Word: nose
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...things are finally looking up for the electronic nose. Thanks to advances in chip technology and pattern-recognition techniques, increasingly tiny sniffers are beginning to live up to their moniker. Today e-noses are being tested for everything from disease detection to disaster prevention, and lower-priced models are starting to come on the market--including an $8,000 device called the Cyranose 320 being introduced this week by Cyrano Sciences of Pasadena, Calif...
Like our proboscises, e-noses are only as good as their sensors, and all of them operate on principles remarkably similar to those of a real nose. Humans detect odors with up to 650 types of receptors found on cells high up in the nasal passages, somewhere between our eyebrows. How the nose works is still something of a mystery, but it is believed that each receptor responds to a subtle characteristic of a molecule that carries odor--its peculiar shape, say, or degree of oiliness--rather than to the molecule itself. Working together, the receptors can generate unique "smell...
...Cyrano's enthusiastic (and aptly named) ceo Steven Sunshine is to be believed, Cyranose is "seeing" in Technicolor. When properly trained, its 32-sensor Nose-Chip[TM] can sniff a particular variety of rice and tell you not only which one it is but also where it was grown. Does it smell as well as we do? Yes and no. It has trouble detecting some things to which human noses are acutely attuned--such as the stench of rotting eggs--but it can be trained to pick up others most people would never notice. There are limits, however...
...matter. E-noses have other, more practical uses. Osmetech, a British e-nose company, has dedicated itself to the detection of diseases. Its e-nose can sniff out six of the seven types of bacteria responsible for urinary-tract infections. Microsensor Systems of Orlando, Fla., makes a $9,800 portable device equipped with crystal sensors that can sniff out spoiling food and chemical weapons with equal ease. Caltech researchers sent one of their chips on John Glenn's space-shuttle mission last year to keep tabs on the quality of the cabin air. An adventurous Cyranose was even used...
...without that," he adds. And contrary to popular belief, Das is not a prince. Royal lineage? Denied. Even with an impending senior thesis due date, he hopes to squeeze in a few more galas. If feeling unworthy in February, impress Das with your wine savvy by turning up your nose at cheap Croatian imports...