Engineered Bacteria Glows To Reveal Land Mines

MikeChino writes "Sifting through minefields to remove hidden threats is a dangerous, tedious, and expensive process. Scientists at the University of Edinburgh recently announced that they have engineered a strain of bacteria that glows green in the presence of explosives, making mine detection a snap. The new strain of bacteria can be sprayed onto local affected areas or air-dropped over entire fields of mines. Within a few hours the bacteria strain begins to glow wherever traces of explosive chemicals are present."

Comments

Pitch

[ExE122]

...making mine detection a snap

I dunno, sounds like a sales pitch to me... you should have either written it in all caps Billy Mays style or said, "Made in Scotland... you know the Scottish make good stuff"

Reguardless, the article has already been /.ed so here are some other sources: Discover, Treehugger, and DNA

Re:Pitch

[Ziwcam]

Simple countermeasure: After placing mines, spray field with explosive residue. Now what?

Re:Pitch

[OverlordQ]

Your first two links are the same, might have been meant to direct here instead.

Re:Pitch

[MyLongNickName]

This would likely be used for already existing minefields. Afghanistan is the most mined country in the world, and cleanup efforts are very tedious. I think that is the market for this product.

Re:Pitch

[nametaken]

I'd like to introduce you to a truly enlightening product!

Re:Pitch

[Ziwcam]

Hey now, I was simply pointing out an obvious shortcoming to the potential usefulness of this in an area where insurgents still want to keep it mined. When used to clean up abandoned minefields, I think this product has the potential to save tons of lives (and limbs). No need for you to wish me into the middle of a minefield simply because I pointed out a potential countermeasure to the product.

Re:Pitch

[tophermeyer]

Also useful in Southeast Asian countries, where cleanup is all but ignored by local government, and the practical cost of disposal is roughly 1 human appendage per mine.

Re:Pitch

[Maximum Prophet]

Or, after one or more mines explode, does the entire field become tainted with explosive residue?

Re:Pitch

[Chapter80]

Do they have a bacteria that can help me with FreeCell? I was already pretty good at Minesweeper.

Re:Pitch

[reverseengineer]

It looks like the University of Edinburgh entered this project in the International Genetically Engineered Machine competition, so they have a project page with a lot of information. From what I gather, it would appear that the system is based on a system of enzymes that break down soil nitrites which have been linked to Green Fluorescent Protein. Nitrites are a natural byproduct of the breakdown of nitro-based explosives like TNT and PETN. Of course, soil nitrites from non-leaking landmine sources, like chemical fertilizers would also trigger fluorescence, so the team engineered a non-natural gene promoter protein. The genes to produce the fluorescent complex only get transcribed and translated into protein if the promoter is active. The activator for that promoter is a molecule of TNT, so the bacteria will only glow if TNT is present.

I'd also encourage people to take a look at the other iGEM projects. Lots of interesting reading.

Re:Pitch

[Vainglorious Coward]

Afghanistan is the most mined country

Afghanistan comes in 4th according to this source. I was a little surprised that Egypt tops that list.

Re:Pitch

[gandhi_2]

Yes! That's the beauty of it! Now you know you have a minefield! (:

Re:Pitch

[ppanon]

Well, it depends on how sensitive the bacteria are. Over time, rain, sun, organic processes, etc., will probably wash away and break down the explosive residue you spread, whereas it would continue to evaporate/disseminate from the actual mine locations. That would mean that long term mine fields like those on the North Korea DMZ would effectively be vulnerable unless you were prepared to re-seed the fields regularly with explosive residue (an expensive proposition). In the end, this might remove the last holdouts (including the US - primarily because of NK) against a land mine ban treaty. Once it becomes moot of course.

They might try to seal the explosives in new mines against thermal dispersal (and then terrorists can get a hold of that technology to sneak explosives onto planes again) but that would increase the cost of land mines, for which the primary advantage currently is low cost.

Re:Pitch

[tolkienfan]

mod parent -1 gibberish...

Re:Pitch

[somersault]

As long as it doesn't result in any false negatives, I think it sounds like a great product for speeding up sweeping. Even if half of a 'field does end up alight, at least they can ignore the dark portions and concentrate on the lit areas.

In a sparsely mined area it could save weeks, months or years of painstaking work - or a few limbs in the case where currently nobody is bothering to sweep the area clean at all.

The next step is for the bacteria to auto dissolve the explosives, kind of like that blue stuff in Predator, heh. I just hope these little guys don't have the potential to cause more problems than they solve!

Re:Pitch

[PRMan]

I had a co-worker from Afghanistan in the past (nice guy). He said that his uncle would do it is to buy a field with land mines on it for cheap and then just let a herd of goats graze the property. If a goat exploded, that one was dinner.

Simple. Cheap. Effective.

Re:Pitch

[amicusNYCL]

Well sure, but who has to go recover the goat? For that you need goat-recovering dogs.

Re:Pitch

[BluBrick]

That might happen under natural selection, after a few hundred (thousand?) years. But we artificially select these bacteria for their ability to glow in the presence of boom-dust, therefore natural selection is irrelevant.

Re:Pitch

[Avalain]

Except that it doesn't really work that way. Plus, if you DID want to think about it that way you can say the bacteria has already realized that if it glows in the presence of explosives then we will grow large batches of the stuff to spray on the ground. If it decides not to grow then we will just destroy it and make another batch.

Re:Pitch

[tsm_sf]

And then dog-recovering ponies.

Re:Pitch

[smoker2]

Aim your anti-mine techniques at the bright green field ? Dickhead.

Re:Pitch

[joocemann]

BactoBlood was by far my favorite IGEM (2007) submission ever.

Re:Pitch

[reverseengineer]

In most soils, there live denitrifying bacteria, whose metabolism is based on reducing oxidized forms of nitrogen, eventually turning it back into nitrogen gas which reenters the atmosphere. These bacteria are recyclers, generally getting on by "unfixing" the fixed forms of nitrogen most other organisms rely on to survive, and so tend not to be picky about their nitrogen sources. They have enzymes called flavoprotein reductases that let them get nitrogen from organic nitrates, like from decaying organic matter. It turns out, however, that these enzymes also let them use many of our most common nitrated chemical explosives as a nitrogen source as well. In fact, one such enzyme has even been named PETN reductase, like the PETN that's in Semtex. I'm saying that if you spray liquid explosive on soil, the bacteria that already live there will eat it like candy. The mines would far outlast the spraying, which is exactly the problem- landmines around the world have far outlasted the conflicts they were laid for in the first place.

The method proposed by this group from Edinburgh actually takes advantage of that process, though. An old landmine or unexploded ordnance is probably going to be slowly leaching explosive out of the weapon. This means that soil near the device will contain the explosive itself, and also nitrites, which are produced as an intermediate step of breaking down the explosive material.

The group set up a sort of two-factor authorization. They genetically engineered promoters, proteins that bind to DNA and promote transcription of a particular genetic sequence, for two fluorescent proteins. Nitrite ion binds to the promoter for luxAB.GFP, which is a fusion protein of bacterial luciferase and green fluorescent protein. Thus, whenever nitrites are present, this protein gets made, and the bacterium glows a pleasing blue-green color. Not just fluoresces, mind you, but actively puts out light, due to the luciferase part. There is another sequence, for enhanced yellow fluorescent protein (eyfp). That promoter is activated by the presence of trinitrotoluene; the group used computational methods to develop a protein that binds DNA if it is also bound to TNT. Unlike the luxAB.GFP fusion protein, eyfp only fluoresces. It will glow yellow only if higher energy light has been input. So if pure TNT were present, the bacterium would make eyfp, but would only glow under UV light. When only nitrites are present, it actively glows blue. When both are present, the luxAB.GFP dumps light on eyfp, and the bacteria actively glow yellow. And then you call the bomb squad.

Re:Pitch

[Peredur]

Ok. First, type in this sequence of Bacteria DNA:

xyzzy

Then press the two magic keys:

SHIFT
ENTER

Tada! All the help you need.

Re:Pitch

[Peredur]

bah, saw minesweeper and totally forgot that you asked for help on freecell.

Re:Pitch

[B3ryllium]

... on leashes.

Re:Pitch

[laddiebuck]

I'd have guessed so based on WWII alone, though Cyrenaica would be a strong contender too -- but Egypt has continued to fight wars. That's desert, a mine laid in the desert is not as likely to be discovered as over in Asia where they're all in fields.

Re:Pitch

[TheLink]

Hmm, you didn't go for the obvious: "in Southeast Asian countries, where cleanup is all but ignored by local government, and it practically costs you an arm or a leg to dispose of mines".

Re:Pitch

[Bauguss]

this makes me think of Spaceballs. Just comb the desert.

Re:Pitch

[readin]

Probably a stupid question but...

If we're spraying the ground with bacteria that take away the nitrogen needed by other plant and animal species, would that make the topsoil hard to use for agriculture? And if this bacteria is able to thrive in the area, could it become a larger problem - destroying fertile fields that were already known not to have mines?

Re:Pitch

[reverseengineer]

The denitrifying bacteria (from bacterial genera like Pseudomonas and Bacillus) aren't the mine detectors, but rather just provide a chemical signal for the engineered bacteria (E. coli, workhorse of genetic engineering). They happened to be in the soil already, because denitrifying bacteria happen to live in most soils worldwide. Under a certain depth of soil, atmospheric oxygen is not going to be accessible. Organisms that live there must either be anaerobic, or use a different substance than oxygen in their metabolism. Denitrifying bacteria run their metabolism with the reduction of nitrogen oxides back to nitrogen gas.

That does of course take bioavailable forms of nitrogen out of the soil, and given that it's pretty big business for humans to put bioavailable nitrogen compounds into soil, you might consider denitrifiers to be serious pests. And to some extent they are- one of the effects tilling or aerating soil has is to make atmospheric oxygen more accessible to soil bacteria, making the situation less attractive for denitrification. However, too much nitrogen in soil is also a problem, particularly in the form of nitrates and nitrites. If denitrifiers don't break them down to nitrogen gas, they will eventually enter the water cycle as runoff and feed phytoplankton blooms far downstream, causing hypoxic "dead zones." In other words, the nitrogen will be recycled somewhere on earth- it's really better to have it happen in the soil. Besides, as this landmine project suggests, the denitrifying bacteria can break down organic nitrates that are toxic to most other life.

This could make things worse...

[Monkeedude1212]

Now they'll either lace the entire field with C4, or they'll start using remote detonators when people move in to disarm.

Re:This could make things worse...

[NeutronCowboy]

The biggest danger with mines is not that they explode - it's that no one really knows where the mines are, and that they are often right around civilian areas.

Your two scenarios would actually both be a vast improvement over the current situation.

In the first instance, you just have to get one little corner to detonate, and the entire field should go off. At that point, de-mining via artillery-shelling will actually work. If you meant to say that the mine fields are going to be much denser, great as well - you can actually employ large-scale de-mining equipment and have it be more cost-efficient than the hand-demining.

In the second instance, people sitting at a remote trigger actually make the mine safer: it means that there are less mines to go around (detonators are scarce, mines are not), someone knows where the mine is and it won't randomly go off when a kid decides to play catch in the field.

Re:This could make things worse...

[Mekkah]

How would remote detonators be worse, that would mean someone actually has to be watching..?

at least then you could possibly see your enemy, that would be better than the landmines now where your enemy is drinking a mai tai while Lt. Dan's is looking for his legs.

Re:This could make things worse...

[vlm]

Now they'll either lace the entire field with C4, or they'll start using remote detonators when people move in to disarm.

The real problem is there is no magic biological way to detect explosives, like the force, or some DnD "reveal invisible" spell.

So, what'll happen, is anywhere the mines have degraded and cracked open and are thus probably inert, will glow green, so people will avoid those "dangerous" areas, and anywhere the mines remain hermetically sealed, will not glow, thus it looks "safe" but is actually very dangerous.

Even worse, its not failsafe. If a spot is not glowing, is that because coverage was not 100% because a vehicle was parked there, or maybe the heat from a fire killed the bacteria, or ...

Safest thing to do, is just ignore the results. No one benefits but the contractors, which was probably the whole point to begin with.

Re:This could make things worse...

[falconwolf]

So, what'll happen, is anywhere the mines have degraded and cracked open and are thus probably inert, will glow green, so people will avoid those "dangerous" areas, and anywhere the mines remain hermetically sealed, will not glow, thus it looks "safe" but is actually very dangerous.

If machine scanners can detect explosives what makes you think living things can't? Are these scanners just scams to get money from airports, border crossings, and seaports?

Even worse, its not failsafe. If a spot is not glowing, is that because coverage was not 100% because a vehicle was parked there, or maybe the heat from a fire killed the bacteria, or ...

I agree nothing may be failsafe but...

Safest thing to do, is just ignore the results. No one benefits but the contractors, which was probably the whole point to begin with.

... these bacteria could be helpful for clearing mine fields by mine sweepers. Someone above said how Afghanistan is the most heavily mined country in the world. I don't know if it is true but it was mined when the Soviets invaded and continued to be mined after the Soviets left, in fighting between the different factions of Mujahideen. Southeast Asia was pretty heavily mined as well as Angola and other nations. Even today unexploded ordinances are found in the Ardennes region of France from WWII as well as in the US from the Civil War.

Falcon

Re:This could make things worse...

[DesertBlade]

A properly laid mine field will not suffer from sympathetic detonation of another mine. Most mines are placed 5 meters apart or more. Artillery is effective against certain types of mines, ones with trip wires or tilt rods, even then I would hesitate going in unless under a more serious threat (ie direct fire).

A single mine with a remote detonator is barely effective. The whole point of a mine is place it, and forget it. If you need someone (or 2) to babysit it cuts into you combat effectiveness.

Many modern anti-personal mines have a time that the mine is active. After 2 weeks it goes inert, or explodes in place.

Being an ex Combat Engineer, clearing minefields in Bosnia I can see the benefit of this technology. It could be a quick way to determine if a field is 'clear' or needs further investigation. Large scale offensive attacks, you can spray this over the battlefield and know shortly if it is clear.

Re:This could make things worse...

[Dalambertian]

If only there were some kind of treaty for making these things illegal so that the United States, China, Russia, and India could sign it. oh wait...

Re:This could make things worse...

[tibman]

The mines i've seen weren't hermetically sealed or even close. You have to open a port/hole in the mine and insert the detonator.. then arm it. And that's for basic function. Any sort of anti-personnel attachments (to prevent removal) are an additional hole and additional device (a scary device!). There are good reasons that mines are blown in place and not simply removed. Mines can be made of plastic too : / Not sure how permeable plastic mines are.. obviously waterproof though.

Re:This could make things worse...

[Hognoxious]

In the first instance, you just have to get one little corner to detonate, and the entire field should go off.

Any other genius thoughts you'd like to share with us? Like how it's easy to sink a battleship, all you have to do is make a hole the right size in the right place.

Seriously, do you think military engineers haven't worked out how to set mines so that 300 mines cause more than one casualty? If one man set off an entire minefield it would hardly be worth getting your spade dirty planting them, would it? You'd do more harm to the enemy throwing the bastard things at them.

You're not an armchair general. You aren't even a moron. You're an armchair moron.

Re:This could make things worse...

[Hognoxious]

The real problem is there is no magic biological way to detect explosives, like the force, or some DnD "reveal invisible" spell.

I don't have it to hand, but I remember reading an article a few years back about a kind of rat that can be trained to find them.

How long will it live?

[icebike]

It would seem if you could get this strain to survive in the soil for some months you could spray road sides even ahead of the implanting of IEDs.

Re:How long will it live?

[wed128]

Ok, troll, i'll bite...

Care to back that statement up with some sort of data? I happen to have made a career writing software for IED detection and disposal devices. I can tell you first hand that IEDs exist.

I'm so freaking tired of god damn conspiracy theorists. Why don't all the trolls go back to mirroring goatse, like the good old days?

Re:How long will it live?

[BlackSnake112]

I believe there are a few thousand people who would disagree with you. The whole first hand knowledge thing.

Re:How long will it live?

[tibman]

An explosion that'll shake every bone in your body.. your teeth in their sockets.. like the very fabric of your body was made of jello. This free experience can be yours! Sign up today!

I have a lot more respect for today's US soldiers than last decades... know why? Because today, if you sign up you will most likely see your first tour in 1-2 years. Then you'll stop and go.. i have to do 20 years of this to retire?!

Disclaimer: I respect anyone who served or made it to retirement, but go talk to someone who's deployed over 48 months, been blown up three times, lost > 10 men, and re-ups for more. You will feel like your service to the country was lacking too.

Nice idea, but...

[TrentTheThief]

Exploded mines and artillery shells leave unburnt residue.

Re:Nice idea, but...

[Anonymous Coward]

This narrows down the places which need to be sweeped for mines. That alone makes this valuable. Minesweeping is hard work. I mean, I get payed to play 'minesweeper' all day long! I mean... err... um...

Re:Nice idea, but...

[jayme0227]

This could be a setback, but my guess is that there would be a "glowing bacterial density" that you could look at. If everything's faintly glowing green in an area, then there's a spot where it's bright green, you'd take special care around that spot.

I'm not 100% sure how it would work, but this could save lives.

Re:Nice idea, but...

[TrentTheThief]

I wonder if it works in the dark? It might be confusing when using night vision.

Re:Nice idea, but...

[vlm]

If everything's faintly glowing green in an area, then there's a spot where it's bright green, you'd take special care around that spot.

Still no go. That bright spot is either uneven application of the mystery bacteria, or its a piece of shrapnel from the artillery shell/grenade/whatever.

Re:Nice idea, but...

[radtea]

Exploded mines and artillery shells leave unburnt residue.

Wow, you've identified an imperfection. I guess we'd all better quit and not bother then.

Seriously, is this how the world looks from the safety of your basement, where you can't be bothered to go out 'cause everthing isn't perfect?

This is a brilliant and useful addtion to the deminer's toolkit, and any potential issues are tiny compared to the added value it gives. Having poked around the problem of demining (I'm a sensors and image processing guy, not a biochemistry guy) I can say that this idea is clever and useful, despite the whining of armchair critics.

The added information this stuff would give deminers is worth a lot. Obviously other sources of explosive material is going to show up, but tell me, can you see from your basement how the distribution pattern of those other sources will differ from the distribution pattern of intact mines?

Can you see in your imagination how it might be more diffuse, say? Or how the pattern from intact mines might
actually contain some information as to the depth and age and type of the mine?

No, of course you can't, because you stopped thinking at the moment you thought of a plausible deviation from perfection--I can tell because you didn't even bother to complete your comment with the clearly implicity "therefore this is useless". And if you don't think it's useless, why didn't you say so, because anyone reading your comment sure would think that's what you were saying. So you should work on either improving your thinking skills, or your communications skills, or both.

Re:Nice idea, but...

[falconwolf]

I wonder if it works in the dark?

It glows so it should be easier to see in the dark.

Falcon

Re:Nice idea, but...

[jimbolauski]

Unless the artillery shell or grenade shrapnel had just exploded there will be a lower density of the residue when compaired to a land mine even if there is no difference false positives are much more acceptable then false negatives.

Re:Nice idea, but...

[jayme0227]

even if there is no difference false positives are much more acceptable then false negatives.

Exactly. The only time this would be a bad thing is if it actually discourages people from taking the real positives sincerely since there would be such a multitude of false positives.

On a side note, I wish people could stop dismissing new technologies because there's a road block in the way of it being viable. Although there are problems, progress can still be made. Even if the technology at hand is not 100% viable and never ends up working, it can lead to future discoveries that benefit everyone.

Re:Nice idea, but...

[TrentTheThief]

Sure, if the can of paint isn't buried in field that's been hit with artillery.

The main reason they are called "mines" is because the engineers who originally came up with it dug mines and civil projects when there wasn't a war happening.

There are a plethora of land mine types, many of which can be distributed via an air dispersal package from a cruise missile, an aircraft pod, and even from larger artillery shells. They aren't always manually buried, nor are they all subject to sympathetic detonation.

If the mine is lying under a couple inches of soil that arrived there as ejecta from a larger ground detonation, how much paint are you going to see?

I'm not poking fun at you. Experience with bang things makes one cynical about golly-gee inventions. I'll believe it when civilians aren't being maimed on a regular basis.

Re:Nice idea, but...

[TrentTheThief]

Perhaps, but most imaging systems are already displaying in green monotone ;-)

I also wonder how easily this stuff will be tracked on one feet? I don't think I'd want to leave any green footprints behind if I were out skulking.

Re:Nice idea, but...

[falconwolf]

Perhaps, but most imaging systems are already displaying in green monotone ;-)

Bioluminescence comes in colours from red to blue.

Falcon

Re:Nice idea, but...

[TrentTheThief]

Oh, yeah. I should have remembered. Just like the break and light tubes. Thanks for reminding me.

Re:Nice idea, but...

[TrentTheThief]

It's not being dismissive, it's being less than enthusiastic. At least for me.

There have been so many great ideas and applications of existing technology that have failed for less of an issue, that I no longer get worked up about new ones. Too much emotional energy lost to invest without reason.

Grey Goo 2.0?

[Itninja]

So can I add this the list of possible humanity-ending catalysts and/or future Michael Crichton novel plotlines? I vote to call it "glow goo" or perhaps simply "bactoswarm".

Re:Grey Goo 2.0?

[TornCityVenz]

You would have to hop into his time travel machine to get him to write it however, as he passed away in November of 2008.

Re:Grey Goo 2.0?

[interkin3tic]

I vote to call it "really dirty bomb."

"Not only did I get hit with mine shrapnel, it was covered in gross glowing e.coli. I nearly crapped myself from the mine explosion. Later, I -did- crap myself because of the diarrhea it caused."

Re:Grey Goo 2.0?

[Tarsir]

So can I add this [to] the list of [...] future Michael Crichton novel plotlines

That list may get longer, but I doubt it will get much shorter any time soon

Re:Grey Goo 2.0?

[Cornelius the Great]

Duh, we can clone him!

Re:Grey Goo 2.0?

[Itninja]

I still hold out hope.

Re:Grey Goo 2.0?

[Beardo the Bearded]

...or get nanobots to rebuild him.

Re:Grey Goo 2.0?

[Itninja]

You never know.

Re:Grey Goo 2.0?

[mmontour]

So can I add this the list of possible humanity-ending catalysts and/or future Michael Crichton novel plotlines?

The one I'm waiting for is a genetically-engineered cellulose-to-ethanol bacterium that can survive in the wild. With all of the biofuel companies rushing to come up with a commercially-viable product, there's lots of opportunity for an accident to unleash a critter capable of eating all plant life on earth. It will doom humanity, but at least we'll have lots of cheap booze to drink as the planet withers and dies.

What they don't tell you...

[Iphtashu Fitz]

The bacteria is a strain of bubonic plague that's more deadly than the mines themselves...

Re:What they don't tell you...

[AlexBirch]

Sweet, maybe the TSA can spray this on all passengers instead of using metal detectors.

Oh great !

[bugs2squash]

Now we'll all have to be dunked in a vat of this stuff every time I go through TSA security. We get more like sheep every day.

Re:Oh great !

[bmimatt]

If it actually works as advertised we'll have to check our luggage 48 hrs before planned flight.  If that in turn works as advertised, we'll have to check in 24 hrs before flight, then get dunked and go hang out at the airport bar while watching fellow travelers for signs of 'glow'.  Could be fun - I just want the TSA to pick up my tab at the end of the wait.

Re:Oh great !

[CompMD]

What do sheep get dunked in?

Re:Oh great !

[bugs2squash]

sheep dip

If the sheep are suspected terrorists they are not actually dipped, they have a cloth placed over their head and the dip solution is poured over it to make it seem like they are being held under.

Re:Oh great !

[randy of the redwood]

What do sheep get dunked in?

Getting a bit OT, but they get dunked in sheep dip - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheep_dip

Sheep dip is particularly good on ritz crackers. Everything goes better when it sitz on a ritz.

Next level stuff

[oldhack]

I really like us to come up with better debugging techniques before we go further into these bio-engineering stuff.

Re:Next level stuff

[Aldenissin]

We didn't learn from placing the mines themselves? I always worry when someone starts to use engineered biological organisms and processes that we don't fully understand. True, we can only test so much, but as commented in the Software Maintenance article, it's all about time to market and not getting it right. What ever happened to that miraculous bacteria that would eliminate tooth decay from a few years ago?

  Not to mention, I can see this stuff missing unless highly sensitive. It sounds like it, but I did not RTFA. Even still, are some mines sealed? Surely some haven't "leaked' enough to set this off? I am not sure I would walk on the ground and trust it, that's for sure. But I can't fault them for trying. I know that metal detectors don't cut it as there are metal free mines.

Re:Next level stuff

[Aldenissin]

We didn't learn from placing the mines themselves? I always worry when someone starts to use engineered biological organisms and processes that we don't fully understand. True, we can only test so much, but as commented in the Software Maintenance article, it's all about time to market and not getting it right. What ever happened to that miraculous bacteria that would eliminate tooth decay from a few years ago?

    Not to mention, I can see this stuff missing unless highly sensitive. It sounds like it, but I did not RTFA. Even still, are some mines sealed? Surely some haven't "leaked' enough to set this off? I am not sure I would walk on the ground and trust it, that's for sure. But I can't fault them for trying. I know that metal detectors don't cut it as there are metal free mines.

Re:Next level stuff

[maxume]

That tooth bacteria is probably fighting its way through a very cautious public safety apparatus.

Re:Next level stuff

[el3mentary]

That tooth bacteria is probably fighting against the Dentists unions trying to prevent it's release

Re:Next level stuff

[falconwolf]

I really like us to come up with better debugging techniques before we go further into these bio-engineering stuff.

You may not think much about it but ways to safely detect landmines can save a number of arms, legs, and lifes. They could help avoid another child losing a leg while playing in a field where landmines were placed.

Falcon

Re:Next level stuff

[Aldenissin]

Well, my understanding was that the bacteria could not be controlled at that point to not be spread from individual to individual. Yes there might not be a financial incentive (although I believe they said that it would take an initial high concentration to get the affect), but the biggest obstacle mentioned was that it would be spread across the globe potentially, even if in small amounts per individual.

  We have only recently discovered that man is an island with unique bacteria per person, amounting to ten times the microbes (in number) than cells in your body. ( http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09%2F01%2F27%2F2241227&from=rss )

  I just do not think it would be prudent to go messing with such an intricate balance when we don't know what we are doing. Maybe bacteria in the mouth serves an unknown but life-sustaining purpose? So one company makes an (unbeknownst to them) weaponized "decay busting" bacteria that destroys humanity worse than the black plauge.

  Sure, I may sound paranoid, but I am trying to be practical here. We have to at least consider it. Read up on what happened to Yellow Stone when we started messing with that ecosystem. Now we want to mess with our body's ecosystem?

  Look how people lose their minds over a mutated flu... I worry less about that because we survived the Flu of 1918. Read up on it, and be SHOCKED what you never heard!!! ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_flu ), we have experience fighting Flus in our species, but not some random bio-engineered microbe that we have made super hardy so that it "lasts" to get the job done.

Re:Next level stuff

[oldhack]

You could be wrong.

Glowing Zombie Apocalypse

[schlick]

starting in 3... 2.... 1....

Re:Glowing Zombie Apocalypse

[gstoddart]

Glowing Zombie Apocalypse

Wait, zombies are explosive too? :-P

Cheers

The hills are alive...

[shrtcircuit]

Anyone else get a slightly uneasy feeling at the idea of crop-dusting entire areas of land with living bacteria that glow?

What assurances do we have that the bacteria won't mutate, self-replicate, or turn against its master in the form of some horrendous new super-bug that makes the 20,000 land-mine casualties a year seem like a drop in a bucket?

Re:The hills are alive...

[John Hasler]

> The hills are alive...

True. Topsoil is several percent bacteria by weight.

> What assurances do we have that the bacteria won't mutate, self-replicate, or
> turn against its master in the form of some horrendous new super-bug that
> makes the 20,000 land-mine casualties a year seem like a drop in a bucket?

None. And the sames goes for the millions of other species of bacteria that infest every square meter of the Earth's surface.

Re:The hills are alive...

[MozeeToby]

You do realize that bacteria are everywhere right? Just because we modified this one to glow doesn't give it some unique survival advantage or propensity to mutate. If anything, the bacteria is going to be a monoculture and more susceptible to chemicals and preditors.

Re:The hills are alive...

[Anonymous Monkey]

not infest, but inhabit.

Re:The hills are alive...

[Bengie]

To add to everyone else's post about bacteria everywhere. There is bacteria in regular soil that not only is unaffected by our strongest antibiotics, but they can actually metabolize the antibiotics for energy. OMG!!! antibiotic resistant bacteria!! Yeah, trillions(or more) of these live in your backyard.

Re:The hills are alive...

[mcgrew]

Anyone else get a slightly uneasy feeling at the idea of crop-dusting entire areas of land with living bacteria that glow?

Did you ever eat cottage cheese or yogurt? They're full of bacteria. In fact, if you get diarrhea you should eat cottage cheese afterwards to replace the beneficial gut bacteria that the diarrhea flushes out.

What assurances do we have that the bacteria in cottage cheese won't mutate, self-replicate, or turn against you in the form of some horrendous new super-bug that makes the 20,000 land-mine casualties a year seem like a drop in a bucket?

(I know, "woosh" and all that...)

Re:The hills are alive...

[falconwolf]

Anyone else get a slightly uneasy feeling at the idea of crop-dusting entire areas of land with living bacteria that glow?

Not when a child's life can be saved. As for living bacteria in dirt, a teaspoon of dirt contains an estimated 10,000 species of bacteria. And there are organisms that naturally glow.

What assurances do we have that the bacteria won't mutate, self-replicate, or turn against its master in the form of some horrendous new super-bug that makes the 20,000 land-mine casualties a year seem like a drop in a bucket?

Aren't we already doing that with GE crops? Grocery stores are stocked with corn, soya bean products, and tomatoes that were genetically engineered. Try to find out which ones come from GE crops though, good luck. Monsanto and other businesses fight all attempts to label food containing GMOs. Monsanto even fought to prevent farmers from labeling their food GMO free.

Falcon

Re:The hills are alive...

[jpmorgan]

Note quite right. The assurance IS the millions of other species of bacteria. All life is compromise, and a bacteria which mutates and becomes ultra-lethal to humans will probably be eaten by its neighbour bacteria, which is more suited for such mundane things as surviving in the soil where they live.

It's the same reason why the grey-goo scenario is silly. The earth may look beautiful and pristine, but in reality it's a shockingly hostile environment. You've got a corrosive atmosphere (full of nasty oxygen), soaked in a potent solvent (water) and it's infested by machines, tiny and small, which delight in consuming everything around them. You think Mars is a hostile environment? The rovers wouldn't have lasted a month in most of earth's biomes. We just don't notice, most of the time, because evolution (and our own intelligence and experience) has made us very, very, very good at survival.

Re:The hills are alive...

[Russ Nelson]

Thank god we have environmental loony-bins to save us from getting rid of landmines. Cuz y'know it might mutate into flesh-eating bacteria that could cause you to lose a leg. Or you could step on a landmine (which actually exist, as opposed to bio-engineered bacteria mutating into flesh-eating bacteria).

I don't think you comprehend the problem

[SuperKendall]

Now they'll either lace the entire field with C4, or they'll start using remote detonators when people move in to disarm.

The largest problem with land mines is that there are so many in areas where there is no longer any kind of combat - kids or other civilians go in the fields and lose life and limb. This helps with that. We're talking WW2 era stuff here.

Modern warfare by insurgents is ALREADY past mines, since they don't have an endless amount of money to spend - they already place explosives and use remote detonators when troops come by.

Re:I don't think you comprehend the problem

[dontmakemethink]

I wouldn't say that they're "past" mines, if anything they lack the resources and facilities to make a proper mine, instead what they make are called Improvised Explosive Devices (IED's) which can perform the job of a mine, but can't withstand the elements for decades like a properly encased munition mine can. Sure, many are triggered manually, but a pressure plate trigger can be made from the ringer out of a typical telephone - a piezo transducer, same thing used to measure earthquakes. Wire that through a relay to a diesel-nitrogen cocktail, and it'll take the treads off a tank no problem, but it couldn't last more than maybe 5 years before the batteries die.

Take a look at the tanks and APV junkyards in Afghanistan and try telling the repair crews there aren't any mines out there. And there are definitely booby traps in buildings where the bacteria could come in handy for sure.

Re:I don't think you comprehend the problem

[coolsnowmen]

Modern warfare by insurgents is ALREADY past mines, since they don't have an endless amount of money to spend - they already place explosives and use remote detonators when troops come by.

What you've said is not true. I said this to someone else, and at the risk of being modded redundant- BOTH triggers are used in Afghanistan against US troops. Remote detonation falls to the age-old electronic counter measure and it's best defense is a higher power jamer. This is compounded by the fact that the cheapest way to remote detonate is with cellphones, which only operate over a limited & known range of frequencies. Because of this flaw other types of triggers (force/pressure based) are still used (and because for pressure based explosions no enemy has to be physically present ['set it and forget it']).
(I work in land mine detection)

Re:I don't think you comprehend the problem

[Barloe]

The US doesn't use the conventional mine anymore. They don't have guys digging holes in the ground and burying them. They use the Volcano mine system. My unit actually got to test them back in the day. These are deployed from 5-Tons, helicopters and artillery shells. They have internal timers in them to auto-detonate after a specified time. The US uses them more as a deterrent than a killing method. They used to come 5 anti-tank, 1 anti-personel per tube. Since '93, they've been changed to all anti-tank, requiring substantial weight/pressure to set them off. As for mine-clearing... it's hard to beat the MICLIC. This bacteria seems most useful in an jungle/urban environment.

Re:I don't think you comprehend the problem

[SuperKendall]

Ok, thanks for the update - I had not heard they were using pressure based stuff at all, and figured they wouldn't want anything they could hit themselves if they forgot...

But it still seems like they are not laying out the traditional large-area mine field, it would be once in a great while down a long road where it might not be practical to spray a whole road for miles.

Re:I don't think you comprehend the problem

[coolsnowmen]

I'm not really privy to exact placement as I'm an academic researching engineer and not on the ground, but I do know the motivation behind my funding intimately. I got the impression the these IEDs/mines were being placed next to the roads with triggers built in between settlements so that they would hurt convoys/supplies. Beyond that I'm not really sure what I should discuss on the net (it isn't classified, but I did have to be a US citizen to work on it).

Re:I don't think you comprehend the problem

[vegiVamp]

> 'set it and forget it'

Which makes for an interesting walk if you come by there yourself afterwards.

Re:I don't think you comprehend the problem

[coolsnowmen]

Haha!

Sadly, I'm betting that there are certain areas that people don't just 'go for a walk'. Then again, I live in a city, and there are certain areas I won't go at night...

Great!

[Cornwallis]

Yet *another* source of light pollution.

Re:Great!

[newcastlejon]

Would you be willing to give an arm and a leg just to be able to go stargazing?

Re:Great!

[Chapter80]

If you get your legs blown off thanks to a previously undiscovered mine, don't come running to me.

Legitimately good idea

[Draque]

Am I the only one here who is aware of how bad of a problem land mines are to civilians in many third world countries? The response here seems generally negative, but if this technology helps to diffuse old land mine fields, it would be wonderful. Just because it was planted in WW2 doesn't guarantee that it's become inactive or that it won't kill you now.

Re:Legitimately good idea

[KlaymenDK]

No, you're right -- it is a very good idea.

The problem is, all these critics are a teeny bit right when they say it's not going to work. Alas.

Not so very many years ago, there was an initiative to grow flowers whose petals turn red if they hit a mine. A lot more practical than bacteria, and it seemed to work very well, too -- but they got booted out of that African country they were testing in rather rough-handedly. It's a sad tale, but the fact is there are more warmongers than do-gooders and these things are immensely difficult to see to fruition.

I do wish them luck, though.

Re:Legitimately good idea

[komissar]

agreed. i keep wondering if this got started under diana? although i'm not a fan, it WAS impossible to not notice her, and she was very interested in figuring out a way to do something about this problem. and it is a grave problem. hopefully as time goes on this, or something like this, will provide a cheap, effective solution.

Re:anyone else see the problem...

[CarlDenny]

Without RTFA:
1 - Rocks and nearby puppies.
2 - Bacteria are asexual. These bacteria will, however, be able to spread an "asexual agenda" among native bacteria, who will begin to glow in the presence of other objects, like discarded cans, to look cool and "green."
3- Except for puppies, the bacteria are harmless. Unless you like eating gunpowder or landmines.
4- More landmines! No, wait, they'll be outbred by normal bacteria soon enough.

I'm surprised that this technology is available

[PeterM from Berkeley]

Seems like this could massively reduce the military usefulness of minefields. Isn't a huge minefield sitting on the border between North and South Korea helping keep the peace there, by deterring North Korean military aggression? What if the North Koreans can spot all the mines?

--PM

Re:I'm surprised that this technology is available

[gedrin]

My first thought as well. I think it's laudable that people are working on the ability to locate and disarm relic mines. Unfortunately, that same technology could likely be used by those wanting access to areas defended by current minefields.

Of course, the solution could be as simple as spraying a field with a substance that is toxic to the bacteria in question. It wouldn't have any impact on manned fields, but would still allow the use in areas that have abandonned mines. Unfortunately, that strikes me as creating yet another problem in a hunk of land currently filled with burried explosives, but it might be the way of it.

Re:I'm surprised that this technology is available

[Chris Burke]

It's not like it was impossible to detect and disarm mines before this. It was just more time consuming and expensive. Mines are just one aspect of the Demilitarized Zone, and would be basically useless by themselves. There are troops from both countries patrolling their side of it in case anyone tries to cross over, and massive amounts of guns and artillery. Nevertheless, the North has gone on incursions in to the South's side of the DMZ. And the biggest threat from NK has been the tunnels they dug all the way underneath the DMZ. Who cares about mines on the surface when you're going under it?

So, basically, this will have zero impact on the situation in the Koreas.

Re:I'm surprised that this technology is available

[maxume]

Just spray your mine field with explosives residue after you finish laying it down.

Re:I'm surprised that this technology is available

[Nyeerrmm]

Not really. The DMZ (as far as I know) is the only place where a minefield still actually serves a military purpose. Furthermore, without an ability to disarm the mines remotely, it wouldn't be that advantageous to know where they are, since the North Korean forces would be maneuvering to avoid the mines and would be much more vulnerable to counterattack. The US and the South would know they were coming from troop buildups and the spraying of the field with bacteria (it takes a few hours to activate). And even if they were nullified, we still possess massive advantages in both conventional and nuclear forces -- Kim Jong Il may act crazy, but his behavior is actually quite rational. Of course, I'm in no way a military strategist so I could be wrong.

And the advantage of being able to spot mines at low cost is far greater than the potential disadvantages in Korea. WWII era mines are a scourge on third world countries, where adults and children are regularly mutilated and killed by weapons from 60 year old conflicts. Modern warfare has already evolved past the use of fields of landmines -- large forces use targeted strikes, guided weapons, automated observations, and lately tend to fight small guerrilla forces against which a minefield is useless. Small guerrilla forces, meanwhile, cannot afford minefields, and tend to take advantage of the visibility of conventional forces to manually target them.

Re:I'm surprised that this technology is available

[lgftsa]

I suspect that if that particular area was crop-dusted with the bacteria, the result would resemble a raggedly cut electroluminescent strip and be visible from space.

Re:I'm surprised that this technology is available

[Chris Burke]

There's nowhere on earth usefully defended by minefields alone. Not even the DMZ. And if you could sit and spray the mine fields with this bacteria and disarm/maneuver between them unmolested, then you could have done that yesterday. But they don't (outside of small incursions), because there's a hell of a lot more firepower than just mines that is being pointed across the DMZ.

Re:I'm surprised that this technology is available

[gedrin]

Well, yes... I don't think people are expecting the magic glow goo to allow the KPA to dance across a field unmolested and yell "boo!" on the other side. It seems the concern is that it would allow for mapping existing fields and degrade their value.
Though, I wonder if sending such a tool would violate the existing agreement there, not that such violations are uncommon.

Re:I'm surprised that this technology is available

[kauttapiste]

Newsflash, there are other things keeping the North Korea from entering into open war than just a field of mines. I mean, the North Koreans may even possess technology to go around mine fields!! Heck they could just send out all their prisoners and clear the mines with them!

To propose that North Korea would launch an attack if there was no mine field is ridiculous.

Bacteria + desert

[niftymitch]

Will the bacteria grow in a desert?

Completely Unnecessary

[Kratisto]

God damnit, wasn't detecting mines easy enough already? All this hoo-haa about glowing bacteria and metal detectors and cleanup efforts is a complete waste of time. Really guys, it's simple: The little numbers represent how many mines are in the surrounding eight squares.

Re:Completely Unnecessary

[T Murphy]

...but these bacteria glow green, which is a 2. I can't figure out how to make a minefield that only has 2's so this problem is more complicated than we thought. If only they made blue-glowing bacteria instead...

Counter-measures

[tarkas]

A nifty idea, but there are countermeasures a miner might take that are easy to implement.

a solution of solvent and typical mine explosive, either sprayed over the entire field of installed mines, sprayed over un-mined areas that you'd like to slow them down, or better yet, spray patches randomly over an installed mine field so that there are many false positives, indistinguishable from the tell of a real mine. Do all of these randomly so that a detection will require a thourough seach no matter what. Thats the whole point of a mine field anyway...

Edge a real mine field with 50 meters of false spots. Regions of false spots bordering regions of mines, randomly shaped and sized.

Encapsulate mines with impermeable skin... ziplok?

Saturate the ground with a persistent anti-microbial =)

Saturate only some of the field with anti-microbial =D

Re:Counter-measures

[evanbd]

This has a lot more to do with detecting mines in old minefields that aren't combat zones, where civilians are routinely killed or maimed. It isn't about tactical detection of mines.

Re:Counter-measures

[cowscows]

I don't think this invention is being touted as a militarily useful tool. It's intended to help with the cleanup of the bazillions of mines that are still hidden in many many parts of the world where fighting has long since stopped, but the mines still remain behind.

If the US military needs a path through a suspected minefield, they're not going to spray this stuff, wait a few hours, then send some soldiers out to individually dig up all the green spots. They've got machines that are basically giant armored bulldozers that they can use to cut a straight path through. They also have trucks that basically fire a chain of explosives that clear out a straight path. But it's not feasible to use these techniques for large scale clean up because there's too much ground to cover, and it's a very destructive process.

So you're probably right that if someone was laying down a minefield this afternoon they could find some fairly easy ways to counter this bacteria. Fortunately, I don't think anyone is going to spend the time and expense to spray explosive residue around a bunch of mines that were buried in WW2

Re:Counter-measures

[Spazztastic]

Fortunately, I don't think anyone is going to spend the time and expense to spray explosive residue around a bunch of mines that were buried in WW2

Sounds like a good idea for a supervillian.

too erasy in the daytimes..

[Hognoxious]

They don't turn green, they glow green. So you just have to go mine clearing in the dark.

Re:too erasy in the daytimes..

[vlm]

They don't turn green, they glow green.

Kind of like the goo inside a green chemlight...

In the old days, if you wanted to do the area denial thing, you had to buy these expensive, heavy, hard to install landmines.

Then it was discovered you could scare the other guys away merely by using signs that say "landmine". In fact there is a UN standard / requirement for posting landmine signs around a minefield, scary white triangles, if I recall...

Now, technology marches on, and all you need is a big pack of green chemlights from walmart... crack them, drip the liquid in a field, and instant, cheap, area denial... Its also economic warfare, since mine field clearing is very expensive compared to buying a bunch of chemlights. Its also very demoralizing to the troops to know that glowing stuff might or might not be fake.

Re:too erasy in the daytimes..

[ground.zero.612]

Wrong, but mod me redundant since I already posted below to correct the misconceptions about fluorescence.

Re:too erasy in the daytimes..

[ericspinder]

Now, technology marches on, and all you need is a big pack of green chemlights from walmart... crack them, drip the liquid in a field, and instant, cheap, area denial..

Maybe for an hour or two, those glow sticks don't last that long. Mines have a much longer 'death span'.

Re:too erasy in the daytimes..

[TubeSteak]

Now, technology marches on, and all you need is a big pack of green chemlights from walmart

How many Walmrts are there in Iraq and Afghanistan?
The insurgents have a steady supply of explosives and there's literally no reason for them to spend money on chemlights vs throwing nitrates around.

Not to mention that the military has the equipment necessary to distinguish between a glowstick and explosive residue.

Re:too erasy in the daytimes..

[Hognoxious]

I didn't mention fluorescence. Neither did the article.

Posting to correct your misconception about artichokes.

Re:too erasy in the daytimes..

[Hognoxious]

Once again, I didn't use the word. Therefore I have no need to be informed of its meaning, especially by an idiot like you.

Re:too erasy in the daytimes..

[ground.zero.612]

So you just have to go mine clearing in the dark.

Once again, I didn't use the word. Therefore I have no need to be informed of its meaning, especially by an idiot like you.

WOOSH WOOSH WOOSH WOOSH That was like 4 planes going by.

Minesweeping

[dlaudel]

I hope that as the bacteria glows, it arranges itself into numbers indicating how many mines are nearby. It should making identifying the mined locations a simple matter of elimination.

False Sense of Security

[roguetrick]

Detecting mines is great, I'd be pretty damn worried about the ones that arn't detected however.

Re:False Sense of Security

[d474]

Exactly. They have the logic backwards. What if an area didn't get covered in spraying? So that area would be "dark" and they think it's safe? Yikes, that's a false negative. They need to reverse it to avoid that false negative.

If the bacteria only glow WITHOUT the presence of landmine. That way, at best you get false positives which is less dangerous than a false negative, in this situation.

Bah, they beat me to it...

[Wiarumas]

I was making something similar, but they glowed when orcs were nearby.

Re:Bah, they beat me to it...

[damn_registrars]

I was making something similar, but they glowed when grues were nearby.

There, fixed that for 'ya.

Re:anyone else see the problem...

[dltaylor]

Bacteria do, however, exchange DNA with nearby organisms, not necessarily of the same species. Some DNA has been incorporated into "infected" hosts, or picked up through plant root systems, and bacteria shuffle DNA between themselves, as well.

There's more to knowledge than just mis-quoting some Wikipedia article, since the one you referenced does, in fact, describe gene transfer (BTW, use the URL tags).

On the page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacteria#Growth_and_reproduction, search for the word "conjugation", for example, which will be in the "Genetics" section.

Re:Dangerous, Tedious, Expensive ?

[lbalbalba]

Why is this parent modded 'funny' ? In Eastern and African countries little kids *are* actually being used to detect mines: by blowing them up, and losing their arms, legs, or lives... I do not see what's so funny about that at all...

At the end of the product disclaimer...

[fran6gagne]

We are not responsible if the bacterias enter your lungs and grow in horribles diseases that eat you from the inside and kills you in horrible and long suffering.

Re:Walk around in the dark, in a minefield?

[HeronBlademaster]

Oops.

Missed a spot.

Enders Game

[vlm]

Why do I get the feeling, when slashdoters discuss military tactics and strategies, that we're inside some kind of "Enders Game" scenario, and some pentagon general, recently reassigned from SG-1, is high-fiving cmdr taco right now, over our great insights into warfare?

At last

[fred fleenblat]

This terrible scourge of mimes is finally over!

Oh fudge, I misread the article.

Pfft...

[el3mentary]

I just coat my mines with Domestos

Fluorescence != glow in the dark

[ground.zero.612]

Just FYI to all the people in this thread misusing the term. Fluorescence require an external source of radiation to glow, but only during that exposure. Think UV light and neon paint.

If this has some success rate = GOOD

[failedlogic]

A friend worked overseas in ordnance disposal. It is, by most accounts, one of the most dangerous job out there. He left, but I'll be quite content if I know more soldiers and peacekeepers in the future will be kept safer.

Even if this thing had a 100% success rate, I'd still be cautious about clearing the minefield. But this can at least help where you know with some certainty there are mines in the area, and you will have some certainty there is a mine in that location or within the vicinity.

This does not make the job safe. Maybe safer. If this works, it might be able to save a few lives and/or most certainly limbs. It doesn't remove the danger of removing the mines from the ground. AFAIK, the mines also have some countermeasures when being removed that they still detonate.

This might also be handy in places like Palestine where there remains a lot of cluster munitions that have not exploded. Heck, I would think some parts of Europe from WWI and WWII still have buried mines.

Re:Dangerous, Tedious, Expensive ?

[Dishevel]

Because the post was funny. The reality may not be, but if you can't tell the difference then that is a problem you must solve on your own.

Ahh, I was wondering what was going on.....

[bernywork]

They must have been testing this around my place, my back yard is glowing blue.

Re:Ahh, I was wondering what was going on.....

[neko the frog]

No, green glow = landmines. A blue glow means your backyard is infested with orcs.

Re:Dangerous, Tedious, Expensive ?

[jimbolauski]

A friend of mine was in africa a while back and had noticed something peculure when he visited many years ago, the women always walked behind the men, now many years lator, the men walk behind of the women. When he asked one of the viligers if there was a feminist movement and if women were more more prominent, the viliger said No Land Mines!

Is this

[SnarfQuest]

Is this the glowing green goo that created the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?

Re:Dangerous, Tedious, Expensive ?

[lbalbalba]

The reality may not be, but if you can't tell the difference then that is a problem you must solve on your own.

Point taken.

Say it with me now...

[Anonymous Coward]

In response to the overwhelmingly negative comments, two points.

First: This is most likely meant to clean up minefields surrounding civvy areas created in previous conflicts, as many others here with functional brains have noted.

Second: No, it will not be perfect. Nothing ever is. However, as the saying goes "perfect is the enemy of good." If you persist in saying this is pointless because it won't detect every mine, compile a list of all the things that would not be done if they weren't perfect. It's a short (read: nonexistent) list, I promise you.

Remember, it's not a crime to use your head.

Prevent Land Mining

[Doc Ruby]

I hope this cheap and easy way to display where land mines are hidden is enough to stop people from using landmines altogether.

Ah finally

[ColdWetDog]

The appropriate link. To the real page. With a picture.

Thanks.

Explosives Detector

[peteybear]

Now all that's needed is dispensers that enable it to be administered surreptitiously in crowded areas, although seeing someone standing next to you turning green might cause other problems.

Good, now spray the gates!

[meburke]

A benign bacteria like this, sprayed over a crowd, might reveal suicide bombers if it reacts quickly enough.

Whoops

[KingPin27]

so the next time one of your terrorist buddies gets married - instead of cans tied behind the hum-drum-v tie a couple blocks of C4 and let them drive away. next time this "glowgoo" is dropshipped you'll have a nice glown path back to your friends place.

I don't think this stuff is a good idea.

Don't forget Vietnam and a lot of other wars....

[fantomas]

Well noted - it's a lot of the old mines that people have forgotten about that continue to cause problems. I've visited Cambodia and there are a lot there because of the Khmer Rouger period there, and in Laos and Vietnam there are a lot due to the "Vietnam War" as we think of it in the West from over 40 years ago. Lots of other conflicts in Africa and other places as well. Not so bad if you're in a rich country or you've got resources that people want access to (e.g. oil) but a lot of places have just been forgotten about and there are precious few resources to clear up the ordnance.

Apart from nobody keeping maps of where they put the mines / cluster munitions down (if they could even be bothered to do so in the first place) there's a real problem with UXO shifting in loose ground. My friend in Cambodia tells me they'll clear a road in the jungle one season, but then after the rains the loose soil has turned to mud and moved down hillsides so a path / field / road might be dangerous again and has to be treated as a live minefield all over again.

UXO just keeps on killing people for years after the conflict has finished, land mines and cluster bombs and the like are really evil.

Great.

[SharpFang]

Now antiseptics will get on a list of controlled substances used to hide location of mines.

Great Name!

[SocPres]

But why are they calling the new strain "Andromeda"?

Re:Dangerous, Tedious, Expensive ?

[BlackSnake112]

You are still a virgin. Admit it.

If you weren't you know one of two things:

Male: always looking forward to the next fuck.

Female: always looking forward to the next fuck.

Humans (and chips if I remember right) are one of the few species that have sex just for the enjoyment of it.

Entire world covered with the bacteria

[tylersoze]

I assume they probably engineered the bacteria so it doesn't survive indefinitely, but it would be interesting if it mutated and began spreading and eventually spread to every corner of the world, so any place that had explosives would glow!

Re:Entire world covered with the bacteria

[jhcaocf197912]

Yeah um.... I was worried about that.

Water?

[flyingfsck]

So, how will this work in a desert area like Afghanistan or Iraq?

Re:anyone else see the problem...

[Hognoxious]

Try to get beyond biology 101 before trying to put other people down. http://biology.kenyon.edu/courses/biol114/Chap03/mobile_genes.html#bacteria

Glowy Re:Legitimately good idea

[mrmeval]

Maybe we should invent chemicals that make warmongers glow in the dark. Ok we have but we're using them up in nuclear reactors dammit!

Yes it's recursive BOMB ME BABY!

Re:Dangerous, Tedious, Expensive ?

[story645]

why can't they do something similar and temporarily be celebate to avoid being responsible for all of that misery and suffering?

The social/cultural issues are for more complex then that. A vast majority of women in these countries can't because they don't have the rights to. The stats on rape in some countries are hideous, and many women are stuck in relationships where they can't tell their partner to use birth control and they can't get out of these relationships for any number of religious/socio-economic/cultural reasons. The guys in many of these countries still have this idiotic notion that using a condom isn't manly and therefore won't, hence why HIV/AIDs rates are also awful in many of these countries. Irresponsible sex is gonna happen 'cause of social/religious/cultural reasons so long as the men in these cultures believe that sex makes them a man and women find that one of the most reliable forms of security/employment is prostitution or being someone's girl.

But wait, it gets worse. Assuming you can change cultural ideas of sex and gender, birth control isn't the easiest thing to get because of foreign aid policies concerning family planning. In countries where people can barely eat, reliable birth control is often considered an unnecessary expense by many, so the options boil down to condom giveaways and (often illegal) abortions. Currently organizations that provide abortions can get aid, but this stance changes every administration (Bush banned aid to these organizations.) A good number of the organizations that provide abortions are also the ones that provide family planning support and information, like condoms. Then there are the organizations that are limited in what they can provide because the regions are too dangerous to work in or there are religious/cultural barriers to birth control.

Re:Jay Little, or Ash from Ashentech: HELLO BOYS!

[somersault]

Actually, it was just me. Dumbass.

Re:Jay Little, or Ash from Ashentech: HELLO BOYS!

[somersault]

Hahahahahaha.. oh dear.. I just read more of your post. Do you really think that having your shareware in magazines counts as being "published"? xD In that case, I was "published" when I was 13 years old, because one of my computer games was in a magazine. It doesn't mean anything.

Every time you say something that retarded it makes me feel a little bad for making fun or someone who is incapable of defending themself, but if you are going to keep choosing to harass me, then you will keep getting pwned..

By the way, if you were a good coder you'd know that it's best to re-use code as a function rather than always copy and paste. The fact that you always copy and paste your spam instead of linking to a blog to me indicates that you probably have a very inefficient coding style..

Re:LMAO, not a "bad play", posting as A/C to bait

[somersault]

LMAO, not a "bad play", posting as A/C to bait me

Yeah, I thought it would be funny if you saw how silly it is.. and at least I admitted it was me, I don't like to lie about stuff really.

So, that is your "game"? LOL, I knew it... but, you only ended up making ME look good (because I can always bring that list out, everytime - keep trolling me, & this is what you get, as those 2 had in the past, much to their own chargrin/dismay, lol).

So, that is your "game"? LOL, I knew it... but, you only ended up making ME look good (because I can always bring that list out, everytime - keep trolling me, & this is what you get, as those 2 had in the past, much to their own chargrin/dismay, lol).

lol.. I don't care what it makes you or me look like, it was funny. You bring out any list you want. Last time you linked to one of my posts, the mods modded me "insightful".. I'm not sure if I would be a great troll, but like I said if you insist on harassing me I don't see why I shouldn't give as good as I'm getting.

See how you are? Man... I know that you cannot help it if you have mental issues (some folks can handle things, others cannot & that's that (a matter of what I call "mental/intestinal fortitude" is all), so I don't hold you to that, so you know.

lol *shrug* I am no longer depressed, but yes I know that people can't help it if they have mental problems, which is why I was trying to be nice to you. You are not particularly dumb, but you do just take everything as a personal attack on yourself even when none is intended. Remember this quote "never ascribe to malice, that which can be explained by stupidity". lol..

Yes we did start out on a bad foot. I know now that you just get frustrated at people easily - as do I sometimes, and if I'd known it was you I wouldn't have probably just not said anything. The problem I had was not that you were talking about Window security, I was just frustrated that you need to post such a large post, and you did it in reply to some joke I was making about Windows vulnerabilities lol. I seriously think it would be better to write all your HOWTO and security stuff in a blog, and then just link to that instead of having to copy and paste all the time? I didn't have trouble reading it, I just really don't like when people use so much bold and capitals - it makes me think of all the "GNAA" crap that is posted here on slashdot.

I actually use Linux at both work and home which is why I don't worry too much about Windows security at the moment ;) Though it is part of my job to support people who use Windows, so it is still slightly relevant. I agree that Spybot is great software, and it's good to put known bad sites in your hosts file so that you can't visit them.

I've done a couple nice things over time, I am glad of it, but... sometimes

Yeah, I've seen you can be nice. as long as people agree with you. I think you need to work on how to disagree with people without getting mad lol. I know I was getting angry too so whatever, I have been trying to be reasonable at times too :P

Yeah I used to believe in God and the bible, but I stopped last year. Since then I have been trying to better myself without any help from any gods ;)

I'm "OK" @ Comp. Sci. imo/estimation, especially by way of comparison to say, the likes of Mr. John Carmack (great) & Mr. Anders Heijelsberg (borland & microsoft): I can "get the job done" is my estimation of myself, but compared to guys like the 2 I mention now? I am a DUSTMOTE... lol!

I feel the same about my own skills lol. I am happy with my current job as IT Manager/programmer for a small business, it's friendly and relaxed, and pays okay. The most important thing is to enjoy your job :)

The only reason I searched around for APK stuff was because you called me easil

Re:Jay Little, or Ash from Ashentech: HELLO BOYS!

[somersault]

My game was just published in the "reader's games" section of an Amiga magazine when I was a kid about 12 years ago, like I said it's not that big a deal.

Yeah I saw your other post, I think it's better to not argue too much, there isn't really any benefit to it :P I still think all those guys talking about "PHDs" and stuff were you though ;)

Unintended Consequences

[terryducks]

Yes and agent orange started out as a cheap defoliant too. Just give me the duct taped lasers on porpoises nailed to airplanes.

Re:Read this, & understand: It's not ME trolli

[somersault]

Aye, I've noticed you're being nice now that I actually *did* have a real go at trolling you ;)

I don't see being nice as weakness. I think it takes much more strength to drop our guard and be nice to each other than it does to keep arguing, and it shows good maturity.

I have to go do some perl and learn about jQuery to snazz up some of the web apps I'm doing for work heh :) Have a good day dude, I'm glad you finally realised we don't have to argue. I really hope you think about my idea for you getting a blog where you can post all your security tips and stuff? I know there are a lot of people out there who still enjoy trolling you, but fuck them - if you really are trying to help people and are able to be "nice" then that's enough for me to respect you, and if you keep being nice then they will hopefully give you some respect again too and let you do your thing in peace :)

Re:Dangerous, Tedious, Expensive ?

[Anonymous Coward]

Its not an addiction you arsehole - its a biological imperative to fuck each other!

If you lived in a situation where you were dirt poor (not can't afford rent poor - but can't afford the 3p can of beans poor), had absolutely no entertainment beyond watching the occasional soldier get eaten by lions, and generally lived a life of suffering day after day, continuing to struggle only because you don't let the alternative to survival cross your mind; then maybe you would understand the need to find comfort and joy where you can.

IF it was just a matter of waiting till the shop opens so you can buy more condoms, you would have a point. But if you didn't know when the next truckload of the things was even going to make it the closest town, let alone disseminated down to your village, then you wouldn't be holding your breath or your balls mate and you're disgustingly naive if you think you could or would.

If we could swap muppets like you for these starving people, and fill the destitute countries with morons that think 'trying harder' is all that is required, we would be able to solve more than one set of problems in one go.

Re:somersault, I am being NICE about this... read:

[somersault]

I can indeed see you are trying to be nice, and I already think any fight we were having has ended.

I don't think my game matters, because I think anyone could have written a game and sent it in and they would have put the game in their magazine. I didn't even win the best game of that month ;) but I think it was pretty good considering I made it between the ages of 12 and 13. I did actually find the game on a website that had online versions of old Amiga Format disks, and I played it on an emulator a couple of years ago, it's still good fun :) I don't remember what issue number it was, page, whatever, though I still have that issue in a cupboard somewhere at my mum's house.

I was quite proud of it at the time, but I know I have done better things since then. For example I wrote some bots (called TEAMbot) to play against in Counter-Strike (the Half-Life 1 version of Counter-Strike, not Counter-Strike Source) around when I was 16. The site for them was still hosted up at Planet Half Life last year, looks like it's finally gone now. Looks like the version 1.2 Beta is still available on fileplanet and in other places though, and if you do ever feel like playing older versions of CS and need some bots to play against, I recommend them. The 1.2 version did have some memory leaks unfortunately, I didn't upload the fixed version because I was at university by that time and didn't have net access from my PC. Anyway, the bots are the personal project that I am most proud of, and in fact they took a lot more thinking than most of the programming I have done here at work lol.

HAHAHAHAHAAH.. oh man.. I just found this news article about my bots when searching around! http://planethalflife.gamespy.com/fullstory.php?id=97512 . The guy called me a "genius", that's hilarious.. I might be of above average intelligence, but I'm not a genius by any means ;)

Yeah, I haven't really been in any proper fights. I'm a tall and fit guy, with good reactions, done a little martial arts and I'm pretty good at sparring, but I have no idea how I'd be in a 'real' fight I guess ;) Even if you "win" apparently you still can feel bad for having beaten up another human being?

Re:Jay Little, or Ash from Ashentech: HELLO BOYS!

[pwfffff]

You seriously think you thought up using RAM to fight disk I/O bottlenecks before anyone else? If anyone's 'mental boy' here it's you.

I mean, online stalking? Really? You're probably just mad 'cause you know pills won't fix the special kind of stupid you've come down with.

Keep going with the impotent nerd rage though. It's what keeps me comin' back to this internet place.

Hilarious.

Re:somersault, I am being NICE about this... read:

[pwfffff]

This guy appears to be straight up schizophrenic. Please stop responding to him next time he trolls you. We don't want to make him worse.

So get the fuck on it

[Deliveranc3]

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2009101929031/National-news/in-brief-land-mine-deaths-continue-slow-fall.html

Too be slightly less depressing I should point out that I saw people sharing a pair of shoes, yay!

Re:Engilsh, double-entendre, & brevity "trends

[somersault]

That's cool man. I was hoping we could sort it out :) I'd much rather get along than argue with people, but at the same time I don't take insults lying down ;)

I'm sorry that I offended you too with my comment on your security post - I was just trying to help explain why maybe guys like Foredecker decide not to respond to your long posts, though I admit I could have been a bit nicer about it. I think there is also the possibility that Foredecker is from a completely different branch of MS than the security/networking group (maybe he works on Office, the Zune, X-Box, whatever..), so maybe he doesn't have any control or knowledge over that stuff.

Well, cya around!