Ants could be the next line of defense against cancer.
A study published in the journal Proceedings of Royal Society B: Biological Sciences focused on Ants and their keen sense of smell. Ants use smell via their thin sensory appendages that sit on top of their heads to do almost everything, including hunt for food, spotting mates, and protecting their young.
In the study, scientists used pieces of a breast cancer tumor, which were grafted onto mice, and then trained 35 ants to associate urine from the infected mice with sugar. In analyzing, scientists detected that the ants would hover for longer periods of time near the sick mouse rather than the healthy one.
Using ants to detect cancers would be a cost-cutting tool. Currently, cancers are diagnosed by blood withdrawal, biopsies, and colonoscopies, which are all considered invasive as well as being expensive procedures. Utilizing ants to screen for cancer would be significantly more reasonable.
While dogs have similar capabilities in that they are able to detect cancer in humans through smell, they take much longer to train. Baptiste Piqueret, a postdoctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Germany, said ants would be the ideal animal to use because they have good memories, are easy to train and don't bite.
Though progress has been made with ants and their cancer detection capabilities, there is still more research to be done on their efficacy. The next phase of the study will be human trials to see if ants are able to sniff out cancers through human excrement.
Wellness 4 Humanity is testing out COVID-19 related vending machines. Items include tests kits and PPE. Cheddar's Chloe Aiello reports.
A team of international and Chinese scientists looking for the origins of COVID-19 says the coronavirus most likely first appeared in humans after jumping from an animal.
March of Dimes CEO Stacey Stewart spoke with Cheddar about the need to advance the science of COVID vaccine testing on pregnant populations.
After seeing two academic years thrown off course by the pandemic, school leaders around the country are planning for the possibility of more distance learning next fall at the start of yet another school year.
Rescuers in northern India are working to rescue more than three dozen power plant workers trapped in a tunnel after part of a Himalayan glacier broke off and sent a wall of water and debris rushing down a mountain.
In the 1920s, an army of real estate boosters set out to redefine Florida from an economic backwater to a ritzy vacation destination, sparking a land boom — and bust — the likes of which America had never seen before.
Nate Boutte, pharmacy manager for Walgreens, talked about the readiness of the pharmacy chain in getting COVID vaccines out in the White House's new distribution plan.
A new study may help answer one of the big open questions about the campaign to suppress the coronavirus outbreak.
Doctors say a 22-year-old man from New Jersey is recovering after receiving a rare face and hands transplant.
Philanthropist and former Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer wants President Biden to do more than just reverse Trump's policies on climate change.
