This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: A pilot study tested an electronic nose, called NOS.E, alongside human-remains detection dogs to see whether it could detect buried remains and help confirm dogs' signals. Brown, lead author of the study published in PLOS One, who completed her Ph.D. at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), said that cadaver detection dogs are among the best tools for locating buried human remains, but little is known about the exact smells they detect.
"This study tested whether an electronic nose could detect buried human remains and help confirm alerts made by human-remains detection dogs," she said. "NOS.E allows us to take technology developed in the laboratory into the field, while giving law enforcement an objective way to assess whether dog training is working." NOS.E, developed through collaboration between forensic science and engineering researchers at UTS, was tested along with police dogs on a clandestine grave in a long-term missing-person scenario, involving remains buried for more than three months. The electronic nose sampled odors from the burial site and surrounding control areas, while police dogs searched the site independently.
Brown said that decomposition passes through five distinct stages, each producing different odors at different concentrations. "That makes training much more complicated than teaching a dog to detect a relatively stable substance," she said. "By tracking those chemical changes in real time, we may be able to identify whether dogs need more training on the earlier or later stages of decomposition.
"For younger dogs in particular, the technology could help trainers determine whether a dog is genuinely responding to decomposition odor or being influenced by another cue." Associate Professor Maiken Ueland, director of the Australian Facility for Taphonomic Experimental Research (AFTER), said cadaver detection dogs are a valuable tool but training them is complex. "We don't know exactly what they are smelling—whether it's a single compound or a combination of compounds," she said. "The electronic nose can provide greater certainty during training by showing whether decomposition odor is present in an area, including when a dog does not alert." The researchers see the electronic nose as a complementary tool rather than a replacement for detection dogs.
"Dogs have a superior sense of smell and can search an area rapidly, while the technology can tell us more about the chemicals being detected," said Ueland. "The electronic nose can act as a bridge between the extraordinary scent picture available to a dog and the chemical signals that humans can measure and understand. "In mass disasters or other hazardous environments, it may be too dangerous to send in people or dogs.
The electronic nose could offer another option for searching those areas safely." Ueland said the research shows the value of academics working directly with industry. "Police identified the electronic nose's potential as a dog-training tool—an application we hadn't originally considered," she said. While this research was a pilot study, the team wants to conduct a larger, longer-term study.
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