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NASA's E-Nose: It Smells, But It's Improving
ahaning writes: "Yes, even NASA has succumbed to the "e + (someword)" phenomenon. The E-Nose is apparently one of the toys they took along with them on the last shuttle mission. NASA engineers are currently working on making the tool smaller and enabling it to "sniff" out more chemicals. One of the more interesting uses that they give for us on earth is determining whether a plant is ripe enough for harvest. Perhaps someday we could have huge robots out in the middle of a field with nanobugs roaming the place, checking the fruits and vegetables. When they find a ripe one, they signal the robot with their position and it reaches out and plucks the thing carefully off of the plant. That would be cool." Anti-counterfiting, explosive detection, apply-deodorant alert ... the possibilities are endless. What would you use an electronic nose for?
why don't the dogs use the 'net?
they can't smell it.
ound the message used repetitively over and over still nothing grows silen
Laundry day would be much less risky when you can send a robot on a search and destroy misson for the worst offendors.
Let's not forget society's doublethink that prohibition of alcohol in the earlier part of our century didn't work, started the mob out in the US, etc., but the prohibition of recreational drugs is a good thing because they think it STOPS such activity.
duh. The war on drugs is a joke.
Lowmag.net
I would use it in my fridge to find if that pizza is still ok(and how old some things are in there without the Carbon 14 dating) :
It is a geeks dream to sit behind your computer and recive an mial like
Trom : frige@y2kbunker.net
To : root@foo.net
Subject : Pizza and Milk
WARNING pizza is getting bad, must be eaten before the end of the day
NOTICE The lifeforms in the milkjar have just invented the wheel.
42
Something I've heard which would be interesting if proven true, is that the tobacco industry was one of the biggest lobbying groups behind the illegalization of marijuana. I know if I could get cigarettes, which definitely are addictive, and give me a slight buzz, or pot, which definitely will get me high, but isn't as addictive, I'd go for the pot.
I also find it funny that alchohol is legal while drugs like acid and pot are illegal. Sure, people flip out on acid sometimes. But how many times do people beat the crap out of each other thanks to alchohol? My guess would be every night of the week somewhere in this country.
I personally find drug use to be like a dirty little secret that no one wants to talk about. More people do drugs than most realize, but are afraid to admit it, due to the stigma attached. Not to mention how many people in this country are DRUG ADDICTS thanks to the tobacco industry. I love how cigarettes fall into a different category simply because they're not a very powerful drug.
After reading this all I can think of is that one scene in the Matrix with the AI's harvesting the field of humans.
There are many artificial noses out there, and companies besides aromascan, such as Cyrano.
DARPA, the people who brought you the internet, recently sponsored the Dogs Nose Project involving several different artificial nose designs. The purpose of this project was to find something to replace dogs in finding land mines.
This is still offtopic, but it seems to be a small portion of general interest, so I thought I'd post this. A new movie is coming out about the "war" for the legalization of marijuana directed by Woody Harrelson called Grass. Here's an information snippet from Moviefone.com:
Dave
"Follow the electronic nose! It always knows!"
--
Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
I'd use it to sniff my butt!
HUHUHUHUHUHUHUUHHUHUUHUHUHHUHUHUUHHUUHHUUH
I saw an interview on NASA TV with the lead scientist on the e-nose project, and, IIRC, she mentioned that there were 'many' human maladies that they suspected could be easily screened for with this device (pending further development), and that this might be one of the first commercial applications, kind of implying that some company was already working on it.
They also showed the box opened up, and it was mostly empty - meaning it should be able to be easily reduced in size from it's already small form-factor.
Can I really wear this shirt another day?? Ask the E-Nose!
I stole this sig from a more creative user.
I've seen those things. They are dialed in to pick up greater than normal amounts of certain chemicals. I think a large potassium hit could indicate marijuana or worse, a bunch of bananas. But if I remember right the damn thing weighed a ton and cost a fortune.
Dude, I never even smoked a CIGARETTE, let alone a joint. However, I am sympathetic to their cause. That is possible without being a user. Also, I was referring more to the doublethink issue than to the drug one.
Lowmag.net
As if. Almost all fresh fruit is picked before it is mature, and brought to maturity artificially during shipping.
The immature fruit are less susceptible to handling damage.
So they pick before it's ready, add dyes to make it look good, and ripen it during shipping or storage, or don't even bother ripening it at all, and let consumers think that the fruit is ripening at home, when it's really just going bad.
Almost no one that is reading this has tasted truly fresh, tree-ripened fruit.
You wouldn't believe how good it is.
Especially worth trying to get is a vine-ripened tomato. You'll quite buying that crap they sell at the store!
(ah, but the same can be said for peaches and nectarines!)
(I won't mention canned fruit. Shudder.)
--
--
Don't like it? Respond with words, not karma.
With those e-noses nasa can control who the hell is smoking marihuana in the space-shuttle. :-)
:-)
I wonder if the computers would get "stoned" too.
--
"take the red pill and you stay in wonderland and I'll show you how deep the rabitt hole goes"
[]'s Victor Bogado da Silva Lins
^[:wq
I can honestly say that I have never used drugs (beyond cough syrup) and never had the desire too. Also, I have seen friends die from overdose, and other friends fall apart as drug use consumed them.
Having said that I still think that the "WAR ON DRUGS" is a stupid and pathetic cause. Personally, I feel the government needs to stop trying to protect people from themselves and let them go at it. If they want to OD, let them. If they want to get bombed every weekend, let them. If they want to do things that seem stupid to the majority, let them. I just feel like the only regulation of drug use is that you shouldn't be driving a car when using (just like drunks). Other than that, let a person do whatever he wants with them. As long as I'm not forced to use them, I don't want to keep others from them.
This may sound cold, but if people use them to the point that it hurts thier lives, so be it. They made that choice, it is up to them to deal with the consequences. Eventually, those that are stupid enough to abuse will fall apart and disappear from society (not entirely, but they will not be significant anymore, just like most drunks aren't). If others are hurt, then we do something abou it. If they hurt a spouse/child/friend (physically hurt) then they are locked up. The abuse would happen, but it would also be dealt with if it got to the point of hurting others. Isn't that what happens with alch?
This would end the little pockets of filth that have sprung up in many cities that are based on the "business" of drugs. Make it so you can buy your drugs at a decent business, and that will end the damn run-down crime-ridden inner cities. It would also deal with the big drug cartels. Allow drugs to be imported, and tax them. There you go, end the illegal status, and make some money for the government at the same time. Now what's wrong with that?
Bite my yammer.
Scratch 'n sniff - movies in "Smell-o-rama" - the upcoming 'tele-fragrance' will soon be available to enhance your web browsing experience. A very old "Popular Electronics" mag had a 'Carl and Jerry' episode involving a fragrance synthesizer - but for the "e-nose" some microwave ovens have some kind of organic molecule sensor to help determine when the meal was 'done', as a general rule (not always true) once you can smell it it's about ready.
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
The War on (Some) Drugs is not only a dismal failure and a complete waste of resources but also an active evil which harms both individuals and society as a whole. I no longer use drugs myself (other than cafeine) but my personal history with them is rather extensive. I've enjoyed their use and seen first hand the tragedy of their misuse. I don't encourage their use but neither do I think that your personal use is grounds for me to use force against you to prevent it.
"The legitimate powers of government extend only to such acts as are injurious to others." Thomas Jefferson.
Having just read Farenheit 451 (sat on my bookshelf for 5 years, but I was prodded to action by a recent slashdot review), I'd want what every good totalitarian state official would want -- one of them mechanical hounds. Of course, I'd only use it for good...
Tweet, tweet.
The possibility of someone sending an email that triggers a release of toxic gas from an HP AROMAgadget (TM), leads to a whole new level of abuse for the virus writers of tomorrow.
2- Build a cheap device which reverses the process, allowing people to playback the electronic smells. Have this device built-in in consumer PC's / network appliances, just like audio cards.
3 - Set-up the web site and start selling smell of space. Of course, you need to have in place UCITA-like laws to protect your IP.
Oh, I almost forgot :
0 - Go for IPO. Gets huge amount of cash. Then forget about points 1,2,3. After all, nobody is really expecting that you fulfil their expectations, are they?
Ciao
----
FB
- drug/bio-weapon sniffing at the airport
- sensitive smoke alarm/carbon monoxide alarm
- security/burglar alarm
- an apparatus that knows when not to approach a female
Yupp, now we just have to wait for the iNose too, made in sickening puke green and transparent plastics! Yay!
Tomorrow will be cancelled due to lack of interest
The applications for this device seem more promising at first glance than if one really sits down to think about them. No doubt, there will be applications where superficial chemical properties need to be examined and a descision needs to be taken based on input derived from those properties, but in a chemical analysis situation, more detailed methods need to be implemented.
"A few atoms won't even light a match" - Dr Jones, 1933
Does this sound a little like the fields where the robots grew people in the Matrix. Ummmm growing fields.
Use it to smell out horny women.
I would not use the E-nose to smell 3 things:
;)
1) Money. God I love that smell.
2) New Hardware. You know what I'm talking about when you buy a new toy and its got that aroma rising from the circuit board.
3) New Car Smell. Nuff said.
Plus a few unmentionables.
I agree that sensors could be an important safety measure, but I'd strongly suggest then gas companies add a better tracer (or directly test for a component of the gas itself) The current tracers (like butyl mercaptan) were chosen because the human nose can pick them up ay extraordinary dilutions, probably near the limit of sensor resolution. (so an e-nose trying to be as sensitive than a human nose will have many false positive. Depending on who you listen to, a single drop (or ml or oz.) of butyl mercaptan would fill the AstroDome football stadium with detectable odor.
BTW I know its none of my business (and I have no idea of your step-sister's situation), but anosmia -- the loss of the sense of smell -- is absolutely no impediment to independent living. It would be a shame for someone to have their entire life molded by such a foolish misconception (Any MD will confirm that anosmics can live alone -- It's actually not an uncommon condition.)
The Olfactory nerve is actually not a nerve at all but a direct extension of the brain (a tract). The nucleus/soma (main body) of the cells in this nerve are actually in the brain itself, and the 'nerve' is just made of extensions called axons. The olfactory nerve is entirely wrapped in the same meninges as the rest of the brain
The olfactory tract extends to cover a thin, spongy, perforated region of bone (the cribiform plate) where it synapses (links to) cells that send ultra thin tendrils, often single axons through the bone to the "roof of the upper nose" (the area above the superior turbinate or concha)
A blow to the head can partially or totally detach the nerve as it passes to or through the cribiform plate. Many other things can cause temporary or permanent loss of smell, where 'temporary' may mean 'years' (BTW -- loss of the sense of smell is the first, usually unnoticed, sign of Alzheimers)
Sounds like Step-mom doesn't think step-sis is ready to live on her own (and she may be right, but using an excuse like this is inappropriate.
If you can go to bed, knowing you did a valuable thing today, you're very lucky. If you can't... it's not bedtime
Perhaps someday we could have huge robots out in the middle of a field with nanobugs roaming the place, checking the fruits and vegetables. When they find a ripe one, they signal the robot with their position and it reaches out and plucks the thing carefully off of the plant. That would be cool."
Wow, that sounds almost like something people can do! Maybe next they'll invent a crappy moderator-simulacrum that automatically generates commentary as bad as Timothy's on demand! ooooh!
--Hail Mary, for she has the largest shotgun of them all.--
- Industrial processes
- Environmental toxins and pollutants
- Space station air quality
- Medicine / body functions
- Food processing
- Military enviromnent
- Toxicology
From the JPL Electronic Nose page. Some other interesting resources:When I get in a programming mode
Compile and run
It is so much fun
"If I were to ask you a hypothetical question, what would you like it to be about?"
Was there any question??
(Close-up of Neo - Look of agog on his face - Said in a half-whisper)"Whoa!"
I think I'd use an electronic nose to snort electronic coke. >;P
Nice idea.. except for one thing. Terrorists actually DONT CARE if the bomb goes off or not unless they are after a particular individual. The city bombs (the ones that turned up whilst I was living in London and the latest crop of silliness) are placed to cause disruption. It doesnt matter a monkeys fart to these guys whether the disruption is caused by some waste bin blowing itself to hades or by the bomb squad having to clear the area around said can and roll out a wheelbarrow (the name for the standard bomb-disposal robot for those readers unfamiliar with brit army hardware ;) ) to carry out a controlled explosion on an old Macdonalds bag that was simply sprinkled with a nitrate fertiliser before being crumpled up and tossed in the enose-equipped bin. In fact they might just prefer that option since this way they get their disruption in the lives of londoners without the bad press of actually blowing anything up..
However it does put a new twist on the long-running jokes at the inefficiencies of the Tube. (As a many-years veteran of the misery line I feel qualified to comment on that one!) "Bank station is closed due to a bad smell and all trains are non-stopping..." Wonder how they'd get it to tell the diff between the nitrates of an explosive and the stench of stale piss in some of those older stations...
# human firmware exploit
# Word will insert into your optic buffer
# without bounds checking
I had a
And I can't wait to see how fast countermeasures become even more dangerous;
Active intervention (counter microbots)
Passive intervention (environmental blocks)
Misdirection (drugs next door!)
Modification (alter the dogs themselves)
Malevolent (alter the dogs to bite the innocent, destroying public faith, risk of actual physical harm in deploying them)
As the "best Slashdot article title - ever".
"Beware he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he deems himself your master."
"We're sorry, this elevator will be temporarily unavailable due to broccoli, nachos and excessive use of curry. The elevator will return online as soon as ventilation completes."
"The mind is a terrible thing to, um, uh, oh bollocks." -- Me
Definitely won't be released for Windows CE as the E-Nose SDK for Windows' lousy interface with the hardware had the software convinced I smelled like a yak, and should consider popping a cyanide pill.
Oh... Wait a minute, that happens WHENEVER I use Windows...
Do you or your partner snore? - Visit www.snoring.com.au
Selling used panties on ebay.
How else will you know they're, uh, 'ready'?
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Our taste buds can only recognize a few basic tastes so our noses have to fill in the blanks, as it were. In theory, the e-nose could be harnessed for all sorts of purposes:
Kid: I don't want it! It looks yucky!
Parent: It's yummy! Daddy likes it!
Kid: No! It looks yucky!!
Parent: (pulls out the e-nose) Even Mr. Nose says it's yummy.
Kid: Well in that case....
Researcher: Eureka! Caviar Raspberry Ripple Ice Cream!
Tester: (pulls out the e-nose) Sorry, bud, it only scores a 3.8 on the sniffer here. No can do.
Just think of it... a definitive way to measure the ultimate pizza....----------
Something cleverSpeaking of which, possible uses for this include alarm systems that trigger when certain odors (like the odor added to gas) are detected or warning lights in car when odors like burning oil are detected.
It's ratter silly to require an expensive appartus like an electronic nose to smell for gaz and oil leaks when all you really need is a match.
How about an application to allow e-dogs to sniff eachothers butts?
IANAL... But I play one on
Smell-U-Smell-Me is one step closer...
"Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever." - Napoleon Bonaparte
I have an alter-ego at Red Dwarf. Don't remind me that coward.
That way we can always know with pinpoint accuracy who REALLY farted!
I'm sure Tycho Brahe would have had use for NASA's E-Nose. Fitting, since he made so many contributions to astronomy.
Donny
Who knows what else this could be used for! The possiblities are endless. Just don't let something like this get in the hands of elementary school kids... Imagine the hell they'd raise in the classrooms!
Chris 'coldacid' Charabaruk Meldstar Entertainment
My Aibo has no e-nose.
;-)
How does it smell?
Terrible!
Oh come on, someone has to say it!
Now weary traveller, rest your head. For just like me, you're utterly dead.
jeez, the possabilities are endless.. personally I would use it to: gauge the quality of some wicked herb sniff out bombs/explosives check toxin levels in tunnels/mines etc...
Hey the ultimate test for an arificial nose would be to test perfumes for acceptibility. Also maybe u cld send one to mars and tell us does it stink as much as earth.
**Life is too short to be serious**
1. Smelling if food can still be eaten, or if it has evolved too far already. Very handy in dorms like mine
2. Smelling out female feromones, this way you don't need to spend all that money on a girl who doesn't like you anyways. Along the same line would be an application that tells you the perfume she is wearing. Makes good pick-up lines.
3. Lie-detector, based on the increase in sweating of a person. Crude, but it might help in finding out if the Market-droid really is telling the truth
There might also be more sound uses, but then again, technology is never used for the things it was intended for.
Use Adsense for Charity
"Yield, Bitch!!. My e-nose can smell your terror!!"
Electronic drug dogs and electronic bloodhounds. Sounds like the whole project is going to the dogs. (Ouch! Put down the rotten tomatoes, OK?)
"The legitimate powers of government extend only to such acts as are injurious to others." Thomas Jefferson.
Oops, yeah, I misread the italicised bits of your post... doh! But no, as both a user and someone concerned with personal rights, the whole thing does indeed sicken me - it seems to be an issue which is being kept alive for political capital and media scandal despite the fact that a significant number of people are pro-drugs. Unfortunately, speaking up about this is just asking to be demonised... yet again the law is forcing a social attitude on a society where that attitude is not wanted.
I have never used any (illegal) drugs, and have no desire to start. I think drugs are a problem for our society, with the possible exception of marajuna, which is, IMHO, far less harmful than tobacco. However harmful drugs are, the war on drugs is exponentionally more harmful.
Banning substances that a significant portion of the population wants is beyond absurd, and I thought we had learned our lesson with prohibition. Like prohibiton, the drug war has spawned a huge cirminal underground. Prohibition invented the mob, the drug war is continuing to fund it. Drug Cartels ravage Central America with a practical reign of terror in some countries (the Columbian Army is afraid to go into the southern portion of the country where the druglords rule supreme). In this country, the prisons are full with nonviolent offenders of drug laws, and perpertrators of thousands of drug-distribution crimes, many violent.
This is all in addition to the indignities (blood test anyone?) that even those of us who have no contact with drugs have to face. There is no doubt in my mind that many of the more invasive law enforcement techniques in the near future will be an attempt to find those who use drugs.
All in the name of protecting people from themselves.
Jordan Bettis
``Wherever you go, there's another stupid sigfile quote.''I think drugs are a problem for our society, with the possible exception of marajuna, which is, IMHO, far less harmful than tobacco.
Whilst I agree with your post in general, I think that the only reason drugs are a problem for society is because of the whole war on drugs and the attitude it has spawned - do you consider alcohol to be a problem for society despite the fact that it is worse than a lot of illegal drugs?
No, drugs can be very bad for individuals given misuse, as with anything, but their effects on society are minimal. Look at Holland, where they have been decriminalised. Does the society suffer for it? No, individuals might, but their society seems pretty damn stable and sane to me.
As for drug tests et al, they're such a bad idea. Not only are they invasive and a threat to your personal privacy, but a lot of the people I know who do a hell of a lot of drugs work in those sorts of places anyway and go out every weekend and get fucked. Doesn't seem to have made them lose their jobs because they're drug-crazed wasters...
Oh yeah, sorry about the rant.
What about people with no smell? That's not a joke, BTW.
You know who ELSE doesn't have a sense of smell? You would if you'd listened to every episode of Geeks in Space. Yes! That's right! Our very own Rob Malda. Err. Yeah. So, don't feel like no one knows what you're talking about. I'm sure he does.
Withdrawal before climax is very ineffective and those who try this are usually called "parents."
A number of cancer researchers have found evidence that dogs (with their superior sense of smell) can detect certain kinds of cancer. Melanoma being the most obvious because it's outside the body. Sounds like if someone can create a sensitive enough smelling device, it could go a long way in the area of cancer detection.
(Sorry to perpetuate a geek stereotype, but I've been exposed to it often enough... :-)
It's a geek accessory. It can smell. Therefore its default driver installation should take an occasional sniff, and if events merit, should display a message box saying GO TAKE A SHOWER .*
Sean.
* Also useful - a BURN OLD SNEAKERS and CHECK DOG STILL ALIVE messages.
Sean Remove zebras from e-mail address to reply.
>even NASA has succumbed to the
>"e + (someword)" phenomenon.
You mean the E-word phenomenon?
Perhaps then I could breathe and code at the same time....
"This message is composed of 100% recycled electrons."
It would be linked into my mediated reality and object/person recognition rig, of course. Yet another data point...
---
END OF LINE
Could it detect when my GF is ovulating?
How about if she's horny?
Could it do this unintrusively?
Could it detect my testosterone level?
I suppose many illnesses could be diagnosed...
Ah, why bother!
...omphaloskepsis often...
Kevin Fox
Kevin Fox
Believe it or not, there are quite a few people who do believe that alcohol is a problem for society. In fact, nearly everyone with two functioning brain cells to rub together probably realizes that alcohol abuse, drunk driving, etc. are very serious problems indeed.
The people who are interested in the legalization of marijuana inevitably point to alcohol as the reason why marijuana should be legalized, and yet alcohol abuse is one of the biggest societal problems that we have (worldwide). It is absolutely amazing the percentage of crimes that are committed while under the influence of alcohol, the amount of deaths due to drunk driving, and the amount of physical abuse that can be directly attributed to alcohol. So saying that marijuana is "less harmful than alcohol" is setting the bar quite low.
In fact, alcohol is so dangerous to society that the U.S. at one point made it illegal. And it would probably still be a controlled substance except for the fact that alcohol is too darn easy to manufacture illegally.
As for drug tests, your employer has rights too. For example, employers don't want to hire people that are likely to come to work in an "altered state." And so in order to apply for work at most employers you are required to pass a voluntary drug test. If you feel that this is an invasion of your privacy you are perfectly free to apply elsewhere. The fact that some "drug-crazed wasters" are able to circumvent these tests does not make them any less valid. For every drug abuser that gets away there are some that get caught. At the very least it forces the drug users to be cautious, and that makes the world safer for all of us.
Believe me, people lose their jobs for drug abuse on a regular basis. We had a rather large drug bust where I work just a few months ago. People lost their jobs and will never work here again.
Rather than using dogs, you could use one of those suckers to track criminals through the woods, search for lost skiiers, search for earthquake victims in rubble... the list is endless. Of course for the thing to be worth it would have to be more sensitive than a dog, cost-effective, and hand-held.
Mechanik
<SING>
</SING>to stop the ones who want
prosthetic foreheads on their real heads!
official site here
What would you use an electronic nose for
for treating the boss nicely without soiling the real one.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
--
$x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
$x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
I'm not sure what it should be used for, but I can tell you what it will be used for: electronic drug dogs. Posted on every street corner, at every building entrance.
"The legitimate powers of government extend only to such acts as are injurious to others." Thomas Jefferson.
the poison sniffer, ala Dune, but somehow I really think that has less to do with smell then it sounds. And nobody has brought up scent trails, couldnt you theoretically, tell where someones recently been with such a device? or tell which way they went at least? ---evel aka matt "i say mean, you say cheese" -meaty-cheesey-boys
You could use an accurate e-nose to sniff pheromones and no withing seconds whether the person next to you is the right girl/guy for you. How much time/wasted money/emotional trauma would that save?
You might also use the same e-nose to recognize a human-being's characteristic odour as a form of identity verification... but then somebody could just steal your clothes and impersonate you. But it might help as an addition to biometrics... one day we'll just have a Hitchhiker's-guide style platic card containing all our biometric information :->
First, it will give us a web device to transmit smell, then it will give us an e-nose, so we don't have to smell our own peripheral!
What could be more convenient then smelling the roses from the convenience of your own desk? Having the computer smell the e-roses for you. Once we perfect the e-toilet, you'll never have to leave your cubicle again.
-- dR.fuZZo
See, I'm not trying to imply any wrongdoing on my part, but I recently visisted Amsterdam, and my laptop bag was 'run-through-the-wringer' by security forces on the way back. They had a wand about the size of B-B-Q lighter, you know, vaguely pistol shaped and a lurid 12" long. Also, they rubed the sensor tip vigourously along the zippers for some reason. The whole experience was creepy, reminded me of that scene from Total Recall with that skeleton x-ray scene.
:)Fudboy
:)Fudboy
I guess I'm only a Fudboy, looking for that real Transmeta
In this case, the feedline was backwards. It should be
My nose has no Dog.....
What's the likelihood that this thing can be adapted for human use? I mean, Stevie Wonder is supposedly going to try getting his vision back through some artificial means. What about people with no smell? That's not a joke, BTW. My stepsister really doesn't have a sense of smell. Her mother won't let her live alone because she can't smell things like gas leaks or burning food in the oven.
Speaking of which, possible uses for this include alarm systems that trigger when certain odors (like the odor added to gas) are detected or warning lights in car when odors like burning oil are detected. I bet a real market for something like this can be had in alarms and triggers based on smell.
On the net, no-one can tell you're a sniffer dog...
Put the blame on meme
Well, writing from London UK I would be very happy if they could develop this nose to sniff out semtex/sugar+fertiliser explosives. We just had another "explosive device" go off last week, and once again the City is ringed by traffic checkpoints and the police are stopping anyone driving a transit van (why is it always a transit van?). They could use this device on all vehicles and passengers coming over from Ireland, for instance, and perhaps put back some of the rubbish bins (translation - trash cans) that they took away from all our train and underground stations after the bomb at Victoria Station. Any receptacle in a public place could have a sensor fitted that would set off an alarm if it sensed explosive.
Put the blame on meme
Which brings me to the other side of the aroma balance: one of my former friends did use aftershave and stuff, only he had a severe problem with getting the dosage right; having a robot tell him "Sir, your aftershave is so strong, my nose went offline: I suggest in the future you apply a little less, so the people eating next to you can actually smell their food instead of you." would be much called for. 'They'd like you better if you didn't smell like an accident in the perfume factory." Luckily he has a girlfriend, who must have told him something along those lines, because in time it became much better. But yes, a non-human to draw the extremes of the aroma scale of their nasal effrontery would be ever so nice. Because when a fellow human tells them, they often take offence.
Also very handy for when your own nose, due to a cold or something, doesn't work properly: "How do I smell, James?" 'Nothing a shower can't take care of, sir.' "Right, I feared as much. Hand me that towel, please."
Stefan, whose nose still functions quite well even if he smokes.
The truth shall make you fret. (Ankh-Morpork tImes motto)
Not news.
The electronic nose was developed 10 years ago at U.M.I.S.T in Manchester, UK.
http://www.dias.umist.ac.uk/
I hated the place when I was there (Still do, Manchester's a dump) but they definitely had an electronic nose.
The guys who developed it also started a company to sell the things (aromascan).
Government of the people, by corporate executives, for corporate profits.
whoa, your fermones make my e-nose swing, how about if we get to your place to be naked.
Parents Against Kuro5hin
can it packet-sniff?
:)
ok. ok. lame joke
I'm curious at to why you believe that that would be a good thing. Do you approve of the rediculous efforts spent on the whole "War on Drugs" and the significant blows to individual liberty that it has bought with it? Having electronic drug sniffers on every street corner, whilst maybe effective, sounds like as big an invasion of privacy as any I can imagine.
Now, I may be a bit biased here, enjoying drugs on a recreational level here myself, but even apart from that I've still yet to hear a single good reason why drugs in general are such a menace to society that they must be demonised and their users treated as the worst kind of criminal.
There's an article here at SmokeDot about how and why marijuana became illegal, and I think it illustrates some of the petty reasons they became illegal in the first place, even though now those reasons have been buried.