'Toppies' Have Been Deployed to Incheon Airport to Find Drugs
Omar Yusuf — October 5, 2011 — Tech
References: io9
Toppies (short form of "Tomorrow's Puppies") is the colloquial nickname for Korea's growing contingent of cloned, drug-detecting dogs which have been deployed to international airports around the country.
Our canine companions are responsible for detecting and seizing the majority of illicit narcotics and explosives that travel clandestinely through airports and other transport terminals. But training a drug-sniffing dog is no easy task and, generally speaking, only three of ten will graduate boot camp to move onto the real job. So in an effort to boost the efficacy of training, a veteran sniffer named Chase was cloned several times over, leaving Incheon airport with dozens of pre-conditioned pups. Byeong-Chun Lee of Seoul National University is responsible for efforts to clone Chase and hopes to even begin cloning dogs who are adept at "quarantine-sniffing," which involves detecting passengers who host diseases and infections.
Our canine companions are responsible for detecting and seizing the majority of illicit narcotics and explosives that travel clandestinely through airports and other transport terminals. But training a drug-sniffing dog is no easy task and, generally speaking, only three of ten will graduate boot camp to move onto the real job. So in an effort to boost the efficacy of training, a veteran sniffer named Chase was cloned several times over, leaving Incheon airport with dozens of pre-conditioned pups. Byeong-Chun Lee of Seoul National University is responsible for efforts to clone Chase and hopes to even begin cloning dogs who are adept at "quarantine-sniffing," which involves detecting passengers who host diseases and infections.
Trend Themes
1. Cloning Animals - There is a growing trend in using clones for specific tasks, such as drug detection in dogs.
2. Enhancing Efficiency in Training - Cloning can be used to enhance the efficacy of training dogs to detect specific substances.
3. Specialized Uses of Cloned Animals - Cloning can be used to create animals with specialized skills such as quarantine-sniffing dogs.
Industry Implications
1. Security and Law Enforcement - Cloned animals can revolutionize the way we approach security and law enforcement by creating animals specifically trained for certain tasks.
2. Biotechnology - Cloning technology can be further developed for specialized purposes in biotechnology.
3. Healthcare - Cloning can be used to create animals with specific medical abilities such as disease detection and diagnosis.
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