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Cellphone Radiation May Protect Brain From Alzheimers
We've discussed cellphones and cancer many times. Here's a new angle: reader olddotter sends in a Reuters article suggesting that cellphone radiation may protect the brain from Alzheimer's disease. "At the end of that time, they found cellphone exposure erased a build-up of beta amyloid, a protein that serves as a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease. The Alzheimer's mice showed improvement and had reversal of their brain pathology..."
Maybe the mice that were talking on cell phones had a richer mental life, staving off the disease for reasons other than the radiation.
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
We've discussed lemonparty.org and meatspin many times. Here's a new angle: reader first post troll sends in a Tubgirl article suggesting that Goatse may protect the arse from hemorroids.
So I can not use a cell phone and may get alzheimers or I can use a cell phone and not get alzheimers but could get brain cancer ...... time to flip a coin.
Undetectable Steganography? Yep, there's an app fo
The mice have been running the experiment to check the safety of cellphones for mice use by making the human beings to use them for a long time. It is quite well known and well documented actually.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
The results were a major surprise and open the possibility of developing a noninvasive, drug-free treatment for Alzheimer's, said lead author Gary Arendash of the University of South Florida.
He said he had expected cell phone exposure to increase the effects of dementia.
This is how science is SUPPOSED to work! But don't get your hopes up...
Many treatments that have shown promise in mice have had little effect on humans.
I wonder if this affects the non-Alzheimer's "senior moments" as my mother calls them? I wish they'd had cell phones when I was young! Now where'd I put that damned phone???
Free Martian Whores!
Duct Tape, check
Cell phones, check
So we should go buy a bunch of those pre-paid cell phones and duct tape them to grandma's head and hope to heck her memory gets better.
Tsukasa: All I really want, is to be left alone...
Maybe it was just the heat. Now try keeping the mice in warmer cages. If their autonomic systems tend to cool the brain, try drugs that tend to increase the temperature of the mouse. Maybe it's just the warm brain that does this. Tell gramps to wear a hat when he goes out. Tinfoil optional.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
Strapping the phones to my head as we speak, with each one set to forward to the next. I look forward to your calls.
- Zav - Imagine a Beowulf cluster of insensitive clods...
This proves that cellphone radiation actually interacts with matter in the brain... which is something to be afraid of, in my opinion.
If Pandora's box is destined to be opened, *I* want to be the one to open it.
Wow, this is really bad news. If "long-term exposure to electromagnetic waves such as those used in cell phones" can change brain proteins we need to reduce cell phone usage. It's not as if the electromagnetic waves can identify and effect only pathogenic molecules.
Most people who die at 50 didn't have alzheimers.
--- What?
So now we're going to have the old ladies in their 1989 Cadilacs also talking on their cell phones while driving?
He's going to ask for a Bluetooth headset.
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
Well, not entirely, but substantially, unfortunately.
Fuck systemd. Fuck Redhat. Fuck Soylent, too. Wait, scratch the last one.
If this study is confirmed it should also prove that cellphones DOES affect the brain. You may not get Alzheimer but, it can, temporally or definitive, affects how your brain works. Like making bad decisions while using your cell phone or get some kind of dementia.
At least it would have been if my Alzheimer's didn't make me forget to post earlier.
brain cancer or Alzheimers how would u like to die?
Mr. Smithers trying to convince the townsfolk that his nuclear powered cell phones aren't dangerous. I bet they taste like chocolate, too!
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
I think my girlfriend has saved up enough cell phone usage to prevent alzheimers in both of us!
If confirmed, it proves it affects *mice's brains*
Everyone mail their old cell phones to Sir Terry Pratchett, stat!
With reasonable men I will reason; with humane men I will plead; but to tyrants I will give no quarter. -- William Lloyd
In many related discussions here on /., oh so many readers have, in various ways, blatantly slandered the idea that EM radiation in the microwave spectrum also has a directly, altering effect on tissue and matter in general - to whatever the extent may be. So, what's your stance now? I have the idea that this lot refused to believe this when it was in the context of f.e. "cellphones being bad for you", but just might be open the idea now that some "good" effect is proven from the EMR. If that's the case, why are these people changing their minds all of the sudden? Why accept this, but not the original arguments regarding microwave radiation?
Drinking lattes reduces your risk of Parkinson's disease
It doesn't matter, if you talk on a cell phone you will die in a car crash AND murder someone. I saw it on tv, clearly I won't have time to get Alzheimer's.
~Mekkah
If we accept for a moment that cellphone radiation (very low-dose but longterm exposure microwaves) is zapping proteins related to Alzheimers, I'm not going to jump up and down and get happy. Rather the opposite: we've confirmed that, in this case, supposedly benign EM radiation (non-ionizing, etc) can have important, medically significant effects on how our brains function. And we're currently zapping a hell of lot of people with this stuff. And we have really no idea what those effects are.
Unless my math is wrong, plugging in a headset on a 1m cord reduces your exposure by a whole lot compared to keeping the antenna shoved up against your head. Seems like a good idea until we get this sorted out.
Why accept this, but not the original arguments regarding microwave radiation?
Because this is based on a scientific, reproducible study that shows an actual effect, whereas, the claims that there were negative effects were contradicted by all of the scientific, reproducible experiments that were run to test them.
The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
And I may have alzheimers, but at least I don't have alzheimers.
...spend a few minutes each day with your head in the microwave.
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
The argument, as I understand it, is that cancer is caused by mutated DNA, and DNA cannot be mutated by radiation that's too weak to break chemical bonds. Since cell phone radiation doesn't break bonds, it doesn't cause cancer. If Alzheimer's is caused by something other than mutated DNA, the argument doesn't apply.
Lost: one sig, witty, 120 chars, sentimental value. Reward offered.
As someone who doubts cellphones cause statistically significant brain damage, I also doubt it causes statistically significant improvements. Naturally, the science will speak for itself either way.
Certainly similar radiation at much higher doses will have an effect. Also, keep in mind mice have much smaller heads. A cellphone would have a much stronger effect on a mouse as the radiation will far more easily penetrate the skull and brain. In humans, much of the strength is lost before the signal makes it to the brain.
Yes. The inconsistency is annoying and points towards an anti-science pro-gadget attitude that makes me want to read elsewhere.
Alzheimers! I'd love to be able to hide my own Easter eggs, and every time you make love to your wife, it feels like a whole new experience! Plus, you can laugh at the same old jokes several times (like the ones my father tells over and over and over again!) Yep, Alzheimers is definitely the way to go! Uh... what was the question again?
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
I can't remember the PIN code for my phone.
So in effect, our cells have evolved to suicide if they dectect mutations. Tumers and many other problems are caused when the mutations are just below the suicide threshold. The radiation adds just a bit more mutations, of the easily detectable kind, pushing borderline cells into suicide, while leaving healthy cells with a relatively minor, low level damage not suffecient to cause problems.
This theory might support the idea that Alzheimers is some kind of low-level mutation.
excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
Many of us are as skeptical of these results as we are of the other results. Let more research be done, and see if we get consistently repeatable results.
Because there is a big difference between the hypothesis that cellular phones can cause cancerous tumors to form in human brains and the finding that it can break up a plaque at a much larger scale...
Cell phones are good for your brain.
Mercury is good for you.
Melamine is yummy.
Up is down.
Left is right.
The sky is green.
The grass is blue.
I'm glad there are folks studying all these issues who can tell me what is good for me.
- A Frog in a pond utters an azure cry. -
It not only gives you cancer, it also makes sure you can enjoy the complete experience !
For all intents and purposes you have today's most annoying sig. Although I agree that "whom" shoud be deprecated.
Free Martian Whores!
That's easy. After years of studies and studies on mice and on people, there has been no consensus. Some studies say they do, others say they don't. Some say they have no frigging clue. Given that the theory of "cell phones cause cancer" is popular only through fear of the invisible and unknown forces by the ignorant masses, a slightly more intelligent group of people who visit /. choose to dismiss said theories because they choose to not be afraid of every rumor they hear of. I bet most people here didn't believe the video of the cell phones popping a single kernel of pop corn. Well maybe some did but I know I didn't.
Now about this new study, the general response has been either to make jokes or basically said, "That is interesting, I look forward to hearing more about it later." I haven't seen any posts of people shouting out "Cell phones are good for you!" In the future there will be more studies, maybe some on people, where we will get a clearer picture. If the results are just a muddy as cancer studies then we will dismiss the healing power of cell phones just as easily.
In your face Amish!!
Why accept this, but not the original arguments regarding microwave radiation?
Because there isn't any evidence that cellphone use is harmful. Conjecture is useless until tested.
Free Martian Whores!
"Arendash said his team was modifying the experiment to see if they could produce faster results and begin testing humans."
Ah, this is one time I would like to see some studies of correlation in humans before we let this guy work on causation.
As a lot of people have stated the science still needs to be done and come to a conclusion. Though cellphones are the least of are worries from EMR. We have are friendly neighborhood star that bombards us with all kinds of energies that get through are magnitosphere, if you live in any populated area you have all the local radio stations blasting out radio waves in insane levels of power, cell towers, the earth it self due to are core and the production of the magnitosphere. Powerlines, and generally anything that caries a current. Of course you could just walk around in a faraday suit.
Sounds good to me. Now, where did I leave that cell phone...
-Z
All it means is that they've found a way to wipe out a contributing factor to Alzheimer's. It doesn't mean every nut with a cell phone needs to use up their minutes to stave off their dementia. What it does mean is it will lead to other studies which will find a way to package this effect into a medicine, which can then be fed to the mice in order to verify its effects. If that works, it may lead to clinical trials on actual Alzheimer's patients.
Have you read up on the actual research that has been done? Check this for starters. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=da2_1186974243 Bottom line is that cells/tissues are indeed influenced by EM radiation at cellphone or wifi frequencies. And seemingly the biggest problem compared to other EM-radiation is that your body simply cannot recognise the "new kinds" of radiation it's exposed to. This can turn out bad, but might also turn out good. The only thing that will prove wether we're fucking up or not is simply time. Besides that there are of course a gazillion other factors that are known to be bad for your cells/tissues that are spread out throughout your home/environment.
"Quite to the contrary, those mice were protected if the cell phone exposure was stared in early adulthood. Or if the cellphone exposure was started after they were already memory- impaired, it reversed that impairment," Arendash said in a telephone interview'.
See, he's already using the study results to his advantage..
with a couple "Venti's" daily and Alzheimer's is eradicated! http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703278604574624032849271284.html
At night I drink myself to sleep and pretend I don't care that you're not here with me
So, cell phones protect from alzheimers? The condition that (among other effects) causes people to forget things ? I find that quite ironic, considering that it seems 99% of people forget how to drive when they're on one.
P.S. At least I think that's irony. Every time I think I've got it down, someone shows me a new rule for what is or isn't irony. My apologies to the grammar Nazis in advance if I have it wrong.
And seemingly the biggest problem compared to other EM-radiation is that your body simply cannot recognise the "new kinds" of radiation it's exposed to.
It is not a "new" form of EM, when your body and brain have been exposed to that frequency since you were born. And yes that includes everyone born before cell phones and wifi existed at all.
If EM radiation from a cell phone would cause damage to humans, we would have seen it by now, as that exact same radiation is flooding your skin from the big EM radiating source up in the sky (No, not God with gas, I mean our sun)
The fact all humans are not dead is proof in and of itself that EM radiation isn't instantly lethal.
The fact there are some humans still alive after being bombarded by EM radiation in these frequencies (plus a HUGE range of other frequencies at the same time) yet still manage to live into their 80s and be healthy, is proof such doses do not cause any more medical problems than "I have some bad news.. You are only going to live for another 50 or 60 years!" (Which is fine with me personally)
Tsk. Should have left well enough alone.
When my wife got an MRI when as part of the process to determine if she had Alzheimer's Disease, which turned out to be the case, she experienced a clearing of her mind during the MRI which lasted for about a day. When I reported this to the neurologist, she frowned upon it. I wonder if anybody has reported this effect, or whether it is even a real effect.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares?"
One of the most subtle yet clever puns I have had the pleasure to encounter. I'm so used to people replacing "intents and" with "intensive" in that phrase that I almost missed it. Extra points for the appropriate use of an alternate definition.
I tip my hat to you, sir. Well done.
"This post contains words, known to the State of California to cause thought. Wash brain thoroughly after reading."
And seemingly the biggest problem compared to other EM-radiation is that your body simply cannot recognise the "new kinds" of radiation it's exposed to.
You mean the "new kinds" which have existed since the dawn of time? You realize we are pummeled with various wavelengths of EM radiation from all over the universe, not the least of which come from our own Sun, right? The Earth's magnetic field keeps out the nastiest high-frequency stuff for the most part, but the lower level stuff gets through. That's how radio telescopes work - they grab the sub-visible EM radiation from all over the galaxy that hits the planet and inundates us with EM radiation.
Hey guess which end of the scale cell phone radiation is in? It's not the high frequencies, it's in the low frequencies.
And of course EM radiation can affect our cells, but the lower the frequency the less energy it has, and the less damage it does. For example, even a few hours of exposure to UV radiation will start destroying our cells - a sunburn is the body's desperate attempt to save those cells and prevent further damage. However, drop just a little ways into the visible spectrum and suddenly EM radiation does virtually nothing to our bodies but stimulate vitamine D production in the skin.
Drop it even further and the EM radiation has even less of an effect, eventually getting into the range of cell phone signals.
Believing that cell phone radiation must be harming us even though there is no evidence is foolishness. The light emitted by a flashlight is thousands of times more potent than a cell phone signal, and emits a higher frequency of EM radiation which is closer to the dangerous radiations of UV, X-ray, and Gamma-Ray, and yet we aren't terrified of flashlights.
The idea that cell phone signals could cause damage is nonsensical, so it had better have some good, strong evidence behind it before I start believing it. So far the only good evidence behind it has shown a small positive effect.
Security is mostly a superstition... Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. - Helen Keller
It only works indirectly. The radiation gives you brain cancer and kills you before you could develop Alzheimers.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
If this is true then I suggest everyone really stop using their cell phones.
The question of Brain Damage from cell phones has not been proven... as far as I know. (I'm not looking for flame on this).
However, this appears to be a clear scientifically repeatable experiment. Which shows that cell phones do effect/change the chemistry in the brain in some way. Whether the total effect is beneficial or detrimental to the average user cannot be known, would require more study.
So why would anyone ever consider this to be a good thing? ie: I'd never start medication designed for heart disease patients just as a preventative measure.
Anyhow, I sure hope this study is shown to be false. Cause my boss says I need to have a cell phone to work.
So brain tumors keep you safe from Alzheimer's disease??
and horns.
Beware radiation danger.
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
All the data to date with studies following hundreds of thousands of humans for nearly a decade has shown not evidence of cancer, and neither has prior studies on electromagnetic fields. These study did not show a bunch of mice dying of cancer before they developed Alzheimers, it showed that electromagnetic fields from cell phones staved off or even reversed the effects of Alzheimers in these mice.
That's ridiculous. Everybody knows microwaves have an effect on matter. We use them to cook food. What is a much bigger leap is claiming that microwaves at low levels have an unusually large effect on DNA - that is, they can cause cancer without cooking the tissue.
IF this effect is real, it's very, very unlikely it has anything to do with changing DNA, for the worse or better.
Perhaps you might believe that washing a cut with clean water can help it heal faster, but are also of the opinion that water doesn't cause cancer?
They said they used EQUIVALENT doses in the mice. I'm pretty sure they didn't use the same dose, just an equivalent dose that factors in the size of the mice.
Read the article, and watch the video they showed. The researcher showed pictures of the brain tissue and positive effects of the cell phones. It's not a case of mice dying before they develop Alzheimers.
My first guess from this would be that EM radiation can affect the rate and or disposition of prion protein folding. More than likely only affecting weak prion self replication(which is slow) vs normal protein formation.
This makes would make EM radiation quantitatively non mutagenic and about as likely to cause cancer as someone spontaneously combusting.
This wouldn't affect non functional plaques caused by a mutant genes though.
Our brains are no doubt adapted to prions and plagues and there probably exists a garbage collection mechanism that can deal with it up to a certain level without getting overwhelmed. But undoubtedly all brain functions are increased with lower populations of prions.
A second theory would be that EM causes plaques to not stick together as much and hence make the garbage collection mechanism much more productive.
You all do realize that AT&T will start charging an extra 'healthy minutes' fee if they hear about this?
A search on Transcranial magnetic stimulation and Alzheimer returns many scientifical articles from which I understand that there is some (temporary?) effect. Because MRI makes use of magnetic fields, it is also a form of TMS.
Alzheimers or cancer? What is better? Any ideas?
Maybe this article should be titled: "Yeah I get cancer, but I won't forget things anymore!"
I thought there was no effect on the human body...
Wouldn’t this here be proof that it does have an effect after all?
And wouldn’t that mean that the loonies who demanded no cell phone towers in their area, were right too?
But would they still sue the companies for it, or would the companies demand money for protecting them from Alzheimers? ^^
I guess it depends on the extremely unlikely effect, that Alzheimers protection is the only effect it has...
Aaahh, it’s all so confusing...
And I can’t even put on my tinfoil hat, because it’s an amplifying antenna... *waaahhh* *head explodes*.
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
Who puts a phone to their head anymore now anyway? Texting helps prevent arthritis.
There is no natural occurence of any EM radiation that comes closes to information carrying EM waves as far as I know. If so give me examples that churn out the exact same patterns. Again if it causes good effects it means that there is at least SOME reaction of cells/tissue to the radiation. Check out the link I posted in my first reply, view the entire "seminar", it's not bollocks, it's the result of a 28 million dollar (which came from the industry) study. Also read up on the guy that's giving the seminar, it's not "Joe-I-saw-a-spaceship", but a renowed professor that headed a multiyear program into researching the subject. Of course there are a gazillion types of wavelengths that hit us every day and have done so since the beginning of times. It's not because there are worse things that we don't need to consider the harms in this. Spend a pot of 28 million dollars on researching the subject before saying what this guy says is bollocks. Anyway again: only time will tell and surely in due time the body will adapt and stop considering EM information carrying waves as "external threat" (like it does with a lot of the other waves you mention). It's not just about direct damage, it's about how cells react to the frequencies.