Scientists at a U.S. weapons laboratory say they have trained bees to sniff out explosives in a project they say could have far-reaching applications for U.S. homeland security and the Iraq war.

A new computer vision system for automated analysis of animal movement -- honey bee activities, in particular -- is expected to accelerate animal behavior research, which also has implications for biologically inspired design of robots and computers.

Scientists working for the Pentagon have trained ordinary honeybees to ignore flowers and home in on minute traces of explosives, a preliminary step toward creating a buzzing, swarming detection system that could be used to find truck bombs, land mines and other hidden explosives.