Topic: cell phones

There Are More People With Cell Phones Than Toilets

Every day, we read statistics, studies and reviews on topics regarding health and wellness. Seldom do they surprise or frighten me as much as this one about world sanitation. More »

Disgustingly Beautiful: Art Made From Cell Phone Bacteria

Gross, but also gorgeous. That’s how I describe the “bioart” above, made by British students out of the bacteria that exists on cell phones. More »

The Importance Of Unplugging, From A Technology Addict

I was born in the late 80s, which means that I was part of the first generation to grow up with computers. My brothers and I would play games on our family desktop for hours each day, excitedly anticipating the … More »

Good News! Your Cell Phone Is Probably Not Going To Kill You…Probably

Lady Gaga may have famously admitted to being afraid of cell phones and their potential cancer-causing powers, but apparently, she has nothing to worry about. According to a large-scale study by the U.K.’s Health Protection Agency (who are way more cautious than our FDA), there’s still no conclusive link to cell phone use and infertility or cancer. But, they were cautious to warn, long-term monitoring is still a good idea. More »

Diet By SMS: Could Self‘s Constant Text Messages Help You Lose Weight?

If you received a text message at 7am reminding you to “eat a healthy serving of yogurt with nuts”, and then another at 8am telling you to get to spin class and another at noon advising you to top your salad with some grilled fish, along with several other similar get-healthy-now-reminder messages throughout the day, would you thank the sender for helping you stick to your diet or would you be tempted to throw your phone into the nearest bush? More »

The Social Animal: Male Athletes Fake Injury More And Women Really Are Bad Drivers

Bosses are mean. Male athletes are overly dramatic! And women behind the wheel are mysteriously prone to crashing into one another… These are just some of the revelations scientists have made, in faithful service of this week’s “The Social Animal,” where we investigate what’s really happening in human behavior today. More »

Cell Phones May Lower Sperm Counts, But We Can Still Have Sex

Men may not be stereotyped as big phone-gabbers, but a new study says we might want to start hiding their iPhones around the house. Researchers from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario found that cell phone use may lower the quality of sperm. The findings, published in the International Journal of Andrology, say that electromagnetic waves transmitted by cell phone handsets influences male hormones, possibly decreasing fertility in men. Does this mean the future of our sex lives hinges on getting men to give up Angry Birds? No. (But if it did, we’d be doomed.)
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Cell Phones Don’t Just Change Brains, They Control Minds, Too

Yesterday, we found out that cell phone use definitely affects brain activity, thanks to a study linking talk time with a spike in the brain’s glucose metabolism. Today, we were alerted to another study showing that cell phones can also control our minds (don’t ask us the difference between minds and brains; that’s a topic for a different publication). A study published in Psychological Science showed that when we dial phone numbers, the corresponding letters and words come to mind even if we’re not consciously aware of them. What’s more, subjects seem to prefer dialing numbers that correspond to positive words (like LOVE and DREAM) than negative ones (SLIME was one example used in the study). So what’s the implication? Researchers say this helps prove that what we do with our body affects what we do with our mind, even on a subconscious level. More »

Cell Phones Definitely Affect Brain Activity, But for Better or Worse?

The notion that cell phones may cause cancer is hardly new. And, while both proponents and skeptics of the theory have been battling it out for years with no firm evidence pointing in either direction, a new study shows that cell phones are, at least, definitely doing something to your brain. The question is: What? More »

What We're Reading:

Village In Northern India Bans Single Women From Using Cell Phones (to Prevent Unauthorized Marriages)

Check out this post about cell phone use and women’s rights in India by Emerald Catron on Lemondrop.

Granted, we rely on our cell phones for booty calls, but we’ve never used them for secret elopements.

Apparently some young couples in northern India have better phone skills than we do, because their district’s assembly has banned unmarried women from using them, in an attempt to prevent illicit marriages. More »

Emergency Services to Enter the 21st Century: Texting 911

The FCC is considering making 911 accessible through text message and video streaming. All we can say is: Finally. Maybe not with regards to streaming video, but the ability to send texts to 911 seems way overdue. Our great aunts can text; shouldn’t emergency services be able to?
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You Can’t Compost a Cell Phone: What exactly happens when you recycle your old cell phone? (via Mother Jones)

Getting Cat-Called? Use Your Phone to Fight the Pervs

Check out this post about an iPhone application that could discourage sexual harassment by Guilia Rozzi at Lemondrop.

Yesterday iHollaback announced the launch of their new smartphone apps that will track and map where and when harassment happens, in real time.

According to iHollaback: When users sign into the iPhone app, they will be given choice to Hollaback! with or without a picture, describing the type of harassment: verbal, flashing, groping, assault, or other. More »

Give Up Your Shower and BPA Gets the Boot: Morning News Round-Up

How Does — Giving up your daily shower sound? (via The Guardian)

Exercise — To protect yourself from colds. (via BBC News)

What to Blame — For your sleeplessness. (via CNN Health)

BPA Gets the Boot — From several major manufacturers. (via The Independent) More »

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