Bugs and Brews: Flying Chemical Detectors

The University of Montana’s Bee Alert Project employed domestic honeybees) in a series of useful activities. They were environmental miner’s canaries at the US Army’s Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. They were trained as bomb sniffers and landmine detectors for the Department of Defense and as dead body locators for the Department of Justice. This talk will introduce how bees forage and demonstrate how their abilities were redirected in the various Bee Alert activities.

Dr. Garon C. Smith, emeritus professor of chemistry at The University of Montana, was born and educated in Colorado. He began studying and collecting insects while in fifth grade. A beloved, now retired, UM Chemistry professor, Dr. Smith has made more than two thousand appearances as Garon the Wizard, or G. Wiz.