A Nigerian Invents Computer Chip That Can Smell Explosives

Nigerian neuroscientist Oshiorenoya Agabi may have found a way to solve one of life’s puzzling dilemmas: how to make air travel pleasant again...

What if you could skip tedious airport security lines, while a special device able to sniff out explosives works silently in the background?

This is only one of the possible uses of what Agabi says is the world’s first neurotechnology device developed by his Silicon Valley-based start-up Koniku and unveiled at the TEDGlobal conference in Tanzania on Sunday.While those in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) are working furiously to create machines that can mimic the brain, or – like tech entrepreneur Elon Musk – implant computers in our brains, Agabi has found a way to merge lab-grown neurons with electronic circuitry.
As many grapple with the finite processing power of silicon, the 38-year-old said he had looked to the brain which is “the most powerful processor the universe has ever seen”.
To simulate the power of just 204 brain neurons would require a supercomputer, he said.
“Instead of copying a neuron, why not just take the biological cell itself and use it as it is? That thought is radical. The consequence of this is mind-boggling,” he said.
So he and a team of geneticists, physicists, bio-engineers, molecular biologists and others set about doing just that, focusing on the problems that were particularly hard for silicon devices to solve.This includes detecting volatile chemicals and explosives or even illnesses such as cancer.
‘A world first’
Agabi said the Koniku Kore device is “a world first” and able to do just that, essentially through breathing in and smelling the air.
The system has been trained to recognize the smell of explosives and could be used to replace traditional airport security, he said.
Eventually the modem-sized device – dubbed Koniku Kore – could provide the brain for future robots.
Experts said that making such systems mass-market was challenging.

African innovation at TED
He spoke at the opening session of the four-day TEDGlobal conference, putting African ideas, innovation and creativity in the spotlight with a variety of speakers who each get an 18-minute window to get across their message of choice.

TED – originally known as Technology, Entertainment and Design – has built a global following for its online videos of inspiring talks devoted to “ideas worth spreading”.
The annual international version is taking place in Africa for the first time in a decade with a new crop of “TED Fellows” from the continent to take to the stage.
“This gathering couldn’t come a moment too soon,” said TEDGlobal co-curator Emeka Okafor. “Africa has experienced spectacular economic, demographic and creative growth, but both opportunity and danger are rising at an exponential rate. Our conference will gather the idea catalysts, problem-solvers and change-makers already hard at work here charting Africa’s own path to modernity.”