ArtificialNose
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Artificial nose becomes coffee analyzer, sniffs out KIRF Starbucks venues
Artificial schnozzes have been sniffing foreign objects for years now, but rarely are they engineered to sniff out specific things. A team of researchers from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign have done just that, though, with a new snout that acts as a coffee analyzer. Reportedly, the device can "distinguish between ten well-known commercial brands of coffee and can also make a distinction between coffee beans that have been roasted at different temperatures or lengths of time." The significance here is that this distinction is incredibly difficult to make, and it could one day help coffee growers determine whether batches are as good as prior batches on the cheap. More importantly, however, it could help the modern java hunter determine whether or not they're walking in a corporate Starbucks or one of those "branded" kiosks with two-fifths the menu. Brilliant, right?
Breakthrough in MIT's RealNose project could mean artificial noses for all - yay
The quest for the ultimate artificial nose is still underway, and thanks to a major breakthrough by the folks over at MIT, it might be sooner than later that we're all unwrapping stylish sniffers under the Christmas tree. More importantly, the fruits of MIT's RealNose project could replace drug and explosive-sniffing dogs as well as detect certain medical conditions via the odors emitted. Up to now, the tricky part of studying the sense of smell has been in isolating proteins (olfactory receptors) to get a good look at how they work. But in this latest development, researchers are now able to produce specific receptors using wheat germ. Engineered mammalian cells can be used to the same effect. What makes this so great is, while the human nose is relatively limited in what it can detect, this discovery could unlock the potential to detect an almost infinite range of odors. G.I. Joe with "action nose" here we come.[Via PhysOrg]
