Apparently animal testing has made way for a new form of abuse: insect labour. I'm not one to jump on activist bandwagons, but as cool as this is, it seems a tad cruel to exploit a little creature whose natural instinct is to collect pollen from pretty flowers, do a little dance for fellow hivers, and make a really sweet substance we like to put on toast. Unlike the male drone, whose only purpose is to mate with the queen, female bees really do work hard, and these are the ones being used in this new development.

Bees are being developed as sensors to intercept potential threats at airports and border posts. Trials are starting in a UK airport following the successful detection of explosives in cars.

A shoebox-sized device produced by Inscentinel uses bees to detect tiny concentrations of explosives, drugs or odours that indicate disease.

Bees have an extremely sensitive olfactory sense evolved over millions of years. They are able to detect concentrations at low parts per trillion - equivalent to a grain of salt in a swimming pool.

http://sensors.globalwatchonline.com/epicentric_portal/site/sensors/menuitem.aab334020a9ef1633d6d532067d001a0/

The authors say that the bees are returned to regular life at the hive after a two-day sensor work stint, but how long is that really in a life that lasts only 4 weeks?