Efforts to create disease-sniffing capabilities for phones still can't match those of dogs.

This capability, reported in the medical journal The Lancet, was discovered when a dog reportedly detected cancer in its handler. The dog repeatedly focused on a spot on the owner's leg where a malignant melanoma lesion was later found, helping lead to an early diagnosis.

In a 2025 paper, researchers reported they'd created a proof-of-concept device that bypasses typical olfactory pathways and instead exploits an alternative—the trigeminal nerve in the nose—to detect a few strong scents. The nerve typically helps detect the temperature of inhaled air or the presence of irritants.

The olfactory epithelium, located high up within the human nose, is home to millions of olfactory neurons. A dog's olfactory epithelium is much larger—and has more neurons—than a human's, which helps to explain the animal's superior sniffing ability.

As part of a scientific bet, neurobiology researchers dragged a chocolate bar across the grass and sought to see if a human could track it—she could. This led to a more in-depth experiment on human olfactory capabilities and behavior when other senses were blocked.

DNA tests tell people about their pet’s breed and attempt to predict things about its behavior and health. But for all that these tests might provide some interesting results, they need to be taken with caution. Here's a look at what we can and can't learn from our pets' DNA.

This under 10-minute podcast episode dives into the rich, fascinating science behind dogs: From their world-class sense of smell to their domestication from wolves.

Once a person is accustomed to a specific odor, their neurons have trouble continuing to respond to that smell because of that familiarity. That's why humans may not notice when their house smells like trash until they leave the house and then return to it.

That's according to one estimate published in 2014. This figure far exceeds earlier estimates of a human smelling ceiling around 10,000 odors. The newer figure is derived from experiments in which volunteers agreed to sniff varying scents. Researchers mixed odor components and had volunteers sniff the brews to detect subtle scent differences.

Archaeologists are increasingly relying on dogs to help find decaying bodies at burial sites, some of them up to thousands of years old. This is helping archaeologists to detect past remains without ever touching a shovel, which means there's less...

This paper explores how biomolecular data on past scents can be teased out and then transformed into olfactory museum experiences, adding another component to our understanding of archaeology.

A look at how researchers filtered the air around two zoos and identified genetic material from dozens of species, a technique that could help track and conserve wildlife.

In a viral trend, dogs have been recorded using button boards to seemingly "talk" with humans. Researchers are divided on whether this means dogs have learned language or are engaging in sophisticated behavioral conditioning.

The study gathers health, lifestyle, and genetic data to understand what helps dogs live longer, healthier lives. Findings could also provide human health insights due to our shared surroundings and biology.

Olfactory training, which involves repeatedly smelling a selection of strong odors, teaches your brain to familiarize itself with experiencing smells over a lengthy period, typically multiple months. This can be useful for patients who lose their sense of smell for myriad reasons.

At ports of entry in the US, Customs and Border Protection agents use dogs to sniff for forbidden foods and other items that are known to harbor invasive pests. Agents also physically inspect items such as flowers to prevent entry by species that may harm US agriculture.

While DNA in soil and water samples has long been used for such analyses, airborne DNA is being incorporated into such efforts to monitor individual species abundance, detect invasive species, measure biodiversity, and determine the success of conservation actions. Future work may include detecting attacks from biological weapons.

The explosive growth of life sciences data is driving artificial intelligence methods to gain traction in biology and medicine — including cancer research.

In 2020, researchers discovered why this occurs. The virus that causes this infection attacks the cells that support smell-detecting neurons. Once infection clears, the sense of smell typically returns, though the exact timeline for that differs by patient.

Frederick Banting and his graduate student Charles Best were the first to isolate the peptide insulin from dogs. They induced diabetes in the animals and then treated them with this peptide.

Using spectrographic techniques, scientists determine the chemical composition of planetary atmospheres, comets, and other objects in space. Combining these chemicals in labs on Earth has revealed locations in space that smell like nail polish remover, rotten fish, and urine.

While humans are not closely related to either cats or dogs from an evolutionary standpoint, scientists find that human and cat chromosomes are organized more similarly to each other than human and dog chromosomes, making cats a better model for studying human diseases.

Some species are used to quickly study the effects of human diseases and treatments because they are short-lived and have similar systems to those found in humans. Bacteria, like E. coli, have been used as human proxies given their rapid growth and ease of genetic manipulability.

Scent stimulates our olfactory sensor neurons high in the nasal cavity, and the brain attaches labels to those scents. But when we eat, chemicals from the foods travel from our mouths and throat to those neurons. We have roughly 400 odor receptors, and they can be used to decipher more than 10,000 different odors (or more than one trillion by some calculations), including the nuances of different foods.

Researchers explain how they have recreated the scent of ancient Egyptian mummies and enabled museum-goers to experience that scent on specialized cards. The exhibit will be at the Royal BC Museum in Canada in June 2026.

Through gene editing and the deployment of artificial cells, scientists can leverage learnings from the genetic sequencing of animals with known resistances to protect endangered species. Gene editing of certain species, such as mosquitoes, can also reduce their ability to spread diseases like malaria between humans.

Scientists have developed a tool to evaluate the risk of lung cancer, the most deadly form of the disease. Named "Sybil," this AI program was trained using CT scans with clear cancer signs, followed by scans where cancer wasn’t obvious. The tool is able to review CT scan data to predict a patient's of developing a lung cancer within six years. See how it works here.

The Synthetic Human Genome Project aims to one day construct human DNA, molecule by molecule, in the hopes of creating disease-resistant cells and synthetic chromosomes for study. However, critics warn it may be misused to create enhanced or modified humans.

Odor is more effective than both visual and verbal cues for triggering autobiographical recall in Alzheimer's disease, according to 2021 research.

Squeaky toys provide instant feedback and gratification, and they can also prevent boredom and improve canine dental health. Some toys contain seemingly silent squeakers that use ultrasonic technology to emit sounds only audible to dogs.

Australian start-up Cortical Labs unveiled CL1, a hybrid chip designed to help scientists study brain function in real-time. The 800,000 lab-grown neurons on the chip are kept viable for six months via a built-in life support system.

Advancements such as 3D printing muscles, performing vaginal reconstruction with colon tissue, and growing organs in a lab have shown promise, but artificial options and transplanting substitutions continue to exhibit functional and performance limitations compared to their natural equivalents.

Lie detector polygraphs have been standard in law enforcement for a century despite being based in unproven science. Researchers are exploring brain-scanning and eye-tracking alternatives, though some suggest there's no reliable lie-detection process at all.

In the case of feces, gut bacteria produce compounds such as skatole and hydrogen sulfide, which the brain registers as unpleasant. Because oils do not dissolve in water, they can be used to create a layer on the surface that prevents smelly compounds underwater from escaping into the air.