Researchers at NASA have managed to develop an electronic nose which is capable of detecting pollutants within a space craft in an effort to prevent the build up of potentially lethal concentrations. These sensors are also being worked on to detect odors which are specific to certain diseases, and are capable of identifying smells between milk and bananas. All this is made possible thanks to a small array of chemical sensors which are connected to a computer or neural network that can identfy different molecule patterns. The electronic nose is expected to go on sale within a couple of years – hopefully they won’t secrete digital snot!
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