Scientists Discover Ants Can be Trained to "Sniff Out" Cancer
upstart writes:
Scientists Discover Ants Can Be Trained to "Sniff Out" Cancer:
You've probably heard about dogs that have been trained to smell cancer in humans. But what about ants doing the same job? A team of scientists has found that ants can use their keen sense of smell to detect cancerous cells.
The team used Formica fusca ants, also known as silky ants, and trained them through a reward system. "After a few minutes of training, these insects, which use smell for daily tasks, were able to differentiate healthy human cells from cancerous human cells," the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) said in a statement Wednesday.
Journal Reference:
Baptiste Piqueret, Brigitte Bourachot, Chloe Leroy, et al. Ants detect cancer cells through volatile organic compounds, [open] (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2022.103959)
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