Glowing Bacteria Detect Buried Landmines (sciencemag.org)

sciencehabit quotes a report from Science Magazine: More than 100 million landmines lay hidden in the ground around the world, but glowing bacteria may help us find them, according to a new study. The approach relies on small quantities of vapor released from the common explosive TNT. Previously, researchers engineered E. coli to glow green upon detection of DNT, a byproduct of TNT. In a study published in Nature Biotechnology today, the same team reports on a small field test with mines buried in sand and soil, whose triggering mechanisms were removed. The scientists loaded about 100,000 DNT-detecting bacterial cells into a single bead made of polymers derived from seaweed and sprinkled these beads over the landmine site at night. Twenty-four hours later, they used a laser to remotely detect and quantify fluorescing bacteria from 20 meters away, mapping the location of the landmines.

Comments

Overly High-Tech Solution

[Jzanu]

In the regions where land mines are buried, knowing the exact area or field where the mines are is the biggest problem. Because of the unknown area, there is no way to apply this in sprinking the bacteria except with a crop duster, and then it is useless when there is any overgrowth. Then the whole "use a laser" bit limits this to formerly advanced economies e.g. the balkan nations, not the areas where there are major issues Thailand, Myanmar, etc.