Bomb-Focused Locust

Sometimes it seems like locusts just cannot catch a break. Just think how you would feel if people screamed “Plague!” every time you get together with a few of your buddies. Apparently recognizing that much of this ill will is deserved, it appears that locusts are finally ready to put millenia of strife with humans behind them and take the first step in repairing our relationship by offering an olive branch of cooperation.

A research group at Washington University has recently discovered that a locust’s olfactory system is able to detect various explosive chemical species (such as DNT and TNT). This discovery came after two other recent discoveries at the same university. In one study, it was found that researchers could read the insects’ minds and also, to some extent, control their actions. The other study created a biorobotic sensing system that can detect which neurons are firing in an insect's brain.

By combining these recent advancements, and optimizing each process for the specific task, the researchers were able to attach electronics to, and implant electrodes within, locusts that allow them to determine if and when locusts sense an explosive chemical. They can also direct the locusts to areas of interest for investigation.

But why would they go to all the trouble of trying to tame a locust and read its mind? The alternative would be to use an electronic nose — an electronic device designed to detect certain chemicals. However, these devices perform very poorly when compared to biological olfactory systems. Biological systems, even in the relatively simple case of the insect, have been shown to detect a broad array of chemicals with exquisite sensitivity. A locust far surpasses even state-of-the-art electronic noses in capability.

The team is still in the prototyping phase of development, so you do not need to look suspiciously at every passing insect just yet. In the future, they would like to see this technique being used for a broad array of chemical sensing tasks beyond explosive detection, including in medical applications.