
One Day, a Machine Will Smell Whether You’re Sick - grzm
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/01/health/artificial-nose-scent-disease.html
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afarrell
How expensive would it be to make a machine that can smell if you or your
clothes stink?

I would pay at least $150 for that as a hard-of-smelling person. I would have
far paid more back when I was single and lonely.

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maxxxxx
I would like that too. After a surgery a few years I sometimes have post nasal
drip which causes bad breath. I have no way to tell when this happens. I would
love a sensor that could detect it.

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afarrell
According to your sibling, there are already off-the-shelf sensors that detect
some malodors. Maybe we just need to source already-existing components and
convince an EE/manufacturing engineer to do a kickstarter?

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maxxxxx
The problem is that you need to know what chemical you are looking for that's
causing the smell. Are there any sensors that can detect a wide range of
smells?

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jonwachob91
A quick google search reveals a number of label free odor sensors, everything
is early stage though.

Label free may not be the best phrase for what you meant though. Label free
means you are looking at all biomarkers present in a sample, the primary
challenge with label free is that we don't know every biomarker to look for or
what every biomarker we see means.

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maxxxxx
Seems once you have enough datapoints you should be able to do something with
machine learning to distinguish good from bad smells.

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magic_beans
BBC had a great story about a woman who was able to smell Parkinson's in
people YEARS before they were even diagnosed: [http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-
scotland-34583642](http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-34583642).

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swsieber
Not years, just eight months, but it's still incredible.

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jdiez17
I work for Owlstone Medical as a software engineer, so ask me any questions
and I'll try to answer as best I can.

Also, we're hiring!
[https://www.owlstonemedical.com/about/careers/](https://www.owlstonemedical.com/about/careers/)

~~~
mentos
I dream of a future where a sensor can detect from your urine/blood/bowel
movement wether you have cancer or some disease.

Imagine a push notification to your phone that says you have a 82% chance of
having hepatitis or something.

Do you think that could ever be a reality?

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easilyBored
That would be great and totally possible. Disease changes your body and your
kidneys, among other organs, will know it.

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frik
What kind of sensor technology can "smell"?

I mean the CMOS was a break through for image sensors.

There are air quality sensors and various kind of gas sensors.

But what sensor tech can be used to smell odor?

There are dogs that smell drugs, cancer, and what not - so "just" a sensor is
needed to get the data in difital format.

[btw NYT article page crashes my mobile browser mid article, what are they
doing? Their site used to be lean, now it's dog slow and something is wrong
with scrolling]

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jdiez17
Odours are just molecules that are detected by the cells in our noses, and
it's possible to identify them with various techniques. You've probably heard
of mass spectrometry, which tells you the mass to charge ratio of the
molecules that are present in a sample. You can figure out which molecules
they are by looking up the m/z value in a database -- but mass spectrometers
are pretty bulky.

There's also a technique called field-asymmetric ion mobility spectrometry,
which gives you a less direct indication of the molecules you're looking at,
but FAIMS can be miniaturized into a silicon chip, and that is what Owlstone
has done. Here's a bit more info about FAIMS:
[https://www.owlstonemedical.com/science-technology/faims-
tec...](https://www.owlstonemedical.com/science-technology/faims-technology/)

edit: odours are not necessarily organic molecules

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tiatia
"Odours are just organic molecules"

Yeah. Right. This is why Yeah. Right. This is why H2S has no smell. (in fact,
some claim is has not and we smell something else).

"that are detected by the cells in our noses, and it's possible to identify
them with various techniques."

Well, I think this was not the question. Yes, the mentioned start-up in this
thread (owlstonemedical) uses a "Field Asymmetric Ion Mobility Spectrometer",
might work, but I am not too impressed by the approach. Also, would not call
this a detection of "scent".

Would be more impressed if they really build an artificial nose that can
smell. They eye has not receptors to detect dogs, chairs, cars but detects a
spectrum. Same with the ear and actually, the same with the nose. The
literature is out there.

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BoorishBears
>jdiez17 2 hours ago [-]

>I work for Owlstone Medical as a software engineer, so ask me any questions
and I'll try to answer as best I can.

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cousin_it
One day, a machine will smell whether you're hireable :-(

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jwdunne
Perhaps one day a machine will smell if you are irreparable. Perhaps even
smell if any spare parts remain.

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4rt
tangential, but in HK airport you're passively screened for a high temperature
at all entrances to combat the spread of flu.

[http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-04/28/content_1127068...](http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-04/28/content_11270685.htm)

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flippyhead
Not that anyone has suggested this but it doesn't seem so far fetched given
that dogs can supposedly smell cancer. Also, if bees really can smell fear...

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chrischen
There is also a lady who is able to smell alzheimers.

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Mendenhall
With all the talk about healthcare these days I wonder as an experiment what a
"machine" could detect if you gave it saliva,urine,stool,hair sample.

Privacy concerns aside I would assume many basic medical issues could be
diagnosed through those without the need for a "doctor".

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505
Smell, or perhaps taste, is one of the first senses that evolved. Maybe it
will be one of the first we get right in machines.

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hackuser
What if you don't want others to know about your health, or whatever else a
machine can smell?

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executive
One day, you'll have to insert your ATM card into this machine and it may let
you into the hospital if you can afford your illness or it can secure you on
demand financing.

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olivercreashe
Really? I wonder how it will smell like..

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supernumerary
Dogs

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Eerie
One day, a machine will smell your weakness. Then it will come for the kill.

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Frenchgeek
I'm already a Windows 10 user, so it will have to do its very worst.

