English: CSIRO scientists made a breakthrough in efforts to extend the sensory range of 'electronic noses' (e-noses) by developing a system for comparing their performance against the much-superior nose of the vinegar fly. They looked at how the most common type of e-nose sensors – metal oxide or 'MOx' receptors – sample the air around them. This is a critical factor in the performance of all noses. They then compared it with the performance of odorant receptors from the vinegar fly, Drosophila. The comparisons between the fly's receptors and those of the e-nose were made possible by recent descriptions of how odorant receptors function in Drosophila, which was the first insect to have its genome described. It was this new knowledge of the fly's genome that made the fly odorant receptor work possible.