<
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070912-of-mice-and-mines-trained-rats-search-for-explosives-tuberculosis.html>
"According to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, an estimated
15-20,000 people are killed by landmines each year. Detecting those
mines—without setting them off—is a dilemma that faces many post-conflict
regions of the world. But Bart Weetjens may have found a six-pound solution to
the problem: the African giant pouched rat. Working for APOPO, a Belgian
organization founded to explore the idea, Weetjens has successfully trained
rats to locate land mines by smell. The animals have also been trained to
identify tuberculosis from samples, a development that may prove equally
promising."
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
