One often forgotten threat to humans around the world is landmines. Nearly 20,000 people are being killed by them each year, and many more are being crippled. One can currently find 110 million landmines across 70 countries. To make a landmine, you have to pay $3, but its is 50 times more expensive to clear one. Here are some creative ways to clear landmines:
Mine Kafon
The Mine Kafon is a new way to clear landmines, and has been designed by Massoud Hassani. He was born in Afghanistan so one can clearly understand why he wants to solve the threat of minefields. Roughly 10 million landmines have been buried throughout Afghanistan. So to solve the problem, Massoud Hassani designed the Mine Kafon which is a device that you roll out on a mine field. The device will now roll though the minefield as it is powered by the wind, and when it hits a mine, it will simply explode. But the entire device will not be destroyed, some parts can be used again to build another device. It features a GPS navigator so you can see where it has been rolling around before. One problem is that it will not clear the entire minefield since you can control it, but it will clear maybe 50 percent of the landmines, and that will save lives - or you can clear the rest of the field with another more dangerous method.
The Mine Kafon (teaser) from Callum Cooper on Vimeo.
RedDetect
The Danish company Aresa made a genetically modified flower that was supposed to detect mines in a minefield. To clear a minefield, you planted plants on the minefield, and when one of the plants came in contact with nitrogen dioxide (a compound released by decaying chemicals used in explosives), the plant would change its color to red. The company has now been given up the idea to continue with this project, but I believe that it was a good idea, and someone else could perhaps continue with it.
HeroRAT
The HeroRat is a trained Gambian pouched rat, and the rat is not a kamikaze rat, the rat will probably survive the process since the rodent is using its excellent smell to find landmines. They are being trained by the company Apopo, and one rat will cost €6,000 to train, and the training will take 6 months.
Source: BBC, WorldChanging
Mine Kafon
The Mine Kafon is a new way to clear landmines, and has been designed by Massoud Hassani. He was born in Afghanistan so one can clearly understand why he wants to solve the threat of minefields. Roughly 10 million landmines have been buried throughout Afghanistan. So to solve the problem, Massoud Hassani designed the Mine Kafon which is a device that you roll out on a mine field. The device will now roll though the minefield as it is powered by the wind, and when it hits a mine, it will simply explode. But the entire device will not be destroyed, some parts can be used again to build another device. It features a GPS navigator so you can see where it has been rolling around before. One problem is that it will not clear the entire minefield since you can control it, but it will clear maybe 50 percent of the landmines, and that will save lives - or you can clear the rest of the field with another more dangerous method.
RedDetect
The Danish company Aresa made a genetically modified flower that was supposed to detect mines in a minefield. To clear a minefield, you planted plants on the minefield, and when one of the plants came in contact with nitrogen dioxide (a compound released by decaying chemicals used in explosives), the plant would change its color to red. The company has now been given up the idea to continue with this project, but I believe that it was a good idea, and someone else could perhaps continue with it.
HeroRAT
The HeroRat is a trained Gambian pouched rat, and the rat is not a kamikaze rat, the rat will probably survive the process since the rodent is using its excellent smell to find landmines. They are being trained by the company Apopo, and one rat will cost €6,000 to train, and the training will take 6 months.
Source: BBC, WorldChanging
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