10. How to Teach Dogs to Find Cancer

On September 11, Dr. Cindy Otto cared for the search-and-rescue dogs working the pile at Ground Zero—an experience that changed the course of her career. Today, she leads the Penn Vet Working Dog Center, where dogs are trained to climb ladders, sniff out explosives, and even detect cancer in humans (and dogs!). In this episode, Dr. Otto shares how dogs learn to separate the “signal from the noise” in complex human blood samples and why their supernoses are helping scientists build new diagnostic tools. It’s a story about resilience, science, and the extraordinary bond between humans and dogs.

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