Wild monkeys to monitor radiation levels in Japan

How do you measure the radiation level at the Fukushima power plant, without endangering people in the process? Researchers found quite a creative way of doing this: they tagged wild monkeys which hang around the place anyway with radiation sensors.

Takayuki Takahashi explained that he and his team are planning to put radiation-measuring collars on three such monkeys, as well as GPS devices that also measure the distance from the ground. The information will help scientists understand how grave the radiation is and how it may affect the environment (humans, plants and animals).

This idea is extremely creative and interesting especially because monkeys walk on the ground and climb trees as well, and can measure radiation at ground level and higher above it. The next step in the work is to also employ the help of wild boars, which have the advantage of moving around quite a lot and being very resistant.

Via 80 beats