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Summary Mice are being trained to detect would-be bombers and drug couriers at airports. The mice smell the illegal items and trigger an alarm.
Israeli scientists have created a detector, similar looking to a full-body scanner but with three concealed cartridges each containing eight specially trained mice.According to reports, the mice work four-hour shifts and are more accurate than using dogs and x-ray machines, claimed the researchers. Air is pumped into the cartridges every four hours so the mice can breathe. The mice sense traces of drugs they run to a side chamber where the trigger an alarm.The device was tested last year on 1,000 shoppers in a Tel Aviv shopping mall when the mice successfully picked out 22 people carrying mock explosives.The research company, BioExplorers is hopeful that a larger company will help with the final stages of development. The idea may be appealing to airport authorities who feel that body scanners invade the privacy of the commuters.
