Dogs have the ability to detect the smell of diseases like cancer, leading to their potential use as detection tools in early disease identification.
Scientists are attempting to create a robot nose, known as the nano nose, that can replicate the olfactory capabilities of a dog for medical diagnostics.
Deep dives
Training Dogs to Smell Diseases
Dogs have the ability to detect the smell of diseases like cancer. They can be trained to recognize specific odor molecules associated with various diseases, including bladder cancer, prostate cancer, breast cancer, Parkinson's, and malaria. This unique ability has led to the use of dogs as detection tools, which can potentially save lives by identifying diseases at an early stage. Researchers are even exploring the use of dogs to detect COVID-19 infections with promising results, providing an alternative to traditional testing methods.
The Mystery of Smell
Despite our basic understanding of how smells work, the exact mechanisms behind why certain things smell the way they do remain a mystery. The traditional lock and key model, which suggests that smell is determined by the shape of molecules and receptor interactions, falls short as there are more potential smells than there are receptors in the human nose. It is believed that smell is a complex pattern recognition process that involves the interaction of multiple receptors and the interpretation by the brain. Factors such as context, experience, genetics, and culture also influence how individuals perceive and interpret smells.
Building a Robot Nose
Scientists are attempting to create a robot nose, known as the nano nose, that can replicate the olfactory capabilities of a dog. Unlike previous attempts that focused on understanding the intricacies of how smell works, the nano nose takes a different approach. By recognizing and training the nano nose to identify patterns rather than dissecting the molecular details of smell, researchers can develop a viable artificial smell detection system. Although still a work in progress, the goal is to integrate the nano nose into smartphones, allowing it to detect odors associated with diseases and potentially revolutionize medical diagnostics in the future.
Unexplainable is a new podcast from Vox about everything we don’t know. Each week, the team looks at the most fascinating unanswered questions in science and the mind-bending ways scientists are trying to answer them. New episodes drop every Wednesday.
This episode: Scientists still don't know how the sense of smell works. But they're looking at how powerful it is — dogs can actually sniff out cancer and many other diseases — and they're trying to figure out how to reverse-engineer it. In fact, one MIT scientist may have built a robot nose ... without completely understanding how his invention works.
