World News for Students of English

04-09-2020 15:00

Researchers at Washington University found a new way to use insects. They want to make locusts find bombs.

A locust has almost 50,000 sensors, which make it very sensitive. Scientists cut a locust’s head, and they attach a chip to its brain. When the locust senses some chemicals, that people use in bombs, its brain sends out some signals. Scientists are able to read these signals in a computer.

Nowadays, people use dogs to find bombs. Dogs can work more than ten years. However, it takes a long time to train them, and the training costs nearly $40,000 dollars per one dog. Locusts do not need any training, and they are very small. However, they live only a few months, and it is not easy to control them.

Difficult words: locust (an insect that lives in hot places, and it often destroys plants and crops), sensor (a device or thing that reacts to smell, light, heat or sound), chip (a part of an electronic device), training (an event where you learn something).

You can watch the original video in the Level 3 section.