Gopikrishna Deshpande, associate professor in electrical and computer engineering, took part in a study on using zinc nanoparticles to enhance dogs’ sense of smell. He said this could help improve security at airports and public spaces.

“Even though dogs have very good olfactory capabilities, they can miss detection of explosives, which are intentionally concealed to not give out odor,” Deshpande said. “I am sure you can envision such a scenario in the national security context and using zinc nanoparticles in that context will be useful.”

The researchers also investigated the nanoparticles’ ability to kill cancer cells. They discovered animal and human blood naturally contains many different types of metal nanoparticles.

The technology could even lead to ways of improving the human sense of smell, with fragrance companies expressing interest.