On the Scent of Terrorists

January 4, 2003 | Source: New York Times

DARPA wants someone to develop a sniffing machine that can detect individuals by their body odor.

Applicants must, within 15 months of research, identify the specific odors produced by the immune system, whether directly or through bacterial action. After another 15 months, any confounding smells produced by stress, diet, health and age must also be catalogued. And then applicants will have two more years to develop a person-sniffer that can “identify target signatures with low false alarms.”