Dogs can be trained to help humans in any number of tasks, from sniffing out explosives to comforting sick patients. Now, three dogs have learned to detect the deadly malaria parasite.

When researchers in Africa presented the dogs with 175 different sock samples, the dogs detected malaria with 70 percent accuracy. The same canines had an even higher success rate in identifying malaria-negative samples. Researchers hope malaria-sniffing dogs could one day be stationed at transportation hubs to help control the spread of the disease.

Click here to read about this research at Durham University.