Electronic Nose Diagnoses Disease
Electronic noses are devices which can identify particular molecules and elements in air (or in some cases, in liquids), allowing for the digital measurement of air (and breath) quality. This is a pretty new technology, with a lot of potential benefits down the road, but not a whole lot of practical applications today due to price and lack of developmental maturity. Once it is fully developed, we will be able to monitor and control air quality with an insanely high degree of accuracy, sense bombs and explosives from a long way away, and generally have the use of a highly accurate digital bloodhound to sniff out any airborne agent with remarkable accuracy and sensitivity.
One practical application is the diagnosis of diseases. The presence of certain organic molecules in your breath could indicate a bacterial infection, or certain antibodies could signify a cancerous growth.
While its still a bit early to see much from the electronic nose, lets keep an eye out for new developments which bring this technology closer to mass commercialization. For now, as the article below states, we can look forward to improved early diagnosis of some particular disorders and diseases.
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=electronic-noses-could-make-diseas es-something-to-sniff-at
