Radiating Rhinos

Creativity works in fighting against illicit trade

Radiation! It created the Hulk in comics. Created Godzilla in film. It is used as a treatment for cancer, and is the by product of our most powerful weapons.

But down in South African scientists have developed an ingenious anti-poaching solution that injects rhino horns with harmless radioactive isotopes, making them detectable by customs radiation sensors worldwide. This £220,000 project transforms trafficking networks into detection systems, offering hope for the 27,000 remaining rhinos while demonstrating how scientific innovation can address conservation crises through technological elegance rather than traditional enforcement alone.