We live in a time of automation and robotics; the machines run the factories, and AI will soon take all the jobs. And yet, even today, there are certain niche jobs where only an animal will do. Comedian and biologist Simon Watt is out to meet some of them, and the people who train them, study them, and love them. And he asks the key questions: HOW do they do what they do, and WHY, with all our ingenuity, haven't we invented anything that can compete with them?
We start with a business of ferrets (yes, that is their collective noun) at the National Ferret School in Derbyshire, who have swapped rabbit holes and trouser legs for drain-clearing, re-wiring, and laying fibre optic cables. Ferret Trainer James McKay demonstrates why they're perfect for the job, as he casually folds one trainee into a tight pretzel.
Simon visits the HQ of 'Medical Detection Dogs', a training facility in Milton Keynes where dogs are being trained to sniff the tell-tale signs of a host of diseases. You may have heard of their 'cancer dogs', but it goes much further: epilepsy, malaria, Parkinson's, even Covid-19. Dr Claire Guest explains.
Can technology keep up? Maybe. Although we have no real idea exactly HOW dogs do what they do, AI may be on the cusp of solving this puzzle for us. Simon speaks to Dr Andreas Mershin from start-up Realnose, which is developing “electronic noses".
Finally, Simon meets some real heroes. 'HeroRats', to be precise. Not the same species that haunts our sewers, these are African Giant Pouched Rats, and their job as landmine detection specialists is saving lives across Thailand, Mozambique, Cambodia and Zimbabwe. Dr Cynthia Fast from UCLA trains them for the job.
Presented by Simon Watt, and produced in Cardiff by Emily Knight