World News for Students of English

04-09-2020 15:00

A team at Washington University in St. Louis USA, have discovered a way to use a locust’s nearly 50,000 sensors to detect TNT.

Air Force sergeant, Travis Rhoad, said that locusts could be a backup for dogs that specialize in bomb detection. Scientists make a small incision between the locust’s antennae, and they attach a chip to the insect’s brain. Once the locust senses chemical explosives, its brain sends out certain signals which are then sent to a computer.

When compared with dogs, there are advantages and disadvantages, too. Military working dogs can work up to twelve years before retiring. The training lasts more than 100 days, and it costs nearly $40,000 dollars per dog. Also, dogs are easy to control. On the other hand, locusts are small, and they do not require any training. However, they live only a few months, and they are very unpredictable.

Difficult words: TNT (a type of explosive chemical substance), incision (a cut), antennae (a sensory organ on the head of insects).

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