Phone software can soon help diagnose skin cancer

Paris

IMAGE-SCANNING software developed at Stanford University can distinguish deadly skin cancers from benign ones as accurately as top dermatologists, according to a study published on Wednesday.

The potentially life-saving technology could soon be incorporated in a smart phone, the researchers said, an advance reminiscent of the diagnostic device wielded by Dr McCoy in the 1960s Star Trek sci-fi series.

Adapting a Google algorithm designed to distinguish between categories of objects based on images - telling a cat from a dog, …