Science has seen many advances and that isn’t likely to slow down, writes Stephanie Stahl for CBS News Philadelphia.

As the influence of artificial intelligence has grown, so too have the ways in which it is being used.

At the Monell Chemical Senses Center in University City, a group of scientists have launched a new digital research project that uses artificial intelligence to train computers to identify and recognize different smells. 

“We’re taking molecules and mapping out what they smell like,” said Dr. Joel D. Mainland of the Monell Chemical Senses Center.

The Monell team recently published a study in The Science Journal that highlights how artificial intelligence can be on level ground with humans when it comes to identifying different scents.

This is especially true when smells are correlated with numbers. So, the scientists have used numbers to represent specific smells and then teach the computer to match them up. 

So far, they have trained more than 5,000 models.

While this has paid dividends in the flavor and fragrance industries, the long-term goal is to use this project to help detect diseases. 

Read more about how scientists at Monell Chemical Senses Center are using the technological advances at their fingertips in CBS News Philadelphia. 

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Monell Chemical Senses Center’s mission is to understand how smells and tastes work.