We live in a world of smells – chemical signals that contain valuable information about our health, the environment and even personal preferences such as the foods, perfumes and drinks we enjoy. Despite years of research and development, however, this aromatic information has remained largely untapped.
But now scientists and entrepreneurs are redoubling their efforts to recreate the smell in compact devices that detect and analyze odors similar to the way cameras recognize our faces and microphones recognize our words. In pursuit of these high-tech devices – which could use smells to detect diseases like cancer or Covid-19, find hidden explosives or figure out our behavior and behavior – some companies are going to advances in synthetic biology and genetic engineering. Others are taking advantage of advances in artificial intelligence.
