Life Support

source: susanasoares
BEE´S / PROJECT
Bee’s explores how we might co-habit with natural biological systems and use their potential to increase our perceptive abilities.
The objects facilitate bees’ odour detection abilities in human breath. Bees can be trained within 10 minutes using Pavlov’s reflex to target a wide range of natural and man-made chemicals and odours, including the biomarkers associated with certain diseases.
The aim of the project is to develop upon current technological research by using design to translate the outcome into systems and objects that people can understand and use, engendering significant adjustments in their lives and mind set.
How it works
The glass objects have two enclosures: a smaller chamber that serves as the diagnosis space and a bigger chamber where previously trained bees are kept for the short period of time necessary for them to detect general health. People exhale into the smaller chamber and the bees rush into it if they detect on the breath the odour that they where trained to target.
What can bees detect?
Scientific research demonstrated that bees can diagnose accurately at an early stage a vast variety of diseases, such as: tuberculosis, lung and skin cancer, and diabetes.
Precise object
The outer curved tube helps bees avoid from flying accidentally into the interior diagnosis chamber, making for a more precise result. The tubes connected to the small chamber create condensation, so that exhalation is visible.
Detecting chemicals in the axilla
Apocrine glands are known to contain pheromones that retain information about a person’s health that bees antennae can identify.
The bee clinic
These diagnostic tools would be part of system that uses bees as a biosensor.
The systems implies:
– A BEE CENTRE: a structure that facilitates the technologic potential of bees. Within the centre is a BEEFARM, a TRAINING CENTRE, a RESEARCH lab and a HEALTHCARE CENTRE.
– TRAINING CENTER: courses can be taken on beetraining where bees are collected and trained by beetrainers. These are specialists that learn beetraining techniques to be used in a large scope of applications, including diagnosing diseases.
– BEE clinic: bees are used at the clinic for screening tests. These insects are very accurate in early medical diagnosis through detection on a person’s breath. Bees are a sustainable and valuable resource. After performing the diagnose in the clinic they are released, returning to their beehive.
What if people started to be screened by bees for cancer? Which one would we trust more, a machine or a biosensor? Could beetraining become a profession?
Bee training
Bees can be easily trained using Pavlov’s reflex to target a wide range of natural and man-made chemicals odours including the biomarkers associated with certain diseases. The training consists in baffling the bees with a specific odour and feeding them with a solution of water and sugar, therefore they associate that odour with a food reward.
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source: we-make-money-not-art
Susana Soares studied bees and in particular the way they can be trained to use their smell and detect pretty anything including bombs and landmines.
Bees are trained using Pavlov’s reflex to target a specific odour and their range of detection includes pheromones, toxins and disease diagnosis. Not only can they roam large distances in search of what you want them to sniff out, it takes only a few minutes to train them, unlike dogs whose training can last up to one year.
Their behaviour can be conditioned by rewards such as sugar-water. They are placed in straw-like containers and made to smell a combination of, say sugar with tiny residues of TNT. That’s it! The bees’ keen sense of smell will then associate the odour of explosives with food.
In her BEE’S project, Susana would use the insects as biosensors, harnessing their extroadinary sense of smell to detect diseases such as lung cancer, skin cancer and tuberculosis. Besides they could spot the problem at a very early stage much better than machines. They could even detect if a woman is pregnant which i find much more appealing and elegant than the usual method that involves peeing on a piece of plastic.
The designer visited the London Beekeepers Association and used chewing gum in her tests with the bees. She then located a glass master and had glass objects blown.
People would breathe in the glass diagnosis tools where bees are kept for the short period of time necessary for them to detect general health and fertility cycles. To ensure that the mouth never gets in contact with the insect, there are two different spheres, the bee’s smell being strong enough to sniff out what you breathe through glass. Bess would rush into the tubes that lead closer to the breath when they detect any disease they associate with food.
In her scenario, people would receive trained bees by the post (nothing uncommon here apparently), proceed to the breathe test than release the bees.
BEE’S explores how we might co-habit with natural biological systems and use their potential to increase our perceptive abilities. We have always co-existed with these systems, but their potential was unknown.
This project is based on ongoing research that provided the knowledge to enable new interactions.
The aim of this project is to develop collaborative relations between scientific and technological research, beekeepers and design, among others, translating the outcome into systems and objects that people can understand and use, engendering significant adjustments.
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source: tinmoitruongvn
Nhà phát minh Bồ Đào Nha, ông Susana Soares đã sáng chế cách thức ít tốn kém và hiệu quả hơn để chẩn đoán nhanh ung thư cho bệnh nhân bằng ong mật được huấn luyện chỉ 10 phút.
Những con ong được đưa vào buồng thủy tinh để bệnh nhân thở vào trong. Nếu phát hiện có phân tử ung thư chúng sẽ bay ngay vào căn buồng nhỏ hơn có hơi thở đó.
Ong mật Apis mellifera có độ nhạy cảm với phân tử mùi gấp nhiều lần chó tới 1/1000 tỷ phân tử trong không khí nên dễ dàng huấn luyện chúng phát hiện hơi thở đặc biệt của người mắc ung thư hay một số bệnh khác.
Cách thức huấn luyện ong cực kỳ đơn giản: cho chúng ngửi mùi đặc trưng kèm theo chút nước đường và chúng sẽ học được cách bay lại gần mùi hương đó để được thưởng thức nước đường.
Mỗi con ong sẽ nhớ bài học của mình trong suốt 6 tháng cuộc đời nếu vẫn được uống nước đường.
Những con ong mật này có thể chẩn đoán tốt bệnh lao phổi, ung thư da và tuyến tụy. Ngoài ra, người ta còn dùng chúng phát hiện bom hiệu quả hơn chó nghiệp vụ trong hoạt động chống khủng bố.
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source: susanasoares
Born in Lisbon, Portugal, 1977
Soares work explores the implications for design of the current technological redesign of nature. Her projects involve developing collaborative frameworks between design and emerging scientific research. She employs design to explore future technological implications for public engagement and awareness.


She is currently based in London, UK and is a Senior Lecturer at London South Bank University. In addition she has held research fellow positions in » IMPACT! project, at Royal College of Art and » MATERIAL BELIEFS, at Goldsmiths University of London.
After completing a BA(Hons) in Product Design from ESAD, Portugal she graduated at MA Design Interaction in Royal College of Art, London. Susana has lectured internationally and has presented her work at Networkshop (Caltech University), Los Angeles, Creative Engagement/Medi(t)ation of Survival Symposium at MOMAK, Kyoto, and Headspace – scent as design conference, organised by Parsons, MoMA & Seed magazine, New York.
Her work has been published within design and scientific publications and exhibited at the MoMA, New York, MOMAK, Kyoto, Science Gallery, Dublin, Southbank Centre, London and The Royal Institution, London. Susana’s work is in the permanent collection of MoMA, New York.


Her current research focusses on how the understanding of technological redesigned living systems can generate new frameworks for design practice.