Thursday, November 19, 2015

Mammogram-Reading Pigeons

"Can mammogram-reading pigeons help train human radiologists? An animal behaviorist weighs in."  (Note: The images in the video are pathology slides, not mammography images. Via Doug M.)
Armed with a touchscreen-outfitted training chamber and 16 pigeons, scientists set out to see if birds could identify malignant and benign tissue in medical images with their beady little eyes. They trained pigeons to peck at a monitor after being presented with images from mammograms. When pigeons correctly pecked a touchscreen button that corresponded with the category of the image being shown, they were given food...