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Mice against explosives and drugs

04.12.2012

Israeli company BioExplorers has found an easy way to use mice to detect explosives, drugs and even money. In addition, BioExplorers hopes that their development will be useful in medical diagnostics in the future, for example, for the early detection of cancer.

They have been trying to use rodents as sappers for a long time, but a rat on a leash amuses only those around them, not the sapper, since it is more difficult to control it than a dog. In addition, the rat is too small and "ideologically not motivated" creature, which constantly strives to desert. On the other hand, an excellent sense of smell, the ability to concentrate on a certain smell and quick learning, at moderate maintenance costs, make rodents very attractive detectors of hazardous substances in stationary conditions, such as airports.

BioExplorers specialists have not only developed their own method of training rodents, but also created a simple detector in which the mouse is the main sensor. The detector consists of three opaque microwave-sized boxes in which three groups of mice live. Cartridge boxes are self-contained for 14 days, contain food and water supplies, and can be removed for routine maintenance. Air is injected into one of the cartridges with a duty shift of 8 mice. If mice smell a certain smell, they huddle together in a certain place, the sensors detect this and give an alarm signal. The "scanning" process lasts only 8 seconds - such a speed is not yet available to modern detectors. Each group of rodents works for 4 hours. After the end of the shift, the air flow from the controlled area is redirected to the next cartridge, and the first shift begins rest. Mice take only 2 months to train, after which the mice can work for 18 months.

In December 2010, BioExplorers experts tested their detector at the entrance to a shopping center in Tel Aviv. More than 1200 people passed through the area controlled by the detector, among them 20 people who were carrying a dangerous substance. The mice identified all potential terrorists, with only one false alarm per 1200 visitors, which is an excellent result. Next year, it is planned to use a prototype of a fully functional "mouse" system of suspicious odors that may indicate explosives or drugs. In addition, the BioExplorers concept allows the use of a single group of mice trained for different odors, making the detector multifunctional.

Among other things, mice are able to distinguish other odors, for example, specific markers of the early stages of breast and lung cancer.

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