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WHAT GIVES DOGS THEIR ULTRA-SENSITIVE SENSE OF SMELL?

The slimy surface of a canine nose is behind their sophisticated sense of smell.

Damp mucus on a dog's nose 'pre-sorts' smells by blocking the passage of some odour particles more than others, the team reports.

Brent Craven, from Pennsylvania State University and team studied MRI images of a dog's nasal passages to see how air travelled through them.

They found that different types of molecules were picked up by nerve cells at different points along the airways.

Dogs have many more nerve cells in their nasal passages than people and a wider variety of receptors that pick up different chemicals. 

This allows them to be trained to sniff out certain odours - such as those in USB drives. 

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