A woman was able to 'smell' disease on her husband over a decade before he was diagnosed.
When it comes to having your dream superpower, would you want the ability to fly like Superman, or what about turning invisible like Sue Storm, super speed like the Flash, or healing yourself like Wolverine?
While we're not quite in the realm of comic book movies where the general public has superpowers (that we know of), one woman from Scotland has her own unexpected 'superpower’.
Advert
On the YouTube channel Thoughty2, host Arran Lomas refers to the case of Joy Milne. In 2012, Milne stood up at a lecture about Parkinson's disease and wanted to know if any research was being done into why people who were diagnosed with it 'smelled' different.
Stem cell biologist Tilo Kunath was hosting the lecture and was confused by Milne's comments, assuming that she was referring to a loss of smell that's associated with being an early indicator of Parkinson's.
The nurse went on to clarify that her husband, Les, had developed an unpleasant aroma.
Advert
It was eventually deduced that Milne has hereditary hyperosmia that makes her hypersensitive to smell.
Milne's comment stuck with Kunath, and months after the conference, he spoke to analytical chemist Perdita Barran about the idea that someone could smell Parkinson's. Barran reminded Kunath that it's possible to use dogs to detect certain types of cancer, so it's possible Milne had been able to 'smell' Les' Parkinson's disease some 12 years before he was diagnosed.
Still, with a bloodhound having a sense of smell 100 million times more powerful than the average human, it seemed unlikely that this 'superpower' existed.
Kunath and Barran tracked Milne down through the Parkinson's UK charity, and inviting her to an experiment at Edinburgh University, set about testing her skills.
Advert
Facing Milne with two groups of six (half with Parkinson's, half without), she correctly identified almost all of those who'd been diagnosed.
Although Barran struggled to get further funding, there was a shocking plot twist when it turned out the man Milne had 'incorrectly' identified as having Parkinson's had just been diagnosed. This gave her impressive talent a 100% success rate.
Advert
Joy recalled how stepping into the room of a Parkinson's support group, she realized that those suffering from the disease all had the same smell.
Milne's talents could be put to good use, as by the time most people are diagnozed, they've already lost 60-80% of dopamine-producing neurons in the substantia nigra region of the brain and serious damage has been done.
With Joy's story hitting the news, Barran suddenly found it easier to secure funding for further experiments. The team has developed a simple swab test that's isolated three distinct compounds Milne smells in Parkinson's sufferers, able to diagnose the disease early with up to 97% accuracy.
Despite being in the early stages, there are plans to administer the swab test in hospitals around the world.
Advert
Joy's superpowered skills don't end here, with her apparently able to detect Alzheimer's, tuberculosis, and cancer.
This isn't the first time scientists have been baffled by so-called superpowers, with some people seemingly being able to live without food and others surviving extreme temperatures.
Lomas concludes: "I hope this video demonstrates you don't need to go to the cinema to see superheroes. At least one is already living amongst us.
“She can't fly or turn herself invisible, but as far as I'm concerned Joy Milne's remarkable ability to smell deadly diseases and potentially help us fight them absolutely qualifies as a genuine superpower.”