Oct 17, 2014
Interesting short piece on the potential to use "fruit flies" (these would actually be vinegar flies belonging to the family Drosophilidae, true fruit flies belong to the family Tephritidae - IBD needs a better science blurbist) to detect bombs and illicit drugs given that they can detect odor from these materials almost as well as wine odors.
I can believe it, I've seen work using electrodes on vinegar fly antennae showing highly selective sensitivity to certain volatiles given off from fruit in the air.
http://news.investors.com/101514-721966-bomb-detecting-fruit-flies-.htm?ntt=fruit+fly