Scientists have discovered an interesting ability of dogs and rats to diagnose diseases

The sense of smell of animals allows you to find out about a disease before it is detected by analysis

Scientists believe that the sense of smell of rats and dogs recognizes diseases faster than machines. This is explained by the fact that the human body constantly produces odors. And it changes during illness.

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According to experts, sometimes the altered smell is so strong that even people can catch it, but dogs have much more more acute sense of smell. A dog's nose is 100 thousand times more sensitive than a human's. The fact is that dogs use more of their brains than humans to understand smells.

Nowadays, dogs are used to search for missing people because they are also very good at recognizing smells. But back in 1989, someone noticed a dog repeatedly licking and sniffing its owner in the same place. It later turned out that the dog's owner was diagnosed with skin cancer right there. In 2004, relevant studies were carried out in the field. Then scientists used dogs to detect bladder cancer by smell alone.

Since then, many scientists have tested how humanity can use dogs to detect diseases. They discovered that they could use not only dogs and rats, but also grasshoppers and ants. They also have a very good sense of smell.

“Although dogs have a very good sense of smell, they have a difficult time recognizing illness,” says veterinarian Cynthia Otto.

According to experts, dogs may get bored when they have to do the same task multiple times, but this is not the case with rats.

“Rodents are more adept at performing the same tasks than dogs. Therefore, we can have more confidence in what they find, even after several days of testing,” emphasizes Otto.

Scientists hope that they can teach robots to “sniff out” diseases like dogs do.

Using animals for scientific research is quite expensive, and it is important that the dogs feel well. They also need rest, but a robot won't need that. But some scientists also want to use only dogs because they are so smart.

“Some dogs have even been trained to smell the illnesses of other dogs,” reports the scientific journal Nature.