Researchers at the Geneva demining center have found that Gambian giant pouch rats are ideal "biosensors" for landmine detection. According to one of the researchers, the rats are "almost mechanical in the way they work."
Russia has warned that the U.S. decision to field a limited missile-defense system in 2004 had pushed the venture into "a destabilizing new phase," but most U.S. allies have long viewed the decision as inevitable.
Defense Minister Sergei B. Ivanov of Russia warned today that the American proposal in arms reduction talks to "warehouse" excess warheads instead of destroying them would not only encourage nuclear proliferation, but could even set off a new kind of arms race.