Several different research projects are underway that share one similar goal: Find a way to recreate a dog's superb sense of smell in order to detect cancer in people.
Armed with over four times as many olfactory cells as humans, dogs are able to smell chemicals known as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which tumors emit. As Bloomberg reports, VOCs have been detected in the breath of colon and lung cancer patients, and in the urine of men with prostate cancer. Researchers would like to develop an "electric nose" that replicates a dog's ability to sniff out cancer.
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