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NASA's eNose Sniffs Out Brain Cancer

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the just-follow-your-nose dept.

ScienceDaily is reporting that an electronic nose developed by NASA for monitoring potential leaks on the ISS may be able to sniff out brain cancer. "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 odor from normal versus cancerous cells. These experiments will help pave the way for more sophisticated biochemical analysis and experimentation."

35 of 53 comments (clear)

  1. what movies was that? by Twillerror · · Score: 3, Funny

    What movie was it that a guy pissed into a smart toilet every morning which could detect changes in diet and shit...we are one piss closer.

    1. Re:what movies was that? by wwfarch · · Score: 2, Informative

      I never saw The Island but it was definitely in THX1138

    2. Re:what movies was that? by ericspinder · · Score: 1

      THX1138 and/or The Island wasn't it?

      I'm not sure of either of those, but since you didn't mention the Simpsons, you'll need to turn in your /. user id.

      --
      The grass is only greener, if you don't take care of your own lawn.
    3. Re:what movies was that? by dr_dank · · Score: 1

      Is it Ghostbusters II?

      --
      Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
    4. Re:what movies was that? by CodeBuster · · Score: 1

      The film in question was The Island where Ewan McGregor, as the clone Lincoln Six Echo, has been secretly drinking alcohol given to him by the sympathetic company man James McCord played by Steve Buscemi. The toilet was detecting the deleterious metabolites of alcohol breakdown being passed the morning after the drinking binge by Lincoln.

    5. Re:what movies was that? by nospam007 · · Score: 1

      "What movie was it that a guy pissed into a smart toilet..."

      Ah, you mean cancer of the small brain.

    6. Re:what movies was that? by LifesABeach · · Score: 1

      What's kinda of funny these days is what else THX's TV Chair did while he watched TV...

  2. Rent "Sleeper" by wsanders · · Score: 1

    For some reason, the nose-cloning scenes from "Sleeper" sprung immediately to mind when I read "NASA's Electronic Nose".

    --
    Give a man a fish and you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish, and he'll say "WHERE'S MY FISH, YOU IDIOT?"
  3. NASA's eNose can sniff everything by impaledsunset · · Score: 5, Funny

    I heard that NASA's eNose is so sensitive it could tell a homeopathic preparation from pure water.

    1. Re:NASA's eNose can sniff everything by interkin3tic · · Score: 3, Funny

      Homeopathic medicine humor, eh? I would have said something like it can tell american beer from water, but I guess that's a little low brow compared to yours.

  4. Can it sniff out explosives? by Tibor+the+Hun · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Could it sniff out explosives, so we could detect roadside bombs, and not have to squirt toothpaste into baggies at airports?

    --
    If you don't know what AltaVista is (was), get off my lawn.
    1. Re:Can it sniff out explosives? by Hurricane78 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      What does the security theater at airports have to do with bombs?

      No. Seriously!

      --
      Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
  5. Dogs already doing that years ago by zooblethorpe · · Score: 5, Informative

    Sure, it's great they've figured out how to do this artificially, but we've known for *years* that cancer smells differently, and we've even had dogs trained to do it:

    http://www.google.com/search?q=dogs+sniff+cancer

    Cheers,

    --
    "What in the name of Fats Waller is that?"
    "A four-foot prune."
  6. Re:Dogs as trained sniffers by jlmale0 · · Score: 1

    Robot noses don't pee on your bags.

    They leak oil instead.

  7. I'm going for the borscht! by rts008 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Now we can finally put an end to all of the squabbling going on in the ISS.

    With the NASA Nose, we will finally be able to prove once and for all whose farts smell the worse, and by how much!

    --
    Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
  8. 10k/1000k by XaXXon · · Score: 2, Informative

    ten thousand parts per million is a lot easier to understand as 1 part per hundred. And a lot less impressive.

    1. Re:10k/1000k by pinkocommie · · Score: 2, Informative

      That's its lowest sensitivity setting. It can detect from 1 ppm upto 10k ppm. If you wanted to convert it to per hundred it'd be something like 0.000001 to 1 parts per hundred. Not exactly standard notation

    2. Re:10k/1000k by Hurricane78 · · Score: 1

      You don't get it, do you?

      10k ppm = 1 in 100
      1 ppm = 1 in 1,000,000

      None of your 0.000001 parts per hundred nonsense.

      The "one in" notation is much much clearer.

      --
      Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
    3. Re:10k/1000k by Dragonslicer · · Score: 1

      Parts per million (ppm) is a standard, commonly used unit when talking about things like chemical concentration. To people that work with this stuff on a daily basis, ppm is probably easier to understand than "1 part per hundred".

  9. Better Yet, Monty Python and the Holy Grail by chill · · Score: 1

    Really? The first thing that popped into my mind was the scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail:

    I fart in your general direction! Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9V7zbWNznbs

    --
    Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
  10. Heard that before - about 5 million times by uberjack · · Score: 1

    If I had 5 cents every time I heard "[x] might be able to cure [y] cancer", I'd be a millionaire. If it was for every time I heard "[x] actually detects/cures [y] cancer," I'd be on the street begging for spare change.

    1. Re:Heard that before - about 5 million times by MasterOfDisaster · · Score: 1

      If I had a nickel for every time someone proposed a hypothetical cure for cancer, why, I'd have enough to start my own research facility for creating hypothetical cures for cancer!

      Just think of the unlimited profit opportunities!

      --
      The opinions in this post are ficticious. Any similarity to actual opinions, real or imagined, is purely coincidental.
    2. Re:Heard that before - about 5 million times by cperciva · · Score: 2, Funny

      If I had a nickel for every time I heard someone say "if I had a nickel", I'd have a lot of nickels.

      --
      Tarsnap: Online backups for the truly paranoid
  11. It's been done by keiofh · · Score: 1

    Dogs can already be used to detect cancer. Why rely on computers? http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/01/06/60minutes/main665263.shtml

    1. Re:It's been done by kundziad · · Score: 1

      Because we exactly understand the way in which they work (less the extreme cases of unproven yet used mathematical theorems) and easily modify them to meat our other needs. Relying on much autonomous beings such as dogs is riskier and harder in the long run.

    2. Re:It's been done by scatter_gather · · Score: 1

      You rely on computers because dogs cannot detect cancer with sufficient reliability to count on them, day after day, year after year, and their cancer detection accuracy is not all that high to begin with for deep cancers. I taught one to detect breast cancer and I can tell you it is not easy and the accuracy was poor for all of the dogs in the study. The amazing part is that it could be done at all.

  12. And then by RomulusNR · · Score: 2, Funny

    we will be able to cure cancer with Febreeze.

    --
    Terrorists can attack freedom, but only Congress can destroy it.
    1. Re:And then by drizek · · Score: 1

      Cures 99.9%* of Cancers!

  13. Re:fp by thePowerOfGrayskull · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    first post

    I think someone should explain to you how this works.

  14. Sniffing what? by Corson · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Nobody knows exactly what cancer is, let alone what molecules have "diagnostic value" in cancer. Not to mention that there thousands of different cancer types. So, what is this thing sniffing?

  15. Richie Rich Quote by drizek · · Score: 1

    Richard Rich Sr.: [on Prof. Keenbean's Smellmaster 9000] Glasses, electronic aids and surgery help us see and hear better. Isn't it time we had something to help us SMELL better?

    Regina Rich: We already do, dear. It's called Chanel.

  16. Re:Dogs as trained sniffers by drizek · · Score: 1

    Where do people get the idea that robots need oil?

    Robots will be powered by electric motors, meaning they won't need lubricants, at least not in the same way that cars do. Depending on what you build them out of, they might need some form of lubrication in the joints, but thats just a few sprays of WD40 on the assembly line.

    They won't be guzzling quarts of Mobil 1 like they do in cartoons.

  17. Smellable Cancer = Metastasized? by oneplus999 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I assume that if there is evidence of your cancer floating around, then the likely reason is that it has metastasized to your lungs, in which case you already have a really advanced stage of the cancer. In order to actually be a useful method for diagnosis, you need it to work much sooner than that.

  18. really now by speedtux · · Score: 2, Funny

    NASA's electronic nose to sniff brain cancer cells and cells in other organs

    I don't want NASA's nose anywhere near my organ.

  19. I'm not taking any chances... by bobbuck · · Score: 1

    Here: http://theinfosphere.org/Mom's_Old-Fashioned_Robot_Oil

    According to Mom, anything that moves with a load for any time should be lubricated to improve efficiency and wear.