In 2013, honeybees were trained to find land mines left behind by the Balkan wars, turning their extraordinary sense of smell into an unlikely detection tool |
Croatia was still dealing with the hidden legacy of the Balkan wars when scientists began looking to an unlikely ally: honeybees. Years after mines had been buried across fields, forests and rural land, uncertainty over their locations continued to complicate farming, development and everyday life. Traditional mine-clearance teams faced the difficult task of finding explosives…