One benefit of the space race for the human race is the spread of scientific knowledge and understanding developed through the space program to commercial and civil uses. The technology developed by NASA and its business partners during the years the American space program has been running is responsible for saving lives around the world. It has also been critical in the former and current development of techniques and equipment currently changing the landscape of many technical fields of study and endeavor in the United States of America and the world.

One field of scientific and medical study NASA's research could aid is the interpretation of mammograms, ultrasound, and other medical images, and a possible reduction in the number of human errors made by doctors during the analysis of these medical images. This computer-based technology could in this way allow for earlier detection of medical abnormalities in human tissues and the saving of thousands of lives in the months and years ahead in the century of the environment.

The new technology is called the new MED-SEG system, developed by Bartron Medical Imaging Incorporated, a Connecticut-based firm, this system takes advantage of innovative software developed at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt to help analysis mammograms, ultrasounds, X-rays and other medical imagery. The United States Federal Food and Drug Administration has cleared the MED-SEG system for use with trained professionals in the United States that process medical images.

NASA scientists originally developed and designed the software used for the MED-SEG system to look closely at features on the Earth's surface and distinguish them from everything around them. The software is capable of grouping items into groups based upon useful criteria and this ability has been transferred to the job of analysing medical images and helping doctors detect abnormalities in human tissue faster and more reliably. Using this software doctors can send images via a secure Internet connection to a Bartron data center for quick processing by the firms imaging software and after analysis the images are quickly sent back to the doctors for them to use in the diagnosis of patients.