Test & Measurement

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3D-Printed Dog Nose Sniffs Out Explosives

Researchers have looked to one of nature's best chemical detectors - the dog - to help make today's chemical detection devices better at sniffing out explosives and other contraband materials. Matt Staymates, a mechanical engineer at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), uses a schlieren imaging system to visualize the flow of vapors into an explosives detection device fitted with an artificial dog nose that mimics the 'active sniffing' of a dog. The 3D-printed dog nose, which was developed by Staymates and colleagues at NIST, MIT, and the U.S. FDA, can improve trace chemical detection as much as 16-fold.