Glowing bacteria that finds landmines

via Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow

Edinburgh University engineers have a plan to use genetically engineered bacteria that glow in the presence of explosives to detect landmines. The project is student-led, overseen by Alistair Elfick.
The bugs can be mixed into a colourless solution, which forms green patches when sprayed onto ground where mines are buried.
Edinburgh University said the microbes could be dropped by air onto danger areas.
Within a few hours, they would indicate where the explosives can be found.
The scientists produced the bacteria using a new technique called BioBricking, which manipulates packages of DNA.
Glowing bugs could find landmines (via Futurismic)

Hazel’s comment:
Beats blowing up humans, or even trained dogs, any day of the week! I just hope this stuff isn’t too expensive to produce.

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