Team DailyPedia
Russian President Vladimir Putin is preparing something unusual yet deadly for his opponents, particularly the infamous Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terror group. News reports reveal Russia is working on cybernetically enhanced rats.
Scientists are turning these rodents into weapons by enabling them to smell explosives or drugs even in the most impregnable, small places, reported The Daily Mail.
Why rats?
Rats are known to possess a very sharp sense of smell, far exceeding that of canines. If they detect something, they will be able to alert their owners about the dangerous materials.
To do this, scientists implanted a microchip in each rat’s brain to monitor their brainwaves and physiological reactions. “This way it could find its way deep under rubble and by its brain activity one could understand if there are, for example, people who are still alive, if it’s worth clearing debris here or at another place, to rescue people more quickly,” explained Dr. Dmitry Medvedev, the person in charge of the research team.
The only downside of this method is it takes three months to train a rat to sniff out and recognize items, and their life expectancy is only a year. Dr. Dmitry admitted, “We can’t use very young rats, and the old ones have already lost their sense of smell.” This means the scientists would have to constantly train a large group of rats to “provide security forces with a new type of counter-terrorist operative.”
Today, researchers are still working on improving the microchip.
Not only rats.
Collapse.news reported that it’s not only rats that are being used in warfare. In May 2015, two seals took part in Russia’s massive Victory Day parade where they sang military songs, held toy guns, shot at targets, carried knives with their flippers. While it’s meant to entertain, Russia said they could use them to spy on underwater naval operations in the West.
Evgeniy Baranov, founder of the world’s first seal circus, believes that these animals are smarter than dolphins, adding that with every rehearsal, the seals get better.
Featured image via YouTube
