Madelynn Northcutt-Wyly, Period 6

Dogs who can sniff out cancer

http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/20/health/cancer-smelling-dogs/index.html

A mixed Labrador retriever and Irish water spaniel dog named Lucy failed at guide dog school, but had an amazing sense of smell.  Her owners decided to use her sense of smell to sniff out something useful.  For the past seven years, Lucy has learned the scent that is given off for bladder, kidney, and prostate cancer.  She was used in a study and has been able to smell cancer over 95 percent accurately, which is better than some lab tests.  Lucy is now apart of the Medical Detection Dogs organization, which is one of the largest clinical canine cancer detection trials.  Dogs have 300 million sensors in their noses compared to our 5 million sensors in humans.  They also have a second smelling device in the back of their noses that humans do not have.  It took twenty six years for humans to realize that dogs can actually detect the smell that certain cancers give off.  The studies have gone from France to California to Italy.  The researchers are still making sure that the dogs are smelling the cancer and not just old age or symptoms of something else.  But if the studies continue to show that the animals are smelling cancer, then maybe one day these dogs can be joined with the diagnostic tests that we use today.  And this might lead to an electronic nose that scientist will create to mimic the dog's powerful senses.  As everyday goes on scientists are coming up with new inventions to better our society.  If dogs can be trained to smell cancer, think about all the lives they could be saving in the future.