Word: moulton
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Rodents though they may be, gerbils are ideal house pets: small, cuddly and lovable. Also very sensitive and very dumb, which may make them ideal bomb sniffers at airport terminals. So says Research Physiologist David Moulton, who now has funding from the Federal Aviation Administration to test his theory...
...Philadelphia lab, Moulton is training some 30 gerbils. For half an hour a day, they are put in training boxes, where they are confronted by three portholes. Purified air blows from two of the openings; the third assails them with a mix of air and amyl acetate, an odorous chemical that smells like bananas. When the gerbils correctly identify the odorous porthole by pressing a lever, they are rewarded with a drink of water. That's a big deal for the gerbils, who hail from the deserts of Mongolia. If they make a wrong choice, the portholes slam shut...
Eventually, Moulton will lower the chemical concentration to see how well gerbils really do smell, and whether they can replace the sharp-nosed hounds at airports. Dogs almost certainly have keener noses, but they require walking, petting and lots of love; gerbils obviously have simpler needs. Of course, the idea of gerbils snuggling up to airline passengers may seem slightly ludicrous. Shrugs Moulton: "That's the FAA'S problem...
Thad McNulty and Rock Moulton finished 189th and 193rd respectively out of the 196 runners who competed in the team division...
...years ago, a Crimson team which included current team members Meyer, Peter Fitzsimmons. Thad McNulty, and Rocky Moulton, placed 23rd with over 700 points. The first Harvard harrier to complete the race, Jeff Campbell, came home in 54th place and Fitzsimmons placed in the mid-100s. Meyer, Moulton and McNulty would all rather forget their performances. As Meyer remarked, "There were not too many people who finished behind...