bomb-sniffing flower

[goldfish]

It's a little bit old story (Dec 2004), but I found this story about "bomb-sniffing" flower in New York Times.

This January, the Danish company Aresa Biodetection announced that it had produced an unusual new variant of thale-cress, a small flowering weed: a strain that turns red in the presence of land mines. Aresa scientists had genetically modified the weed so that it reacts to nitrogen dioxide, a gas commonly emitted by explosives. A result is a new way to detect mines: sprinkle the seeds over a suspect area, wait a few weeks for the thale-cress to grow and -- presto -- wherever they turn red, you have danger. ''It's much more efficient,'' says Simon Ostergaard, Aresa's C.E.O. ''It's very tedious to clear mines the normal way. You're putting a stick in the ground every three centimeters. One man can sometimes only do two square meters a day.''

Does anyone know what happened to this flower? Has any country used it? I also wonder how one can seed this flower without potentially stepping on a mine? Just curious.

 

[12BucksFor2Dozon]

Is it just me or does anyone else find that picture absolutely hilarious????

 

[Doug Hatcher]

Quick

Quick send in Thale-Cress he is the only one who can get this job done!

But Sir it's a plant.

I know, I know just do it @@@@ it!

 

[dzynrprincess]

Way funny!
I can see it now....
Our flowers have a "leg up" on the competition!!!:hammer: