Researchers are breeding fluorescent bacteria to uncover landmines
Lasers and microorganisms might help us clean up the world's minefields.
One of the many tragedies of war are the dangers that persist long after conflicts formally end -- dangers like abandoned minefields peppered with active, deadly ordnance. Buried landmines threaten the lives of ordinary people near former battlefields all over the world, and disarming them has always been a dangerous effort. Now, researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem are working on a way to make landmine identification easier and safer. No, the trick isn't to build a better metal detector, it's to cultivate bacteria that glows in the presence of deadly explosives.
A paper by researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem describes a system that uses specifically engineered bacteria that respond with a fluorescent signal when it detects the kind of explosive vapors that seep out of old landmines. This signal can be picked up by a laser scanning system that can identify the location of buried mines. Because the laser scanning portion can be operated remotely, the system could potentially remove the human element from a large part of the detection process.
If this method of detection can be proven to work consistently and be successfully deployed, it could help create a safer and more accurate method for clearing old minefields. The project also just sounds kind of cool -- what's better than using genetically engineered microorganisms and lasers to save lives?