Re:Smell PGH lets you report weird smells in Pittsburgh
by throwanem on Thursday June 22, 2017 @12:49PM
(#14613529)
I thought this was all a joke, but apparently only some of it is: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hymenoptera_training
Re:Smell PGH lets you report weird smells in Pittsburgh
by logfromblammo on Thursday June 22, 2017 @02:30PM
(#14614279)
The cartridges are not mentioned in that article. I saw them on a television program. They so strongly resembled rows of schoolchildren sitting at their desks, that I half expected a bell to ring before the bees put their textbooks away and go on to learn another scent.
The commercial product is the VASOR136 by Inscentinel Ltd.
https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/polopoly_fs/1.269373!/file/Sniff...
The cartridge is then loaded into a handheld device that lights an LED whenever the insect detects the odor.
Much cheaper than trained dogs, and the purely electronic detectors are not quite as robust [yet]. The downside is that you can't exactly buy it once and keep using it for the next 10 years.
Sniffer insects have been used to detect bombs, fungal blight, cancer, diabetes, pregnancy, contraband drugs, and uranium.