Sniffer Mice To Find Drugs And Bombs

Mice are being trained to detect would-be bombers and drug couriers at airports. Israeli scientists have created a detector, similar to a full-body scanner but with three concealed cartridges each containing eight specially trained mice. Researchers claimed to the New Scientist that the mice, which work four-hour shifts, are more accurate than sniffer dogs and x-ray machines. Air is pumped into the cartridges every four hours so the mice can breathe. When the mice sense traces of drugs they run to a side chamber where they trigger an alarm, the magazine said. Inventor Eran Lumbroso, whose company BioExplorers is hoping a larger company will help with the final stages of development, said: "It is as if they are smelling a cat and escaping. We detect the escape." 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 idea may be appealing to airport authorities who feel that body scanners invade customers privacy.