Smells Like Brain Cancer
Neurosurgeons may soon be able to detect the difference between chicken livers and brain cancer.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory Electronic Nose (JPL ENose) was developed to monitor air quality on the Space Shuttle. In a proof-of-concept study, the JPL ENose was used sniff out the odors of chicken hearts, chicken livers, and glioblastoma and melanoma tumor cells. The electronic nose was able to detect the difference between normal and cancer cells. However, the mystery of how chicken livers could infest human brains has not been solved.
Sniffing out cancer using the JPL electronic nose: A pilot study of a novel approach to detection and differentiation of brain cancer.
Neuroimage. 2009 Apr 9.
1st Generation ENose aboard the STS-95 with Senator John Glenn:
Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech
