Ratting out landmines

The hosts over at ScienceBlogs recently asked their bloggers which was the most unwelcome invention of the last 100 years. I’m torn between two answers: nukes and landmines.

The big issue with landmines is that they remain after a conflict, unseen, to be trodden on by unsuspecting civilians. Finding them safely is a challenge. Two years back a Danish biotech company developed a plant that would detect the NO₂ emanating from buried explosives. Now I learn that rats have been recruited for the job in Colombia. They’re lighter than dogs (so don’t trigger the landmines), have a better sense of smell, and may be trained faster and more cheaply.