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Inside look: UC Davis lab testing new technology for aging seniors living alone


As more children become the caretakers of their aging elderly parents, there's new state-of-the-art health technology being developed right now at the University of California Davis Health System.

The aim of the technology is to help more seniors live at home alone, longer.

Dr. Alyssa Weakley is a neuropsychologist at UC Davis, studying dementia. She is also a granddaughter trying to care for her grandmother, who was diagnosed with early stages of Alzheimer's Disease. Her grandmother lived in Southern California when first diagnosed.

What AI can do for older adults

When Alyssa Weakley’s 82-year-old grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2019, the family scrambled to respond. Her grandmother lived in southern California; Weakley and other family members were in northern California and Washington State. As problems arose, they took turns flying down to see the older woman. Often, that meant leaving a job or making child-care arrangements on short notice. 

AUDIO: Do red flag laws work?

Red flag laws are one potential solution for high rates of gun violence in the U.S. Nineteen states now allow the removal of firearms from gun owners when there is a risk of violence.

VIDEO ADDED: ‘UC Davis LIVE’ on Gun Violence Research

Six people died in the April 3 shooting in Sacramento, and the spring holiday weekend saw at least four mass shootings across the country. Gun sales surged during the pandemic, while the White House recently announced a crackdown on untraceable “ghost guns.”