I want to tell you about rats. Superhero rats.
For as long as I can remember, and especially since moving to NYC-a city that is INFESTED with rats, I’ve considered them enemy number one. Which is why I was intrigued (and terrified) when I came across Nicholas Kristof’s op-ed titled The Giant Rats That Save Lives.
“I’m walking in a minefield here in rural Angola,” Nicholas begins, “tailing a monster rat.”
“This is a Gambian pouched rat, a breed almost 3 feet from nose to tail, the kind of rat that gives cats nightmares.”
Ha! I’ll say! And how about humans as well!
“Yet this rat is a genius as well as a giant, for it has learned to detect land mines from scent- and it’s doing its best to save humans like me from blowing up.”
I definitely didn’t see that coming. But that’s pretty incredible, right?
Kristof goes on to explain that typical land-mine detection is an incredibly slow process where men wearing full body armor walk in careful rows carrying metal detectors in front of them. Whenever they spot metal they have to stop and brush away the dirt until they can figure out what it is. Usually it’s something else, but they have to treat each detection like it’s the real thing.
HeroRats, as they’re called, are way more efficient. They meander through the fields on leashes, and are able to tell the difference between scrap metal and explosives. At the minefield that Nicholas visited, people were able to clear 20 square meters per day, whereas the rats could clear 20 times that.
A supervisor insisted the rats are more reliable as well, because their concentration does not wane the way people’s naturally do. Imagine that.
In addition to clearing mine fields, HeroRats are also using their super-scent to detect Tuberculosis, a disease that kills around 1.5 million people per year.
Apparently, diagnosing tuberculosis is a tricky, lengthy process. Health workers take a full day to examine 25 samples of sputum to see if they test positive for TB. HeroRats, on the other hand, can screen 100 samples in 20 minutes. Even better, they’re more reliable than humans. HeroRats are proving to detect TB in more patients, which ensures fewer people leave the clinic sick believing they are healthy, thus spreading the disease further. And in case you’re sketched out about Dr. Rats taking over, each diagnosis is confirmed by a human in the lab.
It’s mind blowing to think that the lowly rodent could be capable of so much. I mean we’re talking about a rat- the creature most people think so little of that we feel comfortable conducting our science experiments on them in order to make our faces pretty.
But it just goes to show- if rats are capable of saving human lives, what other crazy ideas are possible? People tend to recognize the vital role that innovation plays in developing new technologies like the smart phone or the self-parking car, but innovation will be equally necessary in solving the world’s most pressing issues, like ending extreme poverty.
Who/ what will be the next Super Rat?