Biorobots-sappers
Locusts detect explosives by smell
In a new study conducted by scientists from Washington University in St. Louis, it was found that the American locust (Schistocerca americana) is able to distinguish by smell various types of explosives, including TNT, hexogen, pentrite and ammonium nitrate.
To study the work of the olfactory system of insects, electrodes were implanted in their brains that register the activity of neurons. A device was placed on the back of the locust, transmitting the collected data wirelessly. The researchers were able to decipher samples of neural activity and were able to determine which odors the insects perceived.
"We didn't know if they would be able to smell or locate explosives, because these substances have no significant environmental significance," says team leader Barani Raman, a researcher from the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Washington. Nevertheless, it turned out that the olfactory system of locusts registers the vapors of a number of explosives. "The most amazing thing was that we could clearly see that the neurons reacted differently to trinitrotoluene and dinitrotoluene, as well as to other explosive substances," says Raman.
Since insects with implanted electrodes could not move, they were placed on miniature mobile devices with remote control. The equipment allowed decoding the signals of the insect's olfactory neurons in just 500 milliseconds. The authors of the study believe that in the future, using live insects, it will be possible to create mine search systems. "The idea is not as strange as it may seem at first glance," says Barani Raman. – This is not much different from the old days when canaries were used in coal mines. People use pigs to find truffles. This is a similar approach – using a biological organism, only a little more complex."
The results of the study are published in the journal Biosensors and Bioelectronics: X (Saha et al., (Saha et al., Explosive sensing with insect-based biorobots).
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