Sniffing elephants trained in South Africa
MABULA: In the South African bush, elephants are being trained in the art of ‘bio-detection’ to see if they can use their exceptional sense of smell to sniff out explosives, landmines and poachers.
Supported by the US Army Research Office, the project looks promising.During a recent test run, a 17-year-old male elephant named Chishuru walked past a row of buckets. A swab laced with TNT scent had been stapled to the bottom of one.Sticking his trunk into each bucket, Chishuru stopped and raised a front leg when he came across the one with the swab. He got the bucket right each time.
And like a sniffer dog, he was rewarded with a treat: marula, a fruit that elephants love.’An elephant’s nose is amazing. Think about mam The project has a number of roots. Elephants in Angola, which suffered decades of civil war, have been observed avoiding heavily-mined areas, suggesting their trunks were warning them to stay away.
In Hensman’s case, he said his father was startled in the 1990s while watching a herd of elephants in Zimbabwe to discover that a female member of the herd had tracked him.
Inspired, his father trained 12 elephants for anti-poaching patrols in Zimbabwe but in 2002 the family lost their three farms to President Robert Mugabe’s land seizures and came to South Africa.
US army researchers, who have been involved in the project for five years, say unlike in Hannibal’s day, elephants will not be staging a return to the theatre of combat.
‘We could bring scents from the field collected by unmanned robotic systems to the elephants for evaluation,’ said Stephen Lee, chief scientist of the US Army Research Office.
And who has the better nose, the dog or the elephant?’In our work I don’t believe we have a firm conclusion. We would like to better quantify this,’ Lee said.But the old adage about an elephant never forgetting seems to have some basis in truth.’Dogs require constant training while the elephants seem to understand and remember the scent without the need for constant training,’ Lee said. (Reuters)
Japan eyes later pilot retirement amid shortage
Tokyo: Japan appears set to relax rules to let pilots fly until they are 67 as it tries to ease a shortage created by the growing popularity of air travel, an official said today. Under current rules, airline pilots must hang up their hats when they hit 64, a standard set by the International Civil Aviation Organization and followed by many countries.
But surging demand by passengers, especially for Low Cost Carriers, has left the country with a shortage of pilots and last year forced airlines to cancel thousands of flights. “By raising the age limit, we want to solve the shortage of pilots in the short term,” said a transport ministry official. The ministry is inviting public comment on the possible change and hopes it will take effect by late April, he said.
“The ministry is considering raising the age limit but also imposing stricter conditions on them, such as shorter flying hours,” he said, adding stricter health checks would be required. The ministry could also demand a co-pilot be aged 59 or younger when a pilot in command is 65 or older, while limiting their flying hours to 80 percent of the usual time — allowing them to be behind the controls for just 80 hours per month or 216 hours over three months. Japan raised the age limit for a pilot in command from 62 to 64 in 2004. Some countries such as Australia and New Zealand have no age restrictions, the official said. (AFP)
Overly tight cheap underpants force Canada MP out of his seat
OTTAWA: Canadian legislator Pat Martin on Thursday offered up one of the most original excuses ever heard for hurriedly running out of the House of Commons during a vote, his new cheap pair of underpants was too tight. Martin, who belongs to the official opposition New Democrats, bolted as members of Parliament began to rise one by one to vote. He later blamed his departure on an unwise purchase at a local store. “They had men’s underwear on for half price and I bought a bunch that was clearly too small for me. I find it difficult to sit for any length of time,” he told the chamber to guffaws and applause from fellow legislators. Martin, one of the more colorful Canadian members of Parliament, did return in time to cast his vote. (IANS)
World War I grenade found in Australian river
Canberra:An unexploded World War I grenade was found Tuesday by a fisherman in the Swan river in Australia. According to officials, the grenade had fins and a bulbous head, but no fuse.
The bomb squad and Navy experts identified it as a 1915 German Wurfgranate. A spokesman for the Arms and Armour Society with the Army Museum, Barry Lathwell, said it was certainly an unusual find. “Those WWI devices are very, very rare,” he said. “I would doubt that there are many of those that would have been brought back. They are not very common at all.” “If they are still alive, they are very dangerous. It would have to be deactivated or destroyed by the army,” he added. German Wurfgranates were in use for a relatively short period between 1915 and 1918, due to their rarity. (PTI)
Houston surgeons separate 10-month-old conjoined twin girls
Houston: Doctors were optimistic 10-month-old conjoined twin girls will survive the surgery that has separated them. It took 26 hours last week to separate the girls, Knatalyne Hope Mata and Adeline Faith, who shared a chest wall, lungs, a part of their heart lining, diaphragm, liver, colon, intestines and pelvic area, according to lead surgeon Dr Darrell Cass. The surgery, which took place at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, had been planned since before they were born last April. “The surgery was not without its challenges, with the girls sharing several organ systems, but we’re very pleased with how they’re doing,” Cass told the Houston Chronicle. “We’re very optimistic they can both have a really great outcome.” The girls were in stable but critical condition, will be on ventilators for the next week and are expected to be in intensive care for a couple of months, then have more surgery later. Cass said about five hours into the operation, Adeline’s blood pressure dropped to where the surgical team needed to manually pump her heart to resuscitate her. She recovered after about five to eight minutes. The surgical team included eight nurses, six anesthesiologists and 12 surgeons. The conjoined condition of the girls was discovered during a routine ultrasound in January 2014. Each weighed 3 pounds, 7 ounces (1.6 kilograms) at birth, and have since been in the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit and grew to more than 20 pounds (9 kilograms). (AP)
UK to honour Indian soldiers at World War I event
London: The UK will honour the Indian soldiers who fought alongside their British officers during the World War I with special plaques to be unveiled at a war memorial next month. The National Memorial Arboretum at Staffordshire in the West Midlands region of England will honour 11 soldiers from undivided India who were awarded the Victoria Cross for their service alongside a total of 145 overseas-born fighters from Commonwealth countries such as Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Australia, New Zealand and Canada at a commemorative event on March 5.
“The First World War was a truly global war, one which pulled in people from every corner of the earth. People from every background united in their shared values, fighting for liberty,” said UK communities minister Stephen Williams.
Among some of the early stones already laid out in the lead up to the event is one for Sepoy Chatta Singh, born in Kanpur or Cawnpore as it was referred to under the British. “Despite the differences of culture and faith between Chatta Singh and his officer, he recognised that what mattered was that his comrade was in danger.
He displayed exceptional compassion and bravery in risking his life for that of his fellow man and we can all still learn from his example 100 years later,” Williams said. (PTI)
