NASA's eNose Sniffs Out Brain Cancer

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."

Comments

what movies was that?

[Twillerror]

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.

Re:what movies was that?

[wwfarch]

I never saw The Island but it was definitely in THX1138

NASA's eNose can sniff everything

[impaledsunset]

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

Re:NASA's eNose can sniff everything

[interkin3tic]

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.

Can it sniff out explosives?

[Tibor the Hun]

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

Re:Can it sniff out explosives?

[Hurricane78]

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

No. Seriously!

Dogs already doing that years ago

[zooblethorpe]

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,

I'm going for the borscht!

[rts008]

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!

10k/1000k

[XaXXon]

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

Re:10k/1000k

[pinkocommie]

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

And then

[RomulusNR]

we will be able to cure cancer with Febreeze.

Sniffing what?

[Corson]

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?

Re:Heard that before - about 5 million times

[cperciva]

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

Smellable Cancer = Metastasized?

[oneplus999]

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.

really now

[speedtux]

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.