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<H3 style="MARGIN: auto 0in"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 15pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><EM><FONT size=3>This further update on the work of Dr. Jerry Bromenshenk was sent to the NAPPC Listserv thanks to Dr. Nan Vance.</FONT></EM></SPAN></H3>
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<H3 style="MARGIN: auto 0in"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 15pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Can hives save lives? Better bee-lieve it <o:p></o:p></SPAN></H3>
<P><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>MEA-MFT members develop honeybee swat teams for landmine detection<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>Back in the old days, miners used canaries to warn them of toxic gases in the mines.<B> Dr. Jerry Bromenshenk,</B> an MEA-MFT member and University Faculty Association board member, uses another little yellow flying critter-the humble honeybee-to detect environmental hazards. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>For 30 years, Bromenshenk, researcher and entomologist at the University of Montana in Missoula, has studied bees and used them to assess risks such as radiation, chemicals, and heavy metals. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>Recently, Bromenshenk and his colleagues, <B>Steve Rice</B> and <B>Colin Henderson</B> (both MEA-MFT members) and Robert Seccomb, have been making international headlines for their breakthrough research on using bees to detect one of the most deadly environmental dangers of all-explosive landmines. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>They believe the honeybee method could save tens of thousands of lives and bolster <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Montana</st1:place></st1:State>'s economy at the same time. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><B><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>Pavlov's honeybees</FONT></SPAN></B><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><BR><FONT size=3>The UM bee team has developed two different methods of using bees to detect environmental hazards. These little flying dust mops collect particles on their statically charged hairs as they buzz about, bringing clues back to the hive where scientists can analyze them. It's a process called passive monitoring.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>In active monitoring, the researchers train bees to associate a certain odor with food, much like Pavlov's famous dogs. In just a couple of days, bees can be trained to seek out and hover over a particular scent.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>"They think their favorite food (sweet syrup) will be near the scent we want them to fly to," explained Steve Rice, who chairs the electronics department at the UM <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">College</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Technology</st1:PlaceName> in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Missoula</st1:place></st1:City> and developed the "fake electronic flower" used to train bees. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>In the past four years, the UM team has been training bees to seek out some particularly deadly scents-the chemicals in landmines.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>Landmines are littered throughout war-torn countries across the world. The Red Cross estimates 80 to 120 million unexploded landmines lurk buried in some 70 countries, where they kill or maim 20,000 to 30,000 people each year. Children are the most common victims.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><B><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>Flying colors</FONT></SPAN></B><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><BR><FONT size=3>To see whether trained honeybees can locate buried landmines and other explosives, the UM researchers pooled resources from three federal agencies, three national labs, Montana's universities, and a tribally owned business (S&K Electronics of Pablo) to fund and conduct the research, initially funded by the Department of Defense. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>They also teamed up with scientists at Sandia National Laboratories, who first developed a laser system to detect insects; NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association), which provided the laser itself; and colleagues at Montana State University in Bozeman, who provided laser mapping of bees during the field trials. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>The researchers held their field tests in August 2003, and the bees passed with flying colors-literally. They had a 95 percent accuracy rate, compared to a 71 percent accuracy rate for bomb-sniffing dogs.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>Here's how the method works: Chemicals from landmines disperse through soil and create plumes. Trained honeybees looking for a sweet treat are attracted to the plumes and hover over them. Researchers pinpoint the bees' location (and thus the location of the landmine) using the laser system.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><B><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>Bee wranglers</FONT></SPAN></B><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><BR><FONT size=3>To refine their method for commercial use around the world, Bromenshenk and Rice recently formed Bee Alert Technology, Inc., along with Colin Henderson, assistant professor of biology at UM's College of Technology; Robert Etter, a U.S. Forest Service electrical engineer (formerly of the UM College of Technology); and Robert Seccomb, computer sciences specialist in the UM biological sciences department. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>Bee Alert Technology has secured two <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region> patents and is now seeking international patents so the company can take the project overseas. According to Bromenshenk, the company needs to conduct a few more experiments and get the laser technology down to a portable size. "We're very close," he said. "We know how to do it; we just need the financing." <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>Bee Alert Technology hopes to get financial backing from a humanitarian group for its efforts.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>Rice, who is also a board member of his local union, said training people to use bees in minefields is essential to the project's success. Bee Alert Technology is involved in a cooperative project with the UM <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType w:st="on">College</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Technology</st1:PlaceName></st1:place> and S&K Electronics to provide the equipment and develop the training.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>The plan is to make the method simple enough so any beekeeper can use it with any honeybees, anywhere in the world. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>"We're trying to control the quality of the bee wranglers (the people who maintain the hives and monitor the equipment)," Rice explained. "I don't want to send Americans to <st1:place w:st="on">Africa</st1:place> to do this; I want to train Africans to do it." <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>Besides saving lives and limbs, the bee detection process can also help restore agriculture in war-torn countries, Bromenshenk said. Much of the world's landmined area is agricultural cropland. "The strategy is to starve out your opponent," he explained. <BR>In addition, war often destroys beehives and beekeeping, and agriculture can't survive without bees. Their original job, after all, is pollinating crops and other plants. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>"If you can get beekeepers involved in the process of clearing landmines and get beekeeping going again," Bromenshenk said, "it would be a win all the way around."<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><B><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>Economic development for <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Montana</st1:place></st1:State></FONT></SPAN></B><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><BR><FONT size=3>The humanitarian effort to save lives is the main driving force behind Bee Alert Technology, Inc. But the bee method also has the potential to bring significant jobs and economic development to <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Montana</st1:place></st1:State>. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>The company plans to keep the technology and development based in <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Montana</st1:place></st1:State>. "We have all the expertise and technology here in the state," Bromenshenk said. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>Currently, there is only one demining company based in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>, according to Bromenshenk. That company has grown from a small venture with six bomb-sniffing dogs to 4,000 employees in 30 countries, with contracts up to a billion dollars a year. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>"If <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Montana</st1:place></st1:State> could get even a fraction of that, it would be a huge economic bonus to this state. It could be very, very big business," said Bromenshenk. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>The bee project is just one example of how higher education contributes to the state's economy. Fortunately, the Montana Legislature passed a law in recent years allowing higher education faculty to develop their own innovations. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>The law removed a significant barrier to economic development and formalized a way to establish companies with approval of the state Board of Regents. Bee Alert Technology got its green light from the regents in summer 2003.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><B><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>'Wake up and respect the bugs'</FONT></SPAN></B><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><BR><FONT size=3>Honeybees probably won't replace dogs in the business of landmine detection, but they can make a big contribution, according to the bee researchers.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>And bees have several advantages. They hang out together in groups of thousands and can cover every inch of a football field-sized area in a short amount of time. They aren't big enough to trip a landmine, and they don't require a handler with a leash to venture into dangerous territory with them. Plus, it takes far less time to train bees than dogs.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>According to the Rand Institute, clearing the world's landmines with conventional technology would take up to 500 years. "If we can get the bees out there, we can do it in 50 years," said Rice.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>Bee Alert Technology, Inc. has other big plans for their talented bees. Among other things, the company's partners envision using bees as sentinels for chemical and biological warfare agents. They recently received a small business award from the U.S. Army to advance this concept. They also plan to enlist the bees in improving agriculture right here at home. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>"All the equipment we've developed lends itself to better agricultural practices," Bromenshenk said. "If we can train bees to find a landmine, we should be able to train them to pollinate any kind of crop."<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>As a third-generation Montanan who grew up in agriculture, the agricultural applications are "near and dear to my heart," he said.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>For now, however, it's the bees' flair for finding deadly explosives that continues to snag the headlines. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>"They're pretty smart little critters," said Rice. "It makes you think maybe we'd better wake up and start respecting the bugs."<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><B><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>Want to know more?</FONT></SPAN></B><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><BR><FONT size=3>Bee Alert web site<BR>To learn more about the honeybee project, visit the Bee Alert site at http://beekeeper. dbs.umt.edu/bees/. Don't miss the "KIDS" area of the site.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><B><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>Bee project's A-team</FONT></SPAN></B><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><BR><FONT size=3>The honeybee research project "always has been a team effort," says Dr. Jerry Bromenshenk. Besides those mentioned on these pages, other team members include: <BR>Joe Shaw, MSU, Electrical & Computer Engineering <BR>Lee Spangler, MSU, Director of Special Programs <BR>Bob Madsen, Science Instructor, Chief Dull Knife College<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>Other MEA-MFT members involved in the bee research: Delbert Kilgore, UM physicist; and Garon Smith, UM chemist. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT color=#004000 size=3 PTSIZE="12">Laurie Davies Adams<BR>Executive Director<BR>Coevolution Institute<BR>423 Washington St. 5th<BR>San Francisco, CA 94111<BR>415 362 1137<BR>www.coevolution.org<BR>www.nappc.org<BR><BR><B><I>Our future flies on the wings of pollinators.</B></I></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>