Latest update on the Warwick University-developed electronic nose – hailed as the olfactory of the future when first whiff was caught of it in April 1983 – is that its complex sniffer skills may now be used to thwart the drug barons: new smell masking chemicals in the US leave those poor pooches puzzled, but the Warwick nose, which allows scientists to use pattern recogni tion techniques for analysing smell composition may help produce anti-dotes; funding is being provided to the tune of UKP120,000 by the UK Ministry of Defence, which, although not a sum to sniff at, is simply not enough – Warwick fears that unless more money is forthcoming, Japan may just nosey ahead …….
Content from our partners
