SOLDIERS fighting at close quarters will one day be able to distinguish
friend from foe simply by their smell. Researchers in the US plan to generate a
鈥渇riendly鈥� smell by feeding soldiers bioengineered foods that would release a
characteristic odour through their skin or breath.
A recent report from the US National Research Council on the military
applications of biotechnology identified 鈥渇riend or foe鈥� foods as one of the
most promising technologies. 鈥淭hink of how garlic makes your skin smell,鈥� says
Michael Ladisch, a biotechnologist at Purdue University in Indiana, who chaired
the council鈥檚 working group.
Unlike garlic, the smells the military have in mind would not be detectable
by human noses. But the friendly whiff could be picked up by highly sensitive
portable artificial noses that are now being developed. A simple colour change
would reveal an enemy鈥檚 presence.
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But Roger Brent, a researcher at the Molecular Sciences Institute in
Berkeley, California, has his doubts. 鈥淭he danger is that if your enemy captures
your food he can find you and kill you,鈥� says Brent. He says the Army would have
to keep changing the smell, much as computer users have to change their
passwords regularly.