Here comes K-999 to sniff out crime
- Publication: Daily Express
- Date: 1994-09-08
- Author: Peter Anderson
- Page: 17
- Language: English
Scientists try out Dr Who dogs for a leading police role
POLICE dogs could soon be replaced by "K-9 bloodhounds" with electronic noses.
The idea came after scientists developed a working prototype of Dr Who's mechanical dog.
Its hi-tech nose mimics the highly sensitive canine muzzle.
And it can identify people by their body odour or sniff out drugs and explosives.
Like expensively trained dogs, the K-9 crime-fighter is not fooled by masking smells.
It could even be used to prevent food poisoning, or monitor water and air pollution.
Even more remarkably, it can provide a fertility test read-out by measuring the level of female sex hormones.
"The K-9 bloodhound is sensitive to human body odours and can reliably distinguish between individuals by their smell alone," said designer Dr Barbara Sommerville of Leeds University.
Co-designer Dr Tim Gibson added: "It is especially good at sensing odours from bacteria,
"Infection can be detected before it can be smelt or seen by the naked eye. We see exciting applications for the food and environment industries where it could be used for quality control."
The university's biochemistry department developed the technology over eight years in a joint venture with Surrey-based Mastiff Electronics Systems Ltd.
It uses sensors which respond to different parts of the chemical spectrum for a particular smell.
Electrical responses from each electrode are recorded digitally and analysed by computer to produce an "odourgram picture.
"This is the same way the brain uses patterns of receptors to recognise and compare odours," Dr Sommerville told the British Association of Science meeting at Loughborough University.
"But unlike an animal's nose, the comparison is completely objective.
"It is therefore particularly suitable where a smell is the subject of debate."
Real bloodhounds can follow escaped criminals or missing children on tracks which are up to five days old.
"The receptor area of a dog might be stretched out to cover a handkerchief, while our own would merely cover a postage stamp," said Dr Sommerville.
"This gives a rough idea of how much better canine noses are than humans'."
The K-9 bloodhound is expected to be on the market• within two years and there are hopes to develop a spin-off to help childless couples.
"This has been nicknamed the Vatican Nose," said Dr Sommerville.
"It will be marketed:as a small device into which a woman breathes each day to find out when her blood oestrogen' Aevel: peaks' near ovulation."
Caption: NOSE JOB: The television K-9
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- APA 6th ed.: Anderson, Peter (1994-09-08). Here comes K-999 to sniff out crime. Daily Express p. 17.
- MLA 7th ed.: Anderson, Peter. "Here comes K-999 to sniff out crime." Daily Express [add city] 1994-09-08, 17. Print.
- Chicago 15th ed.: Anderson, Peter. "Here comes K-999 to sniff out crime." Daily Express, edition, sec., 1994-09-08
- Turabian: Anderson, Peter. "Here comes K-999 to sniff out crime." Daily Express, 1994-09-08, section, 17 edition.
- Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=Here comes K-999 to sniff out crime | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Here_comes_K-999_to_sniff_out_crime | work=Daily Express | pages=17 | date=1994-09-08 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=22 December 2024 }}</ref>
- Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=Here comes K-999 to sniff out crime | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Here_comes_K-999_to_sniff_out_crime | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=22 December 2024}}</ref>
