[ExI] ursa

[Dan TheBookMan]

On Thu, Oct 8, 2020 at 6:10 PM William Flynn Wallace via extropy-chat
<extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
> A pilot scheme involving 4 sniffer dogs at Helsinki airport indicated that
> dogs can detect the presence of the virus in less than 10 seconds with
> nearly 100% accuracy.  (from Nature)
>
> That's before symptoms arise.  So what's next? Bears?  They have the
> best noses of any animal in America.  And there are cats that can tell if
> someone is dying (nursing home data).  Why don't we make more use
> of the abilities animals have that we don't?  Bears looking into ......  bill w

You're restricting animals to mammals. The male silkmoth has mammals
and all vertebrates beat. Supposedly, it can detect a single molecule
of scent from a distant female.

But if the dogs can detect with near 100% accuracy in this area -- and
dogs are widely available and already easy to handle and train -- why
go looking for better scent detectors in the animal kingdom? Bears are
harder to train and far fewer are tame and ready for duty.

By the way, I thought the nursing home data on cats was ambiguous. Not
doubting their ability to smell or pick up on other subtle clues. But
I thought there was also things like putting heating blankets on dying
patients -- where cats go for warmth so it might not be clear they're
smelling death as opposed to simply seeking a comfortably warm area to
rest.

In the end, though, I imagine technology will beat animal abilities here.

Regards,

Dan
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http://author.to/DanUst