Technology

Google Calico and the ethics of immortality research

In 2013, Google announced a new research and development company called Calico, or the California Life Company. Lead by acclaimed former Genentech chief executive Arthur Levinson, Calico’s mission is nothing short of to tackle aging. By using biotech to increase … Read More

Antibiotic Resistance and the US National Plan

One year ago, President Obama signed an executive order creating a national strategy to tackle the growing problem of antibiotic resistance. As the New York Times reported, researchers had been warning for years that antibiotics are losing their resistance from … Read More

Google health projects that you haven’t heard about

We like to write about Google on this blog because, whether an update on Google Glass or a stint into telemedicine, the company has done a lot of interesting health-related projects over the years. While many of these (like Google … Read More

A Case for Every Body’s Quantified Self

Earlier this year we wrote about the quantified self, a growing trend where individuals track personal health data like heart rate, sleep, or steps per day. That article focused on the limits of personal data, especially for addressing chronic diseases, … Read More

Wasteful Spending In U.S. Healthcare

Nearly half of Americans say health care costs are a hardship, according to a December 2014 national poll by the New York Times and CBS News. That’s up 10% from 2013, in large part due to the rising cost of … Read More

Print Your Own Medicine

Lee Cronin is a Glasgow University professor and self-described “disruptive scientist.” A few years ago he became widely known for his research on molecule printers, especially through a TED Talk called “Print your own medicine.” The idea: if we can … Read More

EHR Interoperability Trivia

Earlier this year we wrote a two-part posts about the future of health information exchange, which explored current trends in the effort for electronic health record (EHR) interoperability. This week, to give you some context, we focus on the history … Read More

Problems and Solutions with Apple’s ResearchKit

In March Apple released ResearchKit, an open source software framework that allows medical researchers to use the iPhone to more easily design apps that they’re going to use for clinical studies. While the initiative didn’t get a lot of hype … Read More

Theranos and the Impact of Consumer Lab Testing

What if you could get a blood test done for less than $20, with no doctor’s order, no syringe, losing just a few drops of blood, and see the results within hours? Theranos is a Silicon Valley company that spent … Read More

Legislative Progress for Telemedicine

We’ve written about telemedicine frequently, including last week’s post about urban telemedicine. Today we’ll discuss how changes to state licensing requirements could help expand telemedicine practice. Cross-state licensure is a major barrier to expanded use of telemedicine across the country. … Read More