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Several such stories imply that if we are ever able to build machines that can smell things, we might open up an entirely new world of diagnostic tools for medi
by abhinai 8y ago
Several such stories imply that if we are ever able to build machines that can smell things, we might open up an entirely new world of diagnostic tools for medical sciences. Though I am not sure how well we understand how smell works and I recently read somewhere that human smell system might use quantum tunneling so I would say such a system might be decades away if not more.
- slacka 8y agoI am constantly in awe of my dog's snout. Evolution has produce a tool that detect odors in parts per trillion! His favorite game is "hunting humans" as I call it. I can go over a mile in the woods behind my house. And have no doubt my dog will find me minutes after my family unleaches him. When another dog was sick with cancer, he showed interested in that area. I have no doubt there is untapped medical potential in this area.
- lostlogin 8y agoA relative has one that can find tennis balls. It doesn’t matter how long they have been lost in a shrub or overgrown corner, she suddenly diverts, smashes in and comes out with her trophy. She doesn’t even have to be particularly close to detect them.
- svara 8y agoThe sense of smell is a sense for the identity of (typically small) chemical compounds. So there absolutely are machines that can "smell" things. E.g., mass spectrometers, or in a broader sense any technique that can detect specific molecules.
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 8y agoBut detecting compounds is only a small part of the equation. A significant portion of a dog's brain is engaged to analyze scent data. It's like how we've had CCDs for a really long time but being able to detect objects in the image data they capture is relatively recent.