The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health technology as “the application of organized knowledge and skills in the form of devices, medicines, vaccines, procedures and systems developed to solve a health problem and improve quality of lives.” We live in an era where technology touches our lives almost everywhere, but in terms of healthcare, we have more access than ever to our healthcare providers and tools to guide our personal health strategy.  For example, mobile apps give us access to price comparisons for prescription medicines. Fitness devices and apps can give us feedback on... Read More

If you are of a certain age, you remember when computers were huge mainframes in the computer science lab, you took a typewriter to college, and you wrote notes by hand in class. Technology has presented us with many modern opportunities to take notes – laptops, tablets, phones, watches.  While we have many options at our disposal, science is proving that the best way to take notes for retaining knowledge is a good, old-fashioned paper and pen. Studies of memory retention using a variety of different tools for note taking show that note-taking by hand improves retention in almost all circumstances.... Read More

Recently, a technology that edits genomes was used in China to genetically modify pigs.  The result for the consumer would be pigs that are better adapted to cold weather while carrying around 24% less fat.  The technology, called CRISPR, an acronym for clusters of regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats,  has two components. First, CRISPR is essentially scissors that cut DNA.  The other component is RNA, remember that from your high school biology class?  RNA transmits biological information throughout the genome.  The RNA leads the scissors to the a precise string of compounds,... Read More

Fifty-eight percent of American adults own smartphones. If you spend more than two hours a day hunched over your phone, you might succumb to “tech neck”.  Tech neck is a condition that occurs when you spend too much time with your head tilted forward to read texts or other content on your smartphone.  At a15 degree angle, your head puts about 27 pounds of pressure on your neck and spine. Patients with mobile technology-induced head, neck and back pain may face other issues besides pain like reduced lung capacity, headaches and neurological issues, depression and heart disease. While... Read More