Source: www.the-scientist.com Author: Iris Kulbatski, PhD There are millions of sensory worlds that humans cannot perceive. Fathoming what it is like to be a wild thing is beyond the limited resolution of human senses. For example, insects live in a world of smell, decoding the subtle chemical nuances of scent that waft across their antennae. In the case of locusts—the migratory swarming form of certain asocial grasshoppers—their sense of smell is intimately tied to their physical and communal transformation. Certain environmental conditions trigger locusts to molt and secrete pheromones that attract more locusts.1,2 After shedding their old body and solitary existence, billions of locusts aggregate in devastating swarms that eclipse the sun and plague humans. This dramatic body and lifestyle makeover depends on their exquisite ability to detect and differentiate subtle odors.3 Recently, Debajit Saha, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Michigan State University, and his team tapped into the odor-sensing circuitry of the locust brain to detect the scent signatures of human oral cancers. Saha previously used locusts for sniffing out bombs,4 making the transition to cancer detection an interesting one. “Cancer changes [cellular] metabolism and those changes are reflected in exhaled breath,” Saha said. Known as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), these unique chemical signatures are promising biomarkers of disease—if scientists can detect them. Other researchers are engineering artificial sensors—also known as electronic noses—to identify cancer, but their sensitivity, specificity, and speed are still limited compared to creatures that inhabit a sensory landscape of smell. Saha’s team is [...]