Artificial noses and the secret of smell

One of the most effective methods of identifying whether an infection is present in a wound is by smelling it.

Bacteria produce characteristic smells as they metabolize inside a wound, and once the ensuing infection takes hold doctors need to identify the bacteria that causes it quickly.

Currently it takes 2-3 days for a hospital lab to identify bacteria from a swab of the wound.

However, Dr Krishna Persaud, of the School of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science at Manchester University, has developed an artificial nose which will 'sniff out' harmful infections in people with serious burns, skin ulcers or gaping wounds.

The technology mimics the workings of a biological nose, the procedure will be non-invasive and the results will be ready in ten minutes.

He is joined by science writer Luca Turin, author of The Secret of Scent, a science book for lay people which professes to lift the lid on two worlds - the highly lucrative realm of perfume makers, and the equally rivalrous domain of smell science.

Dr Turin has deciphered how smell is written into molecular structure, and will be telling Quentin how our noses work.