Synthetic snot scores a success: inventors didn't blow it

The BBC reports:

A layer of artificial mucus has been found to improve the ability of an "electronic nose" to precisely sniff out aromas in foods and perfumes. . . .

The synthetic mucus mimics that found in human noses and controls the rate at which different odours bombard sensors.

Electronic noses have been used for many years in the food and beverage industry for quality control.

The new enhanced nose had found smells such as bananas and milk challenging but it is now able to tell them apart.

"Our artificial mucus not only offers improved odour discrimination for electronic noses it also offers much shorter analysis times than conventional techniques," said Professor Julian Gardner of the University of Warwick and one of the team behind the work.