There is no question that mobile phones have transformed the way we live, but it is the ability to use the same phone call for the global good, that is the most inspirational part.

As a mobile app developer myself, this has got me thinking of other ways we could use the other features of modern smart phones to efficiently crowdsource Parkinson's research. Here are some ideas -- some of which are already being explored.

If we are to meet a massive and growing need, we'll need to disrupt today's status quo in which research is based on small and fragmented clinical trials, and where active brain care is often left for patients whose problems have grown until it is too difficult to manage them.

Say I plunk you down at home plate in your local baseball stadium. After arming you with a Red Ryder BB gun, I release a ravenously hungry lion from the center field bullpen. As the beast crosses the warning track, I offer you a pair of opera glasses, so that you can better visualize the lion as it begins to pick up your scent.

Current symptom tests are done in a clinic. They are expensive, time-consuming, and logistically difficult. Our technology could enable some radical breakthroughs, because voice-based tests can be administered remotely, and patients can do the tests themselves.