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Practice Reading: Fill in the Blanks (Dropdown) ID: #31583 Dog and Mice
Instructions
You've  probably  seen  dogs  working  as    at  airports,  sniffing  for  drugs,  bombs  and  contraband  food.  Now  our  best  friend  biosensors  might  have  a  new  task:  ferreting  out  the  scent  of  bird  flu.  And  they  may  not  be  alone  on  the  job.
Researchers  from  the  U.S.  Department  of  Agriculture  and  Monell  Chemical  Senses  Centre  trained  mice  to  identify  duck  droppings  from  animals  infected  with  bird  flu.  The  work  was    at  the  National  Meeting  of  the  American  Chemical  Society  in  Boston.  The  scientists  trained  six  mice  to  run  a    in  search  of  infected  faeces.  Every  time  they  found  the  right  faeces,  they  got  a  drink  of  water.  The  mice  learned  to  choose  infected  over  noninfected  duck  faeces  about  90  per  cent  of  the  time.  The  researchers  believe  the  implications  could  be  twofold.  First,  bird  flu  apparently  leaves  an  odour    on  bird  faeces,  and  so  dogsand  even  micecould  be  trained  to  recognize  it.  Second,  scientists  might  be  able  to  isolate  the  cocktail  of  compounds  that  gives  off  the  odour  to  develop  lab  instruments  or  automated  field  detectors.  Until  then,  we  may  find  four-legged  sensors,  large  and  small,  sniffing  away  to  protect  us  from  a  bird-borne  .

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