Today, a honeybee trained for just two days can associate the smell of explosives with food and seek out that smell. Two big advantages to training insects to track odors rather than, say, a dog: They learn faster and there's a lot more of them to teach.
Releasing a swarm of wasps or bees on a battlefield, or even a now-quiet meadow in Croatia that may be littered with mines, has its challenges, of course. Tracking the insects is foremost among them. It's impossible, as Tumlinson points out, to put chips on each of them. And you can't, as Lewis says, put a leash on a bee. Still, through devices like drones and webcams and something early researchers called a "Wasp Hound," scientists can trace the insects' movements, in at least small numbers.
Lewis' Wasp Hound, about the size of a large coin, contains five wasps, a tiny camera and a computer fan that pulls air through a small hole in the bottom of the device. When the Hound comes near the target smell, the wasps "cluster around that little hole like pigs to a trough," Lewis says. Another problem researchers face is scale. Training one wasp or one bee at a time can be laborious.
Scientists have come up with methods to train more than that. But insects, like some people, learn at different rates, so mass learning is not as accurate. In addition, bad weather or anything that disrupts the insects' ability to smell can cause difficulties. Research is continuing. Tumlinson and Lewis — Tumlinson is a professor of entomology at Penn State, Lewis a retired professor and a research entomologist with the U.
Department of Agriculture in Tifton, Georgia — never envisioned bees sniffing out bombs. They were looking for ways to control pests biologically, rather than with pesticides. And, in fact, they were very successful at it. Along with U. From the official announcement on the Wolf Foundation website, they were awarded the prize " for their remarkable discoveries of mechanisms governing plant-insect and plant-plant interactions. Their scientific contributions on chemical ecology have fostered the development of integrated pest management and significantly advanced agricultural sustainability.
He's an entomologist who has worked with insects on over major projects including "Spider-Man, "Arachnophobia," and "Jurassic Park. Following is a transcript of the video. Narrator: Some of the biggest stars in Hollywood are some of the smallest creatures on the planet. Real live insects like spiders, locusts, and butterflies play crucial roles in many memorable blockbuster films. But getting them to perform on camera is no easy task.
Steven Kutcher: Rosie, lift up your leg. This leg. Come on. Oh see, she did this one. Oh, there she goes. And that's just a little trick of putting a little pressure on her back leg that causes her front leg to come up.
Narrator: That's Steven Kutcher. He's an entomologist and the go to guy for all things bugs in Hollywood. He's worked with a variety of insects on over films in his career including "Arachnophobia," "Jurassic Park," and "Spider-Man. Kutcher: Understanding insect behavior is really the key. It's not training them because you don't have time to train them in the film industry. When you work with insects, you wanna corral the insects. You wanna be able to control them. Narrator: He's used a number of different techniques to get the bugs to move in the right direction involving lights, air, and temperature.
Kutcher: Let's say you're a bug. How can I make you move? Well, I could blow air at you, like 60 miles an hour air. You're going to move. I could light a little fire under you or set you on something that's really hot. You're gonna get up out of your seat and move. I could chill down the room. We just read about weaver ants because we wanted to know more about strong insects and if they work together. I'm really interested in these ants and haven't been very interested in any insects before we read this Wonder!
My mom said we could read more about strong beetles tomorrow. Sep 15, We liked how you told us the other day that it meant white hawk! Pedro Jan 16, The video was kind of disgusting at first but it turned that I learned something from it. I still can't get a prediction right on wonderopolis oh well. I'm happy that I joined. Wow I didn't know that ants could lift that much. Hey there, car-car! We are glad you learned something new about those amazing ants! Brianna Jan 16, I was amazed of how strong ants are and I think tomorrow's wonder of the day might be like a picture is worth a thousand words or language or the dictionary.
Ky Duyen Quang Jan 16, I didn't now that once we get stronger we weigh a bit heavier. Grace Jan 16, Thank you now I have the last fact for the ant squad I wish it was a movie it will take more than a hour thank you so much. Have a great day. We Wonder what the ant squad is? Gina Jan 16, Wonderopolis Jan 16, Caleb Jan 16, Thanks Caleb, we're glad to hear it! Tanner Jan 16, Well happy birthday, Tanner!
Thanks for sharing your special day with us! Have a good one! The video is so cool an ant can lift a big thing of dog food! I have no idea what the next wonder is. Cody from Mrs. Donalds class.
Cate Jan 16, So first of all I really don't pump iron but I do work out!! It's so cool that insects do work out. I didn't know ants where that strong and the humble dung beetle was amazing!! The video was awesome!! I usually don't like insects because they used to just be gross to me but now they are kind of COOL!!!! So thanks for teaching me about how strong insects are!!! Mme Vaughan Jan 16, I loved visualizing myself lifting a truck with my teeth!
We bet you'd have a great imagination, Mme Vaughn! Bananapeel81 Jan 16, I think that tommorrow's wonder will be about paintings. Cool wonder! Stemmet's class Jan 16, Dear wonderopolis, I can't believe how strong an ant is. Do you think the dog will get mad that the ant is carrying his food away? I think it was mean when the person picked at the ant. We made dung beetles out of clay last year in art. The video was neat, but I wish it was longer.
Alyssa Jan 16, I never knew that ants can lift that much weight!!!!! It was interesting to learn!!!! This is amazing how strong insects are and I think today I will see for myself how strong they are That's so cool I think that I will buy an ant farm and see how to work out.
Witkowski's 4th grade cla Jan 16, Dear Wonderopolis, We enjoyed the video today. We really didn't know that ants could carry so much, like dog food. We think tomorrow's wonder will be about a long train, the longest word, or dictionaries.
Thank you for the wonders, Mrs. Witkowski's 4th graders. So interesting that I have to take notes and learn more I am highly impressed by your info? How did you find out all of this information please write back and also how do you send back replies does a computer do all your typing or an actual human reads them? Sorry if I have bored you with my questions.
Vass' Third Grade Jan 16, It was amazing to learn how much an ant can carry! We loved the video! Alyssa wants to know why ants get squished when we step on them if they are so strong!?! Our prediction for tomorrow's Wonder of the Day is how many words the fastest auctioneer can say in one minute. Nolan's 5th grade friends Jan 16, Dear Friends at Wonderopolis, We are wondering what is the heaviest thing an ant can carry? Can you tell us? We learned that a colony is a group of ants.
We love your website! Makenzie, Scott and Austin. And I think that tomorrow's wonder of the day is going to be about a picture, photo or a painting what do you think? Great guesses, Hunter! Hello wonderbuddies I had no idea ants were so strong I once found out my feet weigh 23 pounds each! By the way I am a year old boy! How much iron can they carry? From aniyah. Beatty's 4th Grade Jan 16, The video was magnificent!
It was fun learning about the dung beetle and the leafcutter ant. It was nice to learn that insects can carry so much more than us. Murphy's Class Jan 16, We are impressed with how strong the dung beetle is. It can lift , pounds?!?! Miss Holden's 2nd Grade Class Jan 16, It made us laugh a lot. We knew a lot about ants from our insect unit.
So, we were glad the Wonder of the Day was about them. We predict tomorrow's wonder will be: We think there will be lots of talking, dictionaries,singing, a very hyper person or sign language. Tillman's 4th grade class Jan 16, Dear Wonderopolis, Wow! We never realized that insects could be so strong! If insects can lift so much because they are small, does that mean a very small person can lift a lot too?
We think tomorrow's wonder will be about a library because it is full of books and words, scrabble, or even a picture because we heard that a picture can be worth a thousand words.
Tillman's 4th graders. Bayko's Class Jan 16, We didn't know that ants were so strong! We think tomorrow's wonder will be about too much talking. Hess Jan 16,
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