January 11, 2013 | Corrinne

Do you ever suffer from the ol’ morning breath? Don’t be embarrassed – it turns out smelly breath could be friend rather than foe.

Metabolic activity in our bodies is reflected in our breath, creating a kind of chemical ‘breath-print’. Now scientists have been able to use that breath-print to diagnose lung infections in mice.

Breath-testing itself isn’t new – police use it to check up on suspected drink-drivers. But research like this shows that in future it could also be used as a rapid, non-invasive way to help diagnose disease. Sounds like a great idea!

This news story is supported by the Wellcome Trust, GlaxoSmithKline and Life Technologies Foundation as part of the Who am I? project.