French researchers have succeeded in teaching ants to detect crabs using their sense of smell.
95% success rate
French researchers from CNRS, Inserm, Sorbonne University Paris Nord and Institut Curie taught ants to detect crabs by smell. The ants The trainer is able to orient themselves by smell to containers with diseased cells placed next to other containers with healthy cells inside.
According to the scientists, the results of their research show a success rate of 95%, according to reports Francetvinfo.fr. During the experiment, the researchers placed a drop of sugar water next to the samples that contained it cancer cells. Very quickly, the ant absorbed the food for the special smell of diseased cells.
Still in beta المرحلة
hundred of ants They were trained to detect three cancer cell lines: ovarian cancer cells and two types of breast cancer cells. “There is no reason to believe that it will not work with other types of cancer cells,” One researcher commented. So far, the effectiveness Ants “sniff” It is mainly tested in a laboratory.
Admittedly, dogs managed to detect breast cancer From the smells of sweat, but working with ants has more advantages. Ants learn faster than dogs and are less expensive to breed. By comparison, training an ant only takes about ten minutes, compared to six months to a year to train a dog.
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