Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a middle school student and Save Lucy volunteer. Rachael’s interest in bats was sparked by the big brown bats that used the outside of her former home for a winter roost. Her family cheerfully hosted the wild colony for years.

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week. I found something that I think is really cool. Little Freda is excited about it too. You remember little Freda. She’s the one who is still looking for a celebrity sponsor. Someone is really sad that a certain comedian didn’t respond. But, that’s a story for another day. Today, we talk about airport screening!

Now, I know what you’re all thinking. How could airport screening possibly be “really cool?” Well, it’s really cool because the scientists that came up with the electromagnetic detectors that airports use modeled them after the echolocation of bats. They modeled it specifically after the echolocation of Brazilian free-tailed bats. That’s the part that little Freda is excited about. As you all know, bats use echolocation to sense where objects (like yummy moths) are. Airports use the same sort of thing to see if people are hiding things under their clothes. The scanners use acoustic cameras that use a similar technique to a bat’s radar to see through clothing. You can read about it here.

Now, about that other topic that we mentioned a little earlier. Freda really wants a sponsor. She is insanely jealous of the little Australian fruit bat and wants a sponsor of her own. If anyone out there has any ideas of who would want to sponsor a bat, please leave a message in the comment section below or on Save Lucy’s Facebook page. I promised little Freda that I would spend the week trying to find a bat loving celebrity. I still think a comedian would be fun…I just need to find one who thinks little Freda is cute.