Every time the bees were exposed to an infected sample, they stuck out their tongues.
The animals could be a low-tech solution for identifying COVID-19 cases.
Scientists in the Netherlands have trained bees to identify COVID-19 through their sense of smell, according to a press release from Wageningen University.
The research was conducted on more than 150 bees in Wageningen University's bio-veterinary research laboratory.
The scientists trained the bees by giving them a treat - a sugar-water solution - every time they were exposed to the scent of a mink infected with COVID-19.
That's because metabolic changes from themake an infected person's bodily fluids smell slightly different than those of a non-infected person.
At the very least, certain animals could be useful for identifying COVID-19 in places or countries in which high-tech laboratory equipment is scarce or inaccessible. »