All kinds of new technologies are coming out these days. Some of it doesn’t accomplish anything particularly useful, but some of it can do things that you might genuinely enjoy. Other kinds can help you in ways you might not have dreamed of just a few short years ago.
Let’s look at three technology examples that are on the market now. You can purchase and use these today, and none of them are going to break the bank.
DNA testing kits
Today’s technology can help you with backup recovery if your desktop or laptop crashes. It can check your pulse to let you know if you’re having a heart attack. All of that is very practical, but maybe you want to embark on a discovery quest simply because you want to know more about who you are and your genetic origins.
Some people are very curious about their pasts. You can ask your grandmother about what she remembers, but that will probably only reveal a certain limited amount. After all, you’re getting some background from her perspective, but she will hardly be a repository for all your genetic or familial information.
You can look into companies like 23andMe or AncestryDNA. They aren’t difficult to use, and they can do some genetic mapping that would have been many times more expensive and taken much longer to come back with results a couple of decades ago.
All you have to do is carefully swab the inside of your cheek. You don’t need to draw blood or anything like that. Then, you send away the kit and wait for the results.
You might find out that you have a genetic background that is completely different from what you suspected. Some individuals find that they have some degree of Native American ancestry, or they have some other revelation they never anticipated.
Dog DNA testing kits
You can do the same thing for your beloved pet. Maybe you have a shelter dog that you rescued, and you have no idea what kind of breed it is. Some people abandon dogs at shelters if they are not pure breeds, and it might be impossible for you to tell very much about the animal just by looking at it.
You can use essentially the same technology to find out about your dog’s ancestry as you would your own. You order the kit or buy it in a store, and when it comes, you swab the inside of the animal’s mouth.
You might find out that your dog has Great Dane blood, or Golder Retriever, or Poodle. Some dog DNA tests come back with such a diverse hodgepodge that it will astonish you.
Don’t worry if your dog’s breed is not pure, though. Dog interbreeding often makes them less prone to various illnesses.
Kits that tell you your Blood Type
When you are born, one thing that the hospital does is check your blood type. That’s useful information to have. However, maybe you were not born in a hospital, or you didn’t retain a record of that test.
Maybe you get in a car wreck or some other kind of accident, and you sustain an injury with some serious blood loss. At that point, the hospital staff will need to quickly determine what type of blood you need. If you and your family don’t have that information, it can prove fatal.
You can get a home testing kit that will reveal this information as well. These kits come with a little needle that you’ll need to prick your finger. Once you have a drop of blood, you send it off to the lab.
Maybe you’re squeamish about drawing your blood, though. Some kits allow you to figure out your blood type using saliva. You produce the characteristic antigens that reveal your blood type through your saliva as well.
Once you have that critical information, you can write down your blood type and keep it on a card in your wallet. You might have that information on your smartphone as well. You can tell your various family members, too.
Someone actually needs blood every two seconds in the US, so this information might come in handy one day. It’s better for you to know your blood type than not to know it.
With this tech currently available, it’s fascinating to think about what might come down the pipe soon. Technology growth has never been more rapid, and it can help humanity in so many ways.
