Verminators: Putin building 'rat commando army' in secret lab
Verminators: Putin building 'rat commando army' in secret lab
Blog: Genetically engineered war bears, giant squid, and mind-controlled dolphins could be the stuff of cheesy sci-fi and Cold War paranoia, but Russia is training anti-terror cyborg rats for real...
3 min read
05 Jan, 2016
Ratty comrades could soon join the proud ranks of the Red Army [TheNewArab]
With his love of action, self-promotion and pompous posturing, Russian President Vladimir Putin has often found himself compared with the villains of British spy series James Bond.
Yet Putin seems determined to emulate not Dr No or Ernst Stavro Blofeld, but the baddies from classic strategy video game Command & Conquer: Red Alert.
As a parenthetical note, Russia's interventions in Ukraine and Syria may also incidentally be an homage to the outrageous plots of the Battlefield 3D-shooter series. But more on that another time, perhaps.
In Red Alert, the Soviet Union uses mind-controlled, genetically engineered dolphins, bears, giant squids and even dinosaurs to attack enemies on the battlefield.
Now, Putin's Russia is apparently preparing to follow suit, and unleash a similar weapon: an army of cyborg rats to be used from warzones to urban areas threatened by terrorism or natural disasters.
Russian scientists claim the rats can be trained to sniff out explosives, drugs and even human beings trapped in rubble, at least according to Sputnik, a Kremlin-backed news outlet.
The rats are reportedly being "upgraded" in Rostov-on-Don at the Laboratory of Olfactory Perception (LOP), near the border with Ukraine.
Yet Putin seems determined to emulate not Dr No or Ernst Stavro Blofeld, but the baddies from classic strategy video game Command & Conquer: Red Alert.
As a parenthetical note, Russia's interventions in Ukraine and Syria may also incidentally be an homage to the outrageous plots of the Battlefield 3D-shooter series. But more on that another time, perhaps.
In Red Alert, the Soviet Union uses mind-controlled, genetically engineered dolphins, bears, giant squids and even dinosaurs to attack enemies on the battlefield.
Now, Putin's Russia is apparently preparing to follow suit, and unleash a similar weapon: an army of cyborg rats to be used from warzones to urban areas threatened by terrorism or natural disasters.
Russian scientists claim the rats can be trained to sniff out explosives, drugs and even human beings trapped in rubble, at least according to Sputnik, a Kremlin-backed news outlet.
The rats are reportedly being "upgraded" in Rostov-on-Don at the Laboratory of Olfactory Perception (LOP), near the border with Ukraine.
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"Unlike a dog, a rat can get through the smallest crack where it seems it couldn't go," said Dmitry Medvedev - the head of the laboratory, not the prime minister of the same name.
The rats in the experiment have microchips implanted in their heads, allowing scientists to monitor their brain waves.
The microchip would be able to detect the rats' physiological reaction to observed stimulus, it has been claimed.
"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," Medvedev said.
The scientists admit, however, that it could be years before the rats can be put to use outside laboratory conditions.
In addition to monitoring their brain activity using complex algorithms to analyse swathes of data, the animals have to undergo an arduous training regime in order to identify explosives and drugs.
"Two to three months are needed in order to teach the animal to react to one substance - while the life span of a laboratory rat is only about a year," Medvedev admitted.
Rats are already used to detect landmines in war zones, from Asia to Africa and South America. Israel has also used rats to sniff luggage.
Several nations - including Iran, the United States and Russia - have long been known to use dolphins for military purposes. Now it's the turn of the rats for a new porpoise in war.
Follow Karim Traboulsi on Twitter: @kareemios
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