The Weather Channel India Profile picture
Aug 15, 2020 10 tweets 3 min read Read on X
#BombSniffingLocusts | Scientists Hijack Insects’ Olfactory System to Create Explosive-Detecting Cyborgs

weather.com/en-IN/india/sc…

By @kun5k Image
#LocustsAttack | Ginormous swarms of locusts invaded parts of north and central India this summer in record-breaking numbers, destroying vegetation and disrupting lives in a country that was already under a nationwide lockdown.

(📸: Bhagirath/BCCL Jaipur) Image
Be it biblical ages or modern times, locusts have been perceived as evil, demonic beings that only leave a path of destruction behind.
However, that very perception could not only improve, but also turn on its head thanks to a new study, wherein a group of researchers has managed to transform these insects from all-devouring pests to bomb-sniffing biorobots.
Researchers from the Washington University in St. Louis, USA have successfully managed to hijack a locust's olfactory system to get the insect to detect as well as discriminate between different explosive scents—all within a few hundred milliseconds of exposure.
However, Raman and his fellow researchers were able to optimise a previously developed biorobotic sensing system that could detect the locusts' firing neurons and convey that information in a way that told researchers about the smells the locusts were sensing.
Using this data, the researchers were able to observe similar patterns when they exposed the locusts to vapours of a chemically diverse set of explosives, including TNT, DNT, RDX, PETN, and ammonium nitrate.

(📸: Raman Lab) Image
But to seek out a bomb, just the ability to detect and discriminate between different explosives isn’t enough; a locust would also have to know from which direction the odour is emanating.
Finally, the researchers optimised the system for transmitting the locusts' brain activity by attaching electrodes in a way that didn't hinder their movement.
With the new instrumentation in place, the neuronal activity of a locust exposed to an explosive smell was resolved into a discernible odour-specific pattern within 500 milliseconds.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with The Weather Channel India

The Weather Channel India Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @weatherindia

Aug 17, 2022
While searching for life in the Gulf of Mexico, researchers pulled out a new bizarre-looking species of isopod, whose head resembles the Darth Vader from Star Wars!

Read: weather.com/en-IN/india/bi…

By: @anujav_97

📸: Dr Ming-Chih H/Journal of Natural History

🧵👇
This new-found crustacean, named Bathonymus yucatanensis, has 14 legs and is around 26 cm long — approximately 25 times larger than its closest relative, the common woodlouse.
While these blonde creatures seem pretty scary, the "Vanilla Vaders" are, in fact, harmless to humans.

Their huge size is only due to deep-sea gigantism — a phenomenon wherein ocean dwellers grow bigger than their terrestrial relatives due to lack of sunlight.

📸: SJADES 2018
Read 7 tweets
Aug 16, 2022
The Sun spewed out two consecutive coronal mass ejections on August 14-15, giving rise to a 'Cannibal CME'.

The scarier part? It's heading towards the Earth this week & could spark strong geomagnetic storms on Aug 18!

Read: weather.com/en-IN/india/sp…

By: @ashmitagupta_21

🧵👇
A cloud of dark plasma erupted on the solar surface on Aug 14, launching a #CME that could side sweep the Earth's magnetic field.

Then, on Aug 15, an exploding magnetic filament launched another CME right at its tail.
This could be a Cannibal CME event where the second CME might overtake and gobble up the first, creating a mish-mash of the two.

Cannibal CMEs contain tangled magnetic fields and compressed plasmas that can spark strong geomagnetic storms.

📽️: Animation by Walt Feimer/NASA
Read 7 tweets
Aug 6, 2022
Japan's #Subaru Strategic Program has discovered a super-Earth four times the mass of our planet orbiting a red dwarf just 37 lightyears away.

The good news? This #exoplanet, named Ross 508b, might be habitable!

Read: weather.com/en-IN/india/sp…

By: @ashmitagupta_21

🧵👇 Image
This super-Earth is a rocky world, on which a year is equal to just 11 Earth days.

The short orbit is down to the red dwarfs being a lot smaller than the Sun that centres our solar system. But the smaller sizes also make their gravitational fields less expansive than the Sun's. Image
Therefore, Ross 508b revolves around its red dwarf at a distance of just 5 million km. Mercury, in comparison, is about 60 million km from the Sun.

The short distance between this super-Earth & its red dwarf begs the question: how could it possibly be habitable? Image
Read 7 tweets
Jul 15, 2022
#Japan is making grand plans of creating interplanetary #trains and champagne flute-like glass habitats in its bid to send and host humans on the #Moon and #Mars!

Read: weather.com/en-IN/india/sp…

📸: Youtube SC/Kajima Corp.

Thread. 👇
An interplanetary transportation system dubbed the 'Hexatrack', which maintains a gravity of 1G during long-distance travel to mitigate the effects of prolonged exposure to low gravity, has been proposed by #Japanese researchers.
The #trains will also possess 'Hexacapsules', which are essentially hexagon-shaped capsules with a moving device in the middle.
Read 7 tweets
Jul 14, 2022
A new species of #dinosaur has just dropped and word on the street is that it’s pretty similar to the #TRex

In fact, researchers think this discovery could explain why these beasts evolved to have tiny arms!

Read: weather.com/en-IN/india/sc…

📸: Jorge A Gonzalez

Thread. 👇 Image
In 2012, the almost-complete skeleton of a new kind of #dinosaur was found in the northern Patagonia region of #Argentina.

The dinosaur has been christened #Meraxes gigas. The generic epithet is an ode to a dragon in the #GameOfThrones series.
Standing at the height of 11 m (36 ft) and weighing roughly 4000 kgs, the #dinosaur sported several crests, bumps and horns on its skull, which lent it a menacing appearance.

But the highlight of the findings is that the dinosaur had teeny-tiny arms, just like the #Trex! Image
Read 6 tweets
Jul 14, 2022
#NASA-led #JamesWebbSpaceTelescope's breathtaking images of the universe's past have taken the world by storm.

As we inch closer to unravelling more cosmic secrets, here's how researchers from #India plan to use the #JWST.

Read: weather.com/en-IN/india/sp…

Thread👇
#NASA had opened up submissions for Guaranteed Time Observations to reward scientists with 16% use of the JWST observatory for the first 3 cycles.

Out of the 1,173 proposals, two astronomers hail from India: Dr #JessyJose from @IiserTirupati & Dr #Puravankara from @TIFRScience.
Dr Jose, along with an international research team from the US, UK and Australia, will be examining the Galactic Centre Cloud (GCC) — the central molecular zone of our Milky Way — in April 2023.

They have been allotted 27.3 hours over the access period of 12 months.
Read 8 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(