Airport security has found a new ally – the humble mouse. Specially-trained dogs might have become a common site in airports, but their patrols could be scooped by these more diminutive deputies, as X-Test, an Israeli security firm, puts forward the claim that mice are far more effective at detecting explosives than other methods.
Yuval Amsterdam, the firm’s vice-president and formerbomb-disposal expert in the Israel Defence Forces claims to have put together a more sophisticated detection system, with mice as the prime part. According to Mr Amsterdam, mice are able to sense suspicious items just as well as dogs, but are at the same time easier to train, smaller, and far cheaper.
Should his system prevail, security checkpoints in the near future will employ these creatures in order to help detect terrorists. Far from being let lose, the mice in question will simply be contained within cages and subtly sniff those who pass by.
If a substance which they have been trained to identify is detected they will be able to produce a signal. Unlike dogs, mice can be trained in large groups using machines, so the results – in theory – would be more reliable. In the words of Mr Amsterdam, “Once they are trained, they become bio-sensors.”
It should go without saying that aviation security has seen massive investment and attention during the 21st century, but experts argue that problems can still be exploited due to practical restraints. Explosive trace tests, for example, are extremely effective but can only be used on a few passengers.
X-Test hope that mice might hold the answer due to their size and affordability. It is also expected that they would be able to identify any explosives which have been implanted within the body, something which has been long-regarded as a key weakness in airside security measures.
As stated by Philip Baum, editor of Aviation Security International: “We do not currently have explosive detection capability in our portals, or an accepted way of detecting ‘internal carries’. The mice just might plug that security hole.”
No UK airport has yet put mice on the pay-roll, but developers hope that this will change, especially when taking the flexibility of the program into account. “We can teach them anything that has a scent – whether it’s explosives, whether it’s drugs, whether it’s ivory in Africa. Anything that has a smell,” added Mr Amsterdam.