May 14, 2002	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 1, 1423

WASHINGTON, May 13: In the struggle against terrorism or others who may try to take lives with bombs, the US Defence Department is training ordinary honey bees to sniff out explosives, according to the New York Times on Monday.

By rewarding bees with sugar, scientists have been able to persuade them to chase explosive material rather than flowers.

Work on the programme is still in its early stages, and it remains unclear how applicable bomb hunting bees would function in an airport or other public places.

The research originally began for the purpose of finding landmines.—dpa