeah that doesn't make sense though
you can't train wasps
you can alter them to be attracted to the drugs
but thats all
and anyway we're going to have biosensors that are better then most of these sytems anyway soon.

I love biology
Apparently you can!

"Researchers at the University of Georgia have found a way to train wasps to detect bombs, chemicals, hidden bodies and even cancer cells and signal when they are found."

yup, I saw that too, and it's bloody useful, you can train them in 15 minutes and carry loads of them without terrorists even knowing.



(damn you government forces, you win this thime)

And here´s me, thinking it´s about WASPs and their latest drug abusing method, a.k.a. sniffing bombs.
"Hey, wanna have a toke of this Little Boy? Really blasts you away..."

Looks just a bit annoying... I'm a Trypanophobe, needles and injections scare the living shit out of me and i'd quite happily take people to court if I were threatened with or this were actually used on me.

Hating needles is the natural balance for my utter love of snaked and reptiles. They're so cute! The little eyes and the flicky tongue... I just want to give them a big hug :fluffle:

Ooh... edit in reply to earlier quote!
And here´s me, thinking it´s about WASPs and their latest drug abusing method, a.k.a. sniffing bombs.
"Hey, wanna have a toke of this Little Boy? Really blasts you away..."

Stingraaaaaaay.... Stingray! (da-la-daladala)!
Stingraaaaaaay.... Stingray! (da-la-daladala)!

Fascinating. And if it works, terribly useful, too. Someone might run if they see the cops coming with a dog, but who's gonna notice a wasp?

Anyone else as disturbed and intrigued about this as I am?

I am wondering how they want to use them during winter.

and anyway we're going to have biosensors that are better then most of these sytems anyway soon.
Doesn't Japan already have this stuff? We won't have it. All of our leet technology goes into finding more ways to blow shit to hell.

And then the wasps sting some one with allergies to wasp stings and everyone gets their asses sued off.

I am wondering how they want to use them during winter.
Tiny fur coats and even tinier GhengisKhanian fur hats.

Fascinating. And if it works, terribly useful, too. Someone might run if they see the cops coming with a dog, but who's gonna notice a wasp?
It's not a single wasp, but a "wasp device", that you probably use in a way similar to a metal detector.

The trained wasps are contained in a small device called a "Wasp Hound." When the target odor is found, a flashing signal or alarm is sounded.

...The species used, a tiny parasitic wasp called Microplitis croceipes, does not sting humans. The device uses a ventilated plastic cup that contains a cartridge with five trained wasps. It has a tiny camera linked to a computer, which detects the movement of the wasps. When the wasps move towards the odor inlet of the device, in response to the scent they have associated with food, an alarm is triggered to signal the detection of the target odor.

The main advantage of this system is that it must be very cost-effective. Wasps can be bred in huge quantities very quickly and cheaply, and if their performance even equals, let alone supecedes, that of dogs, they are already worth it.

Besides, if this article is true, the same "wasp-hound" can be used to diagnose diseases:

The wasps have been trained to detect a wide array of scents, including 2,4-dinitrotoluene (2,4-DNT), a chemical used in certain explosives, 3-octanone, which is a chemical produced by some toxic fungi that infect certain crops and chemical odors that are associated with human diseases such as lung cancer, skin cancer and stomach ulcers.

I can imagine someone using insect repellent leaked out nearby as a method to disable the wasp device. Not sure on the quantities neccessary and distance though. Would have to be discrete as well.

How do you defuse a bomb when its covered in wasps?

How do you defuse a bomb when its covered in wasps?
Very carefully.

Scientists are working on training wasps to sniff out drugs and explosives (http://www.thecurrentonline.com/media/paper304/news/2005/10/24/Opinions/BombSniffing.Dogs.Could.Be.Replaced.By.Trained.Wasps-1031931.shtml?norewrite&sourcedomain=www.thecurrentonline.com)! Yes, WASPS! Those little bugs that sting the shit out of you!

Anyone else as disturbed and intrigued about this as I am?
Uh ... no. If you think trained wasps are something, you're going to have your socks knocked off in the next few years! As I've stated in other threads, work is currently underway on a genetic variant of corn rust which will ( when and if they get it developed properly ) attack the cocoa plant from which cocaine is made. Talk about "panic in needle park!" Heh!

Uh ... no. If you think trained wasps are something, you're going to have your socks knocked off in the next few years! As I've stated in other threads, work is currently underway on a genetic variant of corn rust which will ( when and if they get it developed properly ) attack the cocoa plant from which cocaine is made. Talk about "panic in needle park!" Heh!
Then we get advanced cocaine that is immune to corn rust.