Sniffing out trouble

The “wasp hound,” a handheld chemical detector powered by trained wasps, is a prototype tool for detecting explosives, illegal drugs and plant diseases. The tool consists of five parasitic wasps that react to the smells of these chemicals, thereby setting off an alarm to alert authorities. Quoted in National Geographic News, Glen Rains, a biological engineer at UGA in Tifton and co-developer of the wasp hound, says, “They are an incredibly versatile type of system. We’ve really just scratched the surface.”