Honey Bees Give New Meaning to the Term Drug Sting

Drug sniffing dogs may be a thing of the past as honey bees take on the task of finding illicit drugs. That’s right, honey bees. Gizmodo reports that researchers at the Police Laboratory for Criminal Technology, Hesse, Germany, said insects are ideal at finding narcotics because they have sensitive antennae, they are inexpensive to breed and raise and they can be trained to detect drugs and other substances. The researcher’s explained in a paper published by PLOS One that they introduced the honey bees to certain smells, then used a “mild electric shock” to teach them which odors to avoid (the smell of drugs such as heroin, for example). They also said not all insects “sense and learn odors” the same way, so species used for drug detection purposes will vary. They concluded more research is needed on the subject.