An electronic nose that can detect the "smell of death," helping searchers recover bodies from disaster areas and aiding crime scene investigators to determine the exact time of death, is one step closer to wafting from the pages of science-fiction into real life.
— From Scientists on scent of death-detecting electronic nose at Canada.com.
The electronic nose, which is to be installed on the International Space Station in order to automatically monitor the station's air, can detect contaminants within a range of one to approximately 10,000 parts per million. In a series of experiments, the Brain Mapping Foundation used NASA's electronic nose to sniff brain cancer cells and cells in other organs. Their data demonstrates that the electronic nose can sense differences in odour from normal versus cancerous cells.
From NASA's Electronic Nose May Provide Neurosurgeons With A New Weapon Against Brain Cancer at Science Daily.
“Headspace” (a term borrowed from the beat generation, where it connoted psychological privacy) is the technical term for the area surrounding an object or person in which their odour can be analysed. But odour detection is not limited to the discovery of drugs and explosives. Scientists and electronic nose entrepreneurs claim headspace analysis can reveal everything from the substances people have been in contact with and their emotional state, to their personal identity and ethnic origin…
It is a gadget straight out of a science fiction story: a machine that can record a smell and play it back to you at your leisure. Present it with a designer perfume or freshly baked bread and it will analyse the odour and reproduce it for you later using a mixture of non-toxic chemicals.
— From Nothing fishy about smell-recording device, in today's Guardian.
Ah! A bold espresso that boasts intense flowery, winey, citrus, acid — and yes, even butter toffee notes. So says an electronic nose, anyway.
Behold, the coffee snob of the future.
Perhaps the machine assembled by scientists at the Nestlé Research Center in Switzerland isn’t quite ready to be called into daily demitasse-sipping service. But in an analytical test of its abilities, it predicted the range of aromas and intensities noted by a panel of experts for 11 different espressos, with few mismatches.
— More "electronic nose" news (see yesterday's Future Shock post). Read more at Electronic nose knows quality coffee at MSNBC. Thanks to Ruth for the link!
Stella McCartney in conversation with Alexandra Shulman (video, talks about new scent L.I.L.Y) http://t.co/VAKYigvK "French parfumier Guerlain on trial over 'race slurs'" article at Telegraph http://t.co/lVDxoZMi Vote for NST's Mood Board on FB and win a Zoya Nail Polish collection! http://t.co/MXHMN7I3