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Since learning that pigeons can compete with radiologists in terms of accuracy for mammography screenings [1], I'm willing to believe almost anything. Turns out

by lxgr 2y ago

Since learning that pigeons can compete with radiologists in terms of accuracy for mammography screenings [1], I'm willing to believe almost anything. Turns out neural nets really are pretty good at pattern matching/function approximation! [1] https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-34878151 https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-34878151

neom 2y ago
The woman who can smell parkinsons, also fascinating: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/14/magazine/parkinsons-smell-disease-detection.html https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/14/magazine/parkinsons-smell...
- zeristor 2y ago
  Thank you, I read about this story years ago, but this is a fuller telling of the story. So much promise but I had not heard of any updates on progress on either Parkinson’s detection, or the identification of the metabolites that make the smell. This in turn raises another question about the acute sense of smell, is this like the people who have four cones in the eye and so can see a whole set of colours? I think this genetic mutation only occurs in women, I guess the genetics of olfaction are a lot more complicated. Should photos be taken to accommodate for these four sets of cone colours, adding a new level for RGB? Very few people can see it, but there’s surely a demand.
  - pavel_lishin 2y ago
    My understanding of tetrachromacy is that it's duplicates the red cones, and shifts their sensitivity a very tiny amount - the suspicion is that it doesn't meaningfully change subjective color perception at all, and at best makes tetrachromats very slightly better at distinguishing shades of red that would appear identical to us regular trichromats. It would be very exciting if some humans had a mutation that let them be sensitive to something further than our standard three!
  - lxgr 2y ago
    There's also a podcast episode with her that I really enjoyed: https://www.npr.org/2020/03/23/820009335/invisibilia-an-unlikely-superpower https://www.npr.org/2020/03/23/820009335/invisibilia-an-unli...
- internet_points 2y ago
  It's a whole scientific field: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=no&as_sdt=7%2C39&q=odor+diagnosis&btnG= https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=no&as_sdt=7%2C39&q=odo... (There was a footnote in Seeing like a State about some doctor with an apprentice approaching a house and saying "smell this, this is the smell of [some infectious disease]")
lawlessone 2y ago
Can we train pigeons to spot spam?
- lxgr 2y ago
  In my experience they've trained themselves to spot most kinds of food very efficiently, but false positives, combined with a lack of object permanence, remain a concern.
  - lawlessone 2y ago
    They have, i was eating subway was once. Had a huge seagull right next to be staring into my soul, which is polite as far as seagulls go. So i took a piece of lettuce out of the sandwich and threw it to him. Just stared at me, he knew there was meat and he wasn't taking anything less.

by lxgr 2y ago

neom 2y ago

The woman who can smell parkinsons, also fascinating: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/14/magazine/parkinsons-smell-disease-detection.html https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/14/magazine/parkinsons-smell...

zeristor 2y ago
Thank you, I read about this story years ago, but this is a fuller telling of the story. So much promise but I had not heard of any updates on progress on either Parkinson’s detection, or the identification of the metabolites that make the smell. This in turn raises another question about the acute sense of smell, is this like the people who have four cones in the eye and so can see a whole set of colours? I think this genetic mutation only occurs in women, I guess the genetics of olfaction are a lot more complicated. Should photos be taken to accommodate for these four sets of cone colours, adding a new level for RGB? Very few people can see it, but there’s surely a demand.
- pavel_lishin 2y ago
  My understanding of tetrachromacy is that it's duplicates the red cones, and shifts their sensitivity a very tiny amount - the suspicion is that it doesn't meaningfully change subjective color perception at all, and at best makes tetrachromats very slightly better at distinguishing shades of red that would appear identical to us regular trichromats. It would be very exciting if some humans had a mutation that let them be sensitive to something further than our standard three!
- lxgr 2y ago
  There's also a podcast episode with her that I really enjoyed: https://www.npr.org/2020/03/23/820009335/invisibilia-an-unlikely-superpower https://www.npr.org/2020/03/23/820009335/invisibilia-an-unli...
internet_points 2y ago
It's a whole scientific field: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=no&as_sdt=7%2C39&q=odor+diagnosis&btnG= https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=no&as_sdt=7%2C39&q=odo... (There was a footnote in Seeing like a State about some doctor with an apprentice approaching a house and saying "smell this, this is the smell of [some infectious disease]")

lawlessone 2y ago

Can we train pigeons to spot spam?

lxgr 2y ago
In my experience they've trained themselves to spot most kinds of food very efficiently, but false positives, combined with a lack of object permanence, remain a concern.
- lawlessone 2y ago
  They have, i was eating subway was once. Had a huge seagull right next to be staring into my soul, which is polite as far as seagulls go. So i took a piece of lettuce out of the sandwich and threw it to him. Just stared at me, he knew there was meat and he wasn't taking anything less.