NASA’s ENose, which detects low-level leaks of ammonia in shuttles, could act as a highly sensitive detector of the characteristic compounds produced by cancer cells.

Babak Kateb of City of Hope Medical Center in Duarte, California, says the ENose has correctly diagnosed lung cancer and diabetes in patients who have breathed into it. He and his colleagues believe the device could be linked to other brain imaging and mapping devices to create a real-time high-resolution image of the brain that pinpoints cancer hotspots.