Few of us ever come close to mines – the dreadful explosives buried in the ground with the specific intention of killing other people, indirectly. So a recent story in the New York Times about Israeli researchers developing living land sensors which show where mines are, might not mean much to you.

But it does to me. I remember, when we were getting our orientation to observe the 1996 Bosnian election, hearing about mines that jumped up and hit people in the abdomen, and how mines were laid in circles to hit people who came to help. I remember the Swiss colonel, in charge of communications for the mission, who told me that his men were only allowed to relieve themselves on the pavement – it was not safe to wander into the brush along the road.