Rescue Rats
This article is somehow cool in a humanitarian kind of a way and hysterical at the same time. Actually, it makes me think of Chip ‘n Dale’s Rescue Rangers. Therefore, it must be blogged. Enjoy!
Rescue rats spell hope for earthquake victims
Wed Sep 22, 3:53 PM ET
PARIS (AFP) - Rats fitted with radio backpacks reportedly may soon help rescue teams locate earthquake survivors who are buried under rubble.
Researchers at the University of Florida in Gainesville and the State University of New York in Brooklyn have fitted rats with electrode implants in their brains, hooked up to a tiny radio transmitter that transmits a signal of their cerebral activity, the British weekly New Scientist reports.
Trained over months to get a reward when they find a target smell such as a human odour, the rats send back a characteristic “aha!” neural pattern when they reach their goal.
At that point, by tracking the rat’s position by triangulating the radio signals, the rescue team will know exactly where to dig.
“The team hope to create a working system within nine months,” the report says.
Other approaches in this field have looked at robots that can trundle or slither into wrecked buildings, or “artificial noses” programmed to sniff out the molecular signature of a human smell.
But rats may be the solution because they are small and agile, able to squeeze into confined spaces and surmount unexpected obstacles — nor do they need an electricity supply, says New Scientist.
