Pentagon wants gene sniffing machine
The Pentagon is asking scientists to build a machine which can identify people by their smell.
Up to £2 million could be made available to see if the security project is possible.
It will be based on the idea everyone is programmed by their genes to produce a unique odour.
The Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency says it will put forward proposals early next year.
If scientists can prove it works within two and a half years, DARPA wants to build a prototype within six years, spokeswoman Jan Walker adds.
Researchers have shown mice release a urinary odour that is genetically unique, DARPA says. It's based on the combination of acids found in varying concentrations.
Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists, a Washington group that circulated news of DARPA's proposal, warns such a detector - if it were ever built - might be confused by myriad and changing odours that people exude.
"It would be like trying to detect an individual's fingerprints through a pair of gloves," Aftergood said.
The proposal isn't DARPA's first attempt at artificial nose. The unit's Dog's Nose Programme works on sensors to detect the TNT in buried land mines without risking the lives of sniffer dogs.
Story filed: 15:15 Thursday 19th December 2002 --- Sent from UnionMail Service [http://mail.union.org.za]