Oddity Central

Oddity Central

Hero Landmine-Sniffing Rats Are Saving Human Lives in Africa

Posted: 25 Jun 2015 03:14 AM PDT

Rats are normally classified as vermin, but they can be heroes too. Proving the fact is APOPO, a Belgian NGO that trains African giant pouched rats to sniff out landmines and tuberculosis infections. Since 2006, these 'hero rats' have been working on minefields in Mozambique, clearing the country of over 13,000 landmines, thus reclaiming over 11 million square meters of land. They've also accurately analyzed over a quarter of a million blood samples for TB infections.

Bart Weetjens, founder of APOPO, first came up with the idea of training sniffer rats a couple of decades ago, when he was a student at the University of Antwerp. He used to keep pet rodents as a boy, so he knew that they were "very trainable, sociable, and intelligent creatures." So when he read an article about gerbils being taught to recognise the scent of explosives, it got him thinking.

Weetjens wanted to use his experience of dealing with rodents to find a locally-sourced resolution to the problem of landmines. "I was looking for an appropriate solution that communities at the bottom of the pyramid could use, independent from expensive foreign know-how and technology," he said. So he placed himself in the situation of the people affected by the problem, and looked at the resources they had at hand.

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Artist Manipulates the Movement of Bees to Create Accurate Wax Maps

Posted: 25 Jun 2015 02:00 AM PDT

Chinese artist Ren Ri successfully combines his love of beekeeping and art to create accurate honeycomb maps of various countries and continents.

Ren works closely with honeybees; in fact, he considers himself more of a beekeeper than a professional artist. He started beekeeping in 2007, and within a year, he mastered the basics. As he got more proficient, he began to think of ways in which he could manipulate the bees' movements, by controlling the queen bee. Over time, he started creating meaningful beeswax patterns, and he eventually managed to produce a world map.

To create the map, Ren placed a map of the world inside the beehive. He then manipulated the queen bee to move in different directions and angles, so that the bees would build the hive at the locations he desired. "The bees continued to mould the beehive, and this moulding affected the original shape I had given the piece, through a process of addition and subtraction," he said. Once the world map was ready, Ren created individual maps of several countries as well. He called the series Yuan Su I: The Origin of Geometry.

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The Land – A Different Kind of Playground Where Kids Get to Play with Fire and Take Risks

Posted: 25 Jun 2015 01:30 AM PDT

'The Land' is a different kind of adventure playground in Wrexham, Wales, which doesn't follow the traditional format of swings and slides. Instead, it allows kids to explore independence and take risks. The Land resembles a junk yard, where kids get to jump over barrels and into mud puddles, poke sticks into open fires, and hammer sharp nails into wooden planks.

"It's shaped by children who attend," said Claire Griffiths, play department manager at the Association of Voluntary Organisations, which manages The Land. "It's open access provision so children come and go as they please. They build dens, saw, hammer; they create and they destroy."

That pretty much sounds like a parent's worst nightmare, but the concept is surprisingly popular. Most parents seem to agree that The Land offers a valuable childhood experience that has been missing for decades. It is the complete opposite of over-protective parenting that encourages children to stay indoors.

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