British University Tests Drones That Scan For Evidence Of Landmines

The simple machines are explosives with triggers, set in the ground primed and ready for someone to set them off. For humans, war does, and the landmines that once marked the front line between warring factions can change instead to deadly artifacts, a lethal trap for anyone who wanders unknowingly into danger. Getting rid of landmines is a humanitarian concern. To solve it, scientists from the University of Bristol are enlisting the help of drones. One of the major dangers with landmines is that, while they're waiting in the ground to blow up, the vegetation around them isn't, and after a few seasons, plants can grow over the bombs, hiding them from human eyes. But there are other ways to detect them, says John Day of Bristol's School of Physics: Living plants have a very distinctive reflection in the near infrared spectrum, just beyond human vision, which makes it possible to tell how healthy they are.