A nose for trouble

By 2013-05-01T14:20:00

Police explosives sniffer dog and handler walking down street

Source: whitemay / E+

Ian Le Guillou finds out how new technology and chemistry are catching up with sniffer dogs in the race to rescue people trapped in disaster zones

Science has been able to extend our other senses far beyond the biological limits of the most extraordinary of animals (our telescopes see farther than the best eye, seismometers detect earthquakes on the other side of the world, and radar beats even a bat’s echolocation), but how are we doing when it comes to smell?

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