A screening test using tiny worms to detect early signs of pancreatic cancer in urine has been developed by a Japanese biotech firm, which hopes it could help boost routine screening. Scientists have long known that the bodily fluids of cancer patients smell different to those of healthy people, with dogs trained to detect the disease in breath or urine samples. But Hirotsu Bio Science has genetically modified a type of worm called "C. elegans" -- around one millimetre long, with an acute sense of smell -- to react to the urine of people with pancreatic cancer, which is notoriously difficult to detect early. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES from press conference