The Nanose, developed in Israel analyses your breath and can detect illnesses such as cancer and Parkinson’s disease. Hossam Haick , Professor of Chemical Engineering and Nanotechnologythe explains that one of today’s biggest challenges is that it is very difficult to diagnose a disease when a person still feels healthy. He therefore built this device to facilitate the way we diagnose a disease with just a single breath.

The Nanose started out as the idea to try to imitate dog’s olfactory system, their receptors and brain. Diseases have patterns of molecules in the breath, so if you can detect these molecules, you can associate them with a specific disease. Therefore, the Nanose enables patients to just blow and detect the disease from their breath. For example, if a patient breathes in and the « smell » of their breath is sweet, it could detect that they have diabetes. The device still needs major improvements, but it could revolutionise the way we detect illnesses in the near future.