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Rats Can Stop Land Mines

Rats Can Stop Land Mines

During the Cambodian wars in the 1970s, the Khmer Rouge planted hundreds of land mines in neighboring Thailand. Thailand is committed to disposing of the mines by 2018, and the key may be… rodents. Giant-pouched rats have been carefully trained researchers in Tanzania to identify scents found in explosives. The rats are too light to set off a mine, so when they find one, experts are able to cordon off the area and safely dispose of the explosive. The other skill the rats have? Diagnosing tuberculosis (seriously).

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