Bees spend a great deal time and energy foraging for nectar and bringing it back to the hive. In the process, the
hairlike bristles on their bodies collect pollen and also dust and other airborne particles. Scientists are hoping
that these flying dust mops can serve as environmental monitors, and even help save human lives. I’m Jim
Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet, presented by DuPont.
“We could use bees for going out and finding out where the pollution is, for any kind of an environmental site.”
Phil Rodacy is a scientist at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
“They have demonstrated that they can collect pollutants, so if you have a large area that might have been,
say, downstream from a manufacturing plant that was suspected of releasing carcinogenic materials, or maybe
heavy metals or something like that, you can analyze the hive atmosphere in those areas and you can actually
find out what pollutants are in an area.”
Beehives, and the residue that bees bring into them, may help detect another hidden danger — landmines.
Susan Bender is also with Sandia Naitonal Laboratories.
“We are looking at bees to see if we can use them as environmental monitors, in this case, the application we’re
looking at is whether they will bring back traces from a landmine. We know that landmines leak. Therefore we
feel that in their foraging routine on a day-to-day basis, that bees might bring back elements from a land mine,
such as TNT, so we can take a look and sample at the hive area to see if there are landmines in an area. ”
More on using bees to find landmines in our next program. If you’d like to hear your favorite Pulse of the Planet
programs again online, please visit our web site at nationalgeographic.com. Pulse of the Planet is presented by
DuPont, bringing you the miracles of science, with additional support provided by the National Science
Foundation. I’m Jim Metzner.