Bacteria that glow in the dark has been found helpful in finding buried landmines. The bacteria will be illuminated by a laser.
Science Daily reported the possible use of glow in the dark bacteria in finding and clearing buried landmines. Researchers from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem believe that combining lasers with the fluorescent bacteria can help in remotely mapping the location of exploded ordnance and landmines keeping away from the dangers of work.
Since then, scientists find it hard to detect buried landmines and unexploded ordnance even though advance technology is already present. But, to their surprise, it's only bacteria which would help them and give solutions to their long-time problem with buried landmines.
According to New Atlas, landmines are hidden threats that mainly kill thousands of innocent people. Fortunately, the 1997 Min Ban Treaty decreased the use of landmines as well as the number of casualties. Currently, there are 15 to 20 thousand people getting injured or even killed each year because of landmines and there are still 100 million buried in 70 counties.
Detecting buried landmines are uneasy and the detection teams risk their lives and limbs when entering minefields. Eventually, the glowing bacteria gives a new hope through getting combined with lasers to remotely map the buried landmines.
Researchers believe that with the capability of the glowing bacteria can track the accumulated quantities of explosive vapors in the soil that marks their presence. So, they tested the use of molecularly engineered live bacteria that can emit light when getting contact with the vapors which can be quantified and recorded remotely.
The laser-based scanning system will be used right after the glowing bacteria performed its job to get the location of the buried landmines. Professor Alexander Silberman from the Institute of Life Sciences commented that the usefulness of these glowing bacteria should be enhanced to improve sensitivity and stability as well as the scanning speed of the apparatus to cover large areas when applied.
