Science Scavenger Hunt

New smartphone technology is here and could mean better health and longer lives for us all.

Apple has introduced its new free software app called ResearchKit. This app allows researchers to build their own apps within that can collect data for them. The individual users, then allow the health data they construct to be sent directly to these researchers.

According to David Pogue for Scientific American Magazine, The pro to this system is that users are providing updates through the functions on their phones hundreds or even thousands of times a day rather than once every few months.

Some of the apps that have been made possible by ResearchKit include MyHeart for cardiac health, Asthma Health, GlucoSuccess for diabetes, mPower for Parkinson’s disease, and Share the journey for breast cancer.

Michael McConnel from the Stanford University School of Medicine told Pogue, “ResearchKit solves a number of the current challenges to clinical research” such as recruiting more users, lower costs, and a quicker method to data sharing.

The apps resulting from ResearchKit are bringing in necessary data in a way that users are more able to stick with.