Yes, it's come to this: mice are being tested as explosive sniffers for airport security.
Israeli start-up BioExplorers "claims that trained mice can be better than full-body scanners and intrusive pat-downs at telling a bona fide passenger from a terrorist carrying explosives," says a recent article in New Scientist.
Mice apparently have a more acute sense of smell than dogs, and require less attention. They were conditioned to smell the traces of eight key explosives.
The same article reports that moths can be used as bomb detectors as well.
"Different chemicals produce distinct voltages on the antennae that the moths use to sense aromas, so the team wired up the moths to record these levels."
So, there you are, world, the absurd fixes you're willing to dream up in place of real solutions.
