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Researchers train bees to detect COVID-19

Posted at 12:34 PM, May 06, 2021
and last updated 2021-05-06 17:05:41-04

Dutch researchers have trained bees which have a keen sense of smell to detect COVID-19 infected samples.

It's something they said could cut the waiting time for test results to seconds.

Scientists at Wageningen University say it works like this.

When bees smell the virus they extend their tongues and are rewarded with a drink of sugar-water.

This confirms a positive coronavirus test result.

By repeating the process the bees were quickly trained.

Most coronavirus tests take hours or sometimes days to give a result but the bee responds immediately.