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Rehovot Discovery News: The evolutiopn of Smell
Our hominid and ape ancestors actually had more keen noses, since they relied more upon their sense of smell for mating, socialising, detecting predators, finding food and other tasks.
Scientists at the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, Israel, have found that many genes for smell in humans were turned off permanently over the course of our evolution, although the DNA continues to exist as inactive "pseudogenes".
Ruiz and his team suggest that the electronic nose will return some of these smelling skills to us.
The invention may even improve upon nature, at least in terms of precision and reliability.
"We think that a commercial prototype could be available in between five and 10 years, although there are still some important issues to be solved," he says.
"Initially we expect that the devices will work with body fluids like urine or blood."
Source: Discovery News: The evolution of smell (19 June 2006) [FullText]
Scientists at the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, Israel, have found that many genes for smell in humans were turned off permanently over the course of our evolution, although the DNA continues to exist as inactive "pseudogenes".
Ruiz and his team suggest that the electronic nose will return some of these smelling skills to us.
The invention may even improve upon nature, at least in terms of precision and reliability.
"We think that a commercial prototype could be available in between five and 10 years, although there are still some important issues to be solved," he says.
"Initially we expect that the devices will work with body fluids like urine or blood."
Source: Discovery News: The evolution of smell (19 June 2006) [FullText]
Labels: Weizmann Institute
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