Consumer Genetic Health Reports: What DNA Kits Can Tell You in 2026, and Who Owns the Data
A 23andMe health report uses genotyping, which reads a few hundred thousand selected DNA positions, to flag a limited set of variants linked to…
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Blog Category
Medical Technology
Articles on medical technology: robotic surgery, advanced imaging, radiotherapy systems and other equipment, explained by what each actually changes for the patient rather than by brand names.
AI in Surgery: From Robotic Assistance to Predicting Complications
AI in surgery currently means software that helps surgeons rather than replacing them: algorithms that estimate a patient's risk of complications before an operation,…
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Skin Cancer Apps: Can Your Phone Check a Mole? What Studies Found
Skin cancer apps can photograph a mole and estimate whether it looks concerning, but studies show they miss a meaningful share of melanomas and…
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Hearing and Vision Test Apps: How Accurate Are Phone Screenings?
Hearing test apps and vision test apps are useful screening tools, not diagnoses. In validation studies, smartphone hearing tests taken with the recommended headphones…
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Immunotherapy for Cancer: What It Is, Who Qualifies and How It Is Given
Immunotherapy for cancer is a group of treatments that help a person's own immune system recognize and attack cancer cells, rather than killing those…
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Smart Scales and Bioimpedance: How Accurate Is Your Body Fat Reading?
Bioimpedance (BIA) smart scales estimate body fat by sending a tiny electrical current through the body, and they are moderately accurate at best. For…
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How a Pacemaker Works and How It Is Fitted
A pacemaker is a small battery-powered device placed under the skin near the collarbone and connected to the heart by thin wires called leads.…
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Period and Fertility Apps: How Accurate Are Their Predictions and Who Sees Your Data?
A period tracking app is usually accurate to within a day or two for people with regular cycles, but predictions drift when cycles vary,…
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AI Medical Diagnosis: How Accurate Are the Systems, Study by Study?
AI medical diagnosis systems can be highly accurate on narrow, well-defined tasks such as reading mammograms or classifying skin lesions, where some tools match…
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AI Medical Diagnosis: How Accurate Are the Systems, Study by Study?
AI medical diagnosis tools can match specialists on narrow, image-based tasks such as reading retinal photographs or mammograms, with sensitivity above 90% in large…
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Smart Baby Monitors: What Oxygen and Breathing Sensors Can and Cannot Do
Smart baby monitors with oxygen or breathing sensors can track a sleeping infant's pulse, blood oxygen level or body movement and send alerts to…
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Garmin Body Battery and HRV Status: What the Scores Actually Mean
Garmin Body Battery is a 5-to-100 estimate of your energy reserves, modeled from heart rate, heart rate variability, stress and sleep rather than measured…
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AI Scribes: Why Your Doctor’s Note Is Now Written by Software, and What It Means for You
An AI scribe is software that listens to a medical visit, usually through a phone or room microphone, and drafts the clinical note the…
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Chest Strap vs Wrist Heart Rate: Why the Strap Still Wins for Accuracy
A chest strap heart rate monitor reads the heart's electrical signal through electrodes on the skin, so it typically tracks within about one beat…
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Apple Watch ECG and AFib Alerts: What a Single-Lead Trace Can and Cannot Detect
The Apple Watch ECG records a single-lead electrocardiogram from the wrist and fingertip in 30 seconds and can classify the rhythm as sinus rhythm,…
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AI in Healthcare: What It Already Does in Hospitals, and Where It Falls Short
AI in healthcare currently helps hospitals read medical images, flag patients at risk of deterioration such as sepsis, draft clinical notes from recorded visits,…
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Home Blood Pressure Monitors: Wrist vs Arm and How to Take a Reading That Counts
For most adults, the best home blood pressure monitor is an automatic upper-arm cuff that has passed independent validation testing and fits your arm…
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Telehealth: What Can Be Diagnosed on a Video Call and What Cannot
Telehealth can reliably assess conditions a clinician diagnoses mostly by history and by looking: many rashes, mental health concerns, medication follow-ups, chronic disease check-ins…
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