Is that table in your living room made from sustainably harvested trees? Or illegally logged old-growth forests? A scientist at Oregon State University hopes to one day have a device that could tell the difference based on scent, according to a cool story by the Associated Press.

The AP story says that forestry engineering professor Glen Murphy is working on a wood sniffing device that could track millions of different scents. Timber companies could scent their wood with a specific aroma, which would remain in the wood when it’s made into furniture or other products.

According to the story, the device can only track one aroma at present, but Murphy hopes it will accommodate 25 in five years’ time. That would enable it to detect 33 million odors – combinations of individual aromas – which companies could use to “tag” their wood. This could prove a deterrent for illegal loggers, by shrinking the market for their wood.

[via ENN]

Photo credit: USDA Forest Service