Thursday, June 7, 2007

 

Danish Company Develops Unique Solution To Land Mines

‘About 26,000 people are killed every year by the 100 million land mines believed to be scattered around the world. [..]

Removing mines and making them safe is relatively easy. Detecting them is difficult and risky. Conventional methods, using electronic mine detectors, heavy machines, sniffer dogs, or gentle probes into the ground using a sharp object, are time-consuming, costly — and dangerous. Sometimes, those searching for mines become victims themselves.

Now, a Danish company called Aresa Biodetection believes it has found a cheaper and safer method to find land mines by using a plant that changes color when it detects explosives in the soil. It has conducted tests using a genetically modified thale cress plant. The thale cress family includes the cress plant used often in salads and also the weeds that grow in sidewalk cracks.’

(5.7meg Flash video)





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