Portuguese designer Susana Soares has developed a device for detecting cancer and other serious diseases using trained bees. The bees are placed in a glass chamber into which the patient exhales; the bees fly into a smaller secondary chamber if they detect cancer.
Scientists have found that honey bees - Apis mellifera - have an extraordinary sense of smell that is more acute than that of a sniffer dog and can detect airborne molecules in the parts-per-trillion range.
Bees can be trained to detect specific chemical odours, including the biomarkers associated with diseases such as tuberculosis, lung, skin and pancreatic cancer.
Trained as a thermal engineer (having worked on several NASA projects), photographer Kim Keever fuses the images of his childhood fantasy with his knowledge of science and physics. His exploration into his unique process began by trying to physically recreate the imagery of his memories. By constructing intricate landscapes inside a water-filled aquarium, he was able to create the mysterious atmosphere of the mind.
As Keever continued to explore, his photography evolved from atmospheric landscapes to bold abstract compositions, allowing the materials to create expressions. Bright pigments hang weightless, captured in digital form. Keever states, “the idea has become a machine that makes the art”.
