Navy Swapping out Dolphins for Robots

Adorable sea mammals will no longer be trained to detect mines

The San Diego-based Navy Marine Mammal Program is making news. The program's dolphins - trained to detect mines and other underwater explosives - are going to be replaced by machines who do the same job, but don't need seven years to be trained.

Beginning in 2017, robots will replace the mine-hunting duties of 24 of the 80 dolphins in the Navy Marine Mammal Program.