Posted on 01/21/2007 4:01:21 PM PST by blam
Scientists learn what every dog knows – that we all have a unique smell
By Richard Gray, Science Correspondent, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 12:02am GMT 21/01/2007
It brings new meaning to the notion of sniffing out criminals. Scientists have discovered that it is possible to identify people by their unique aroma "fingerprint".
The researchers, from Bristol University, the University of Vienna in Austria and Indiana University in the US, have developed a way of analysing the traces of scent that every person leaves behind.
They hope the findings will lead to forensic techniques that will be the modern equivalent of using sniffer dogs to track criminals. The technique is already being considered for use with forensic evidence such as DNA and fingerprints. Body odour could also be used in biometric passports.
The US military is already developing devices to exploit scent as a form of identification and the UK's Forensic Science Service has been examining its potential in criminal investigations.
A European research project to improve airline security has also been looking at the use of an electronic nose to detect dangerous chemicals and explosives that passengers take on to planes. Prof Richard Brereton, from Bristol University's Centre for Chemometrics, which helped develop the method for odour recognition, said: "It is well known that animals can tell things about each other by scent. They can also sniff out a body under a building and there is evidence they can scent disease. Humans have lost this ability to sniff out each other's scents so accurately but we can use technology to do it for us. There appears to be evidence of an individual fingerprint."
A scent is made up of traces of chemicals that evaporate off the body in what scientists call the "thermal plume". These chemicals can be left behind in sweat and other bodily fluids. The research team has found a way to collect samples that are as free of contamination as possible and analyse them using an "electronic nose" that breaks the scent down into its component chemicals.
In studies funded by the US Army Research Office, scientists found they could identify individuals by looking at the differing combinations of 44 chemical compounds secreted by the body.
They examined body odour samples of about 200 adults from Carinthia, a village in the Austrian Alps, chosen because no one from outside had settled there for many generations and the residents were mainly members of big families and genetically similar. Despite this, analysis showed each individual had a unique scent signature. "Scent allows us to learn about an individual's gender, their lifestyle, if they smoke, what they ate last night and whether they are stressed," Prof Brereton said.
Scientists hope scent technology will be useful in criminal court cases. But it may mean offenders start using deodorant and perfume to cover their tracks.
Dr Silvia Valussi, of the Forensic Science Service, said: "You can tell a lot about a person's lifestyle from the chemical markers in sweat. Getting it to a level of reliability where it can be used as evidence is the challenge."
Told that everytime I eat something spicy.
I'm waiting for the day when they discover that every individual has a unique anal pattern. It should make for some interesting experiences cashing checks.
Tomorrow I will smell like beer and potato chips. ;)
Some Questions: (1) Does each person "smell" the same from week to week and year to year? (2) What effect, if any, does diet have? (3) Is there any correlation between "smell" profile and genetics (i.e., family resemblence)? (4) What about identical twins? Do they smell the same,; or similar?
There can't possibly be 6 Billion different chemicals in the human body, so if each person is unique it has to be a pattern of different quantities of a finite number of volatiles rather than a unique chemical for each person (which I guess is what is implied by the word "fingerprint).
De Montaigne wrote in some detail about this a few centuries ago. He seemed be of the opinion that most would do well to reduce their aroma as much as possible and that splashing on the scent four times a day was a sign of something wrong.
-PJ
Answers to come in many years if there is a $2 Billion grant to study same. LOL
Liberals will requires that employers should sniff their employees and give them the day off it they are stressed. Same for students.
This isn't that hard. The sweetest smell in the world, to me, are the tops of my sons heads. I can tell them apart just by that smell. Even the smell of their skin is different.
My nose isn't sensitive enough to identify people and dogs, except when one of the dogs emits a "thermal plume", then I know exactly which one did it.
I recall reading about a study showing that mothers and babies can recognize each other by smell alone within a few days after birth. I can certainly tell my children apart by scent, and can recognize Mr. Fairview no matter how much he washes. Different scents come off of different areas of the body--forearm skin, chest, neck and face, etc.--but they all send the same message of identity.
Our late (and greatly missed) Golden Retriever, Prior Lake Jake could smell underwater. I proved this by picking up a rock and rubbing it in my hands for a few moments, then trowing it out in the lake. Jake would dive in and bring back that rock every time. He would do this over and over.
No, he just remembered what it looked like!
Animals have incredible powers. My dogs will ostentatiously put their noses in the air and sniff when meat is cooking. They lick their chops and look woefully at me. I know they can smell meat from 100 yards away, but they put on a good show.
Thank God for debit cards.
Yuk reminds me of the covered outdoor hall like recycle machines at the local Krugers ya walk by to get in the store and the smell of stale beer and cigarette butts literally causes drive heaves.
I walk by fast and hold my breath.
I'm waiting for the day when they discover that every individual has a unique anal pattern. It should make for some interesting experiences cashing checks.
When studying nematodes in college we would cut off the rear ends, smash them on a slide and look at the patterns to see what type of nematode it was. Already a proven system.
Dogs trained to sniff out Oxycontin frequently alert on Rush Limbaugh.
One of our Labs Hunter loves to rub his whole head in my sons armpits like you see a dog rub in a dead carcess.
He even does it after my son has showered and used deoderant.
Wierd. Loves those armpits.
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