Sarah Comer demonstrates the game Beat Saber using a virtual reality headset in Washington, D.C. During the pandemic, Comer and her family had a competition from their respective homes across several states to see who could rack up the most points on some of the exercise games on their VR headsets, "as a motivator for us to exercise and stay connected," she says. Photo Illustration by Becky Harlan/NPR hide caption
Air Force service members run a timed 1.5 miles during their annual physical fitness test at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois in June. The U.S. Space Force intends to do away with once-a-year assessments in favor of wearable technology. Eric Schmid/St. Louis Public Radio hide caption
New research shows that daily light walking is important for maintaining health as you age. But if you can't hit 10,000 steps, don't worry. Peter Muller/Getty Images/Cultura RF hide caption
Klute-Nelson takes a break with her dogs Kona (left) and Max. Morgan Walker for NPR hide caption
It's one thing to track your heart rate, pulse or other movements with a smart watch or other consumer electronics, researchers say, but quite another to rely on the device to diagnose a disease. martin-dm/Getty Images hide caption
Musi, an African elephant, is one of Fresno Chaffee Zoo's five elephants enrolled in the Elephant Welfare Initiative. Courtesy of the Fresno Chaffee Zoo hide caption
In the current version of the Fitnet App, the camera of an exerciser's smartphone captures data from him (upper left), while a prerecorded trainer guides him through a workout. A clock (bottom center) shows elapsed time. The orange dots (upper left) indicate he's following her routine well, as judged by the camera and phone's app. The app can also estimate the exerciser's number of steps. Courtesy of FitNet hide caption
Fitbit stock begins trading publicly Thursday. The Fitbit Force is shown at the 2014 International CES, the consumer technology trade show, in Las Vegas. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images hide caption