Face-recognition technology can diagnose developmental disorders
Looking for answers
Face-recognition technology can diagnose developmental disordersTHERE is something of the 19th century about the science of dysmorphology. The idea that medical conditions, such as Down’s or Angelman’s syndromes, whose main consequences are neurological and behavioural, imprint themselves on the body’s shape in ways reliable enough to be used for diagnosis sounds disturbingly like phrenology or physiognomy. Be that as it may, they do—and for these and many other developmental disorders, dysmorphology works. Indeed, on this basis, the 16th-century painting above is thought to be of a child with Angelman’s.This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “Looking for answers”From the October 10th 2015 editionDiscover stories from this section and more in the list of contentsExplore the edition