Diagnostic Tools glazed honey bees use to identify cancer

She Susana Soares Portugal has created a series of diagnostic tools used glazed honey bees are trained to see patients carry a germ cancer . Project "Bees" began the study indicates that "sniffing bees" can be trained to recognize a particular odor as some explosives, pathogens or cancer as in the case Her Soares.

Previously also had the idea of ​​using sniffer dogs to identify lung cancer and help develop an electronic nose cancer awareness. Although bees can be trained to recognize a unique smell, however, their ability is pretty good, might even be better than dogs.

As she Soares: "Bees have the ability to recognize the smell extremely well and can be trained to become" biosensors "fast and flexible to use in the identification of molecular biochemistry."


Coaching bees can only take about 10 minutes to complete, including sewing bees simply learn to recognize a particular odor and the reward for it is water or sugar. The bees will then realize that the scent will be related to food and it'll go.

Soares Bees Project consists of creating a kind of diagnostic tool with glass, inside a small compartment. When a patient breathes into the device, the bees were trained to fly immediately into the small compartment that, if it found that the "smell" of cancer. This project was carried out with the purpose of supplementing the existing methods and help make a more accurate diagnosis during the visit, in addition, it also helps reduce the cost of health care funds cancer is very high now.