High tech breakthroughs to end obesity and save lives

From cell-phone games that inspire kids to exercise more and snack less, to video cameras that film remote enemy territories and describe what they see in words to military-surveillance teams miles away, computer science projects at the University of Colorado and Colorado State University are targeting national issues.

At CU, Katie Siek and students are exploring ways people can use today’s electronic gadgets for tracking health information. They hope to help end the nation’s obesity crisis (which research shows disproportionately affects lower socioeconomic groups) by boosting the use of Personal Health Records (PHRs), an idea backed by health experts but in…