Forensics

New Technology Mimicks Dogs’ Abilities to Detect Explosives

According to NIST’s site, the researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln Laboratory and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration fitted a dog-nose-inspired adapter to the front end of an explosive detector. Adding the artificial dog nose improved detection by up to 18 times.

The team’s first set of experiments compared the air-sampling performance of their “actively sniffing” artificial dog nose with that of trace-detection devices that rely on continuous suction. The head-to-head comparison with an inhalation system found that sampling efficiency with the sniffing artificial dog nose was four times better than the vapor source. “Their incredible air-sampling efficiency is one reason why the dog is such an amazing chemical sampler,” Staymates said. “It’s just a piece of the puzzle. There’s lots more to be learned and to emulate as we work to improve the sensitivity, accuracy and speed of trace-detection technology.”