Scientists Closer To Creating Artificial Noses

Scientists at MIT have moved closer to being able to create an artificial nose after finding a way to mass-produce smell receptors. The MIT RealNose project seeks to recreate the most complex and least-understood of the five senses: smell. The team plans to work with researchers around the world to develop a portable microfluidic device that can identify various smells, including diseases with unique odors, such as diabetes and certain cancers.

Comments

Re:Who would want a nose that sensitive?

[digitalchinky]

Sort of related, I have no sense of smell, at all. I was probably close on 20 years old before that fact actually sunk in. I thought it was a sense that people learned to use, like learning to read and write, that I would figure it all out some time later in life. Not to be.

From a perspective of never having known smell, the idea of being able to do so is intriguing. At the very least it would mean I could definitively know whether I need to spend more on deodorant or less :-)

Oddly enough, I have had dreams where I can smell perfectly fine, I don't know how this state of mind compares with the real world experience though.