The State of the Art of Electronic Noses
Three new e-noses use three different methods to sniff out everything from freon to fatty acids A rose by any other name would smell as sweet; we all know that. But what about a rose smelled by a non-human nose? What would it smell like? Well, an electronic nose is no Shakespeare, so you'd lose some of the poetry. But a new generation of e-noses is is poised to give a whole new meaning to the sense of smell. Electronic noses and sniffers keep airports and the space station safe by noticing the tiniest amounts of dangerous chemicals. They can tell the difference between things like Coke and Pepsi; sick trees and healthy ones; cancer cells and normal cells; even different human organs. Some use polymer-based sensors, which expand or contract based on the substance they're "smelling." Some break up smells into their molecular constituents. Others use nanomaterials;...