Can Cell Phones Damage Our Eyes? Can Cell Phones Damage Our Eyes?

I'm sure you've read dozens of stories about how our cell phones could be dangerous to our health, causing brain tumors for example. But so far, there is not a definitive answer. But now, according to IsraCast, a team of Israeli researchers has discovered that the microwave radiation used by our cell phones could destroy our eyes by causing two kinds of damages to our visual system, including an irreversible one. If the researchers are right, and even if you only occasionally use your cell phone, the lenses in your eyes can suffer from microscopic damages that won't heal themselves over time. Now, let's wait until another scientific team says it's not true...

Here is the introduction of the IsraCast article.

In a recent scientific study conducted by a team of researchers from the Technion, a possible link between microwave radiation, similar to the type found in cellular phones, and different kinds of damage to the visual system was found. At least one kind of damage seems to accumulate over time and not heal, challenging the common view and leading the researchers to the assertion that the duration of exposure is not less important than the intensity of the irradiation. The researchers also emphasized that existing exposure guidelines for microwave radiation might have to change.

The article contains several illustrations, but here is the most spectacular (Credit: The Ruth and Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine at the Technion).

[Above are] microscope photographs of lenses incubated in organ culture conditions for 12 days. Right frame shows Control lens with no damage. Bottom frame demonstrates the effect of microwave radiation on bovine lens sutures for a total exposure of 192 cycles (1.1GHz, 2.22mW). Each cycle lasts 50min followed by 10 min pause.

The potential risks from radiation on our visual system have previously been studied, but until recently, the effects of microwave radiation have not been evaluated.

Before going further, I need to introduce two concepts here. Cell phone companies use the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) to measure microwave radiation -- "it is the average power density absorbed in a given volume per average weight density (Watt/Kg)." "A less common measure is called Specific Energy Absorption (SA), and is defined as the energy density absorbed in the tissue divided by its weight density."

Now we can look at the experiments.

Eye lenses of one-year-old male calves obtained from a slaughterhouse were exposed to microwave radiation - one eye from each pair used for control. Each exposure session lasted about two weeks. Both control and exposed lens were kept in an incubator at a constant temperature. During this period each exposed lens had experienced up to 2mW of 1.1GHz radiation virtually around the clock, and each hour it was exposed for a 50 minute session followed by a 10 minute break.

And the researchers were able to measure two different effects:

• macroscopic damages affecting the optical quality of the lens, which can gradually heal
• and microscopic damages, which don't heal after the experiments stopped, and are even growing when a new exposure starts

Here are some warnings from one of the researchers.

Professor Levi Schächter, [of the Department of Electrical Engineering at the Technion,] who worked on the research, told IsraCast that attention should be paid not only to the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) but also to the total energy absorbed by the tissue (SA), which is not currently under supervision by the appropriate regulative authorities.

The latest research work on this subject has been published by Bioelectromagnetics under the name "Localized effects of microwave radiation on the intact eye lens in culture conditions" (Volume 26, Issue 5 , Pages 398-405, May 10, 2005). Here is a link to the abstract, which I reproduce below.

A novel experimental system was used to investigate the localized effects of microwave radiation on bovine eye lenses in culture for over 2 weeks. Using this setup, we found clear evidence that this radiation has a significant impact on the eye lens. At the macroscopic level, it is demonstrated that exposure to a few mW at 1 GHz for over 36 h affects the optical function of the lens. Most importantly, self-recovery occurs if the exposure is interrupted.

At the microscopic level, close examination of the lens indicates that the interaction mechanism is completely different from the mechanism-causing cataract via temperature increase. Contrary to the latter's effect, that is particularly pronounced in the vicinity of the sutures and it is assumed to be a result of local friction between the edges of the fibers consisting the lens. Even if macroscopically the lens has recovered from the irradiation, microscopically the indicators of radiation impact remain.

Finally, as this study has not been done -- yet -- on humans, I guess the controversy can begin. And whether you think that cell phones can damage our eyes or not, feel free to post your comments below.

Sources: Iddo Genuth, IsraCast, July 25, 2005; and various web sites

Related stories can be found in the following categories.

• Medicine
  
• Science
  
• Vision
  
• Wireless

  ¶ 1:17 AM 0 comments

  Women Pushing Car Charged With DUI - Yahoo! News Women Pushing Car Charged With DUI - Yahoo! News: "PORTAGE, Ind. - Two women who took turns steering a broken-down vehicle face drunk driving charges after their slow-moving car crashed into a parked car.

Kaylyn Kezy, 34, of Gary, was pushing the disabled car, while Melissa Fredenburg, 32, of Chesterton, steered from the passenger seat, police said. The two were moving the car into a parking lot at a nearby motel early Friday in the city about 10 miles east of Gary.

Police said both women had a blood-alcohol levels of 0.17 percent, more than twice the state's legal limit to drive.

Authorities said the women were operating the vehicle while intoxicated — even though the car's engine wasn't working.

A prosecutor acknowledged the charges could be difficult to prosecute in court.

'The statute and case law supports (a DUI charge) ... but it will be interesting to see,' said Deputy Prosecutor Adam Burroughs, who authorized the charges.

Burroughs said that the office had prosecuted drunken drivers who were stopped in restaurant drive-through lanes or who were on private property. Bicycles and motorized wheelchairs are about the only vehicles in which a person would be unlikely to face a drunken-driving charge, he said."  ¶ 1:46 AM 0 comments

  Global Dimming BBC - Science & Nature - Horizon

We are all seeing rather less of the Sun. Scientists looking at five decades of sunlight measurements have reached the disturbing conclusion that the amount of solar energy reaching the Earth's surface has been gradually falling. Paradoxically, the decline in sunlight may mean that global warming is a far greater threat to society than previously thought.

The effect was first spotted by Gerry Stanhill, an English scientist working in Israel. Comparing Israeli sunlight records from the 1950s with current ones, Stanhill was astonished to find a large fall in solar radiation. "There was a staggering 22% drop in the sunlight, and that really amazed me," he says.

Intrigued, he searched out records from all around the world, and found the same story almost everywhere he looked, with sunlight falling by 10% over the USA, nearly 30% in parts of the former Soviet Union, and even by 16% in parts of the British Isles. Although the effect varied greatly from place to place, overall the decline amounted to 1-2% globally per decade between the 1950s and the 1990s.

Gerry called the phenomenon global dimming, but his research, published in 2001, met with a sceptical response from other scientists. It was only recently, when his conclusions were confirmed by Australian scientists using a completely different method to estimate solar radiation, that climate scientists at last woke up to the reality of global dimming.

Dimming appears to be caused by air pollution. Burning coal, oil and wood, whether in cars, power stations or cooking fires, produces not only invisible carbon dioxide (the principal greenhouse gas responsible for global warming) but also tiny airborne particles of soot, ash, sulphur compounds and other pollutants.

This visible air pollution reflects sunlight back into space, preventing it reaching the surface. But the pollution also changes the optical properties of clouds. Because the particles seed the formation of water droplets, polluted clouds contain a larger number of droplets than unpolluted clouds. Recent research shows that this makes them more reflective than they would otherwise be, again reflecting the Sun's rays back into space.

Scientists are now worried that dimming, by shielding the oceans from the full power of the Sun, may be disrupting the pattern of the world's rainfall. There are suggestions that dimming was behind the droughts in sub-Saharan Africa which claimed hundreds of thousands of lives in the 1970s and 1980s. There are disturbing hints the same thing may be happening today in Asia, home to half the world's population. "My main concern is global dimming is also having a detrimental impact on the Asian monsoon," says Prof Veerhabhadran Ramanathan, one of the world's leading climate scientists. "We are talking about billions of people."

But perhaps the most alarming aspect of global dimming is that it may have led scientists to underestimate the true power of the greenhouse effect. They know how much extra energy is being trapped in the Earth's atmosphere by the extra carbon dioxide (CO2) we have placed there. What has been surprising is that this extra energy has so far resulted in a temperature rise of just 0.6°C.

This has led many scientists to conclude that the present-day climate is less sensitive to the effects of carbon dioxide than it was, say, during the ice age, when a similar rise in CO2 led to a temperature rise of 6°C. But it now appears the warming from greenhouse gases has been offset by a strong cooling effect from dimming - in effect two of our pollutants have been cancelling each other out. This means that the climate may in fact be more sensitive to the greenhouse effect than thought.

If so, then this is bad news, according to Dr Peter Cox, one of the world's leading climate modellers. As things stand, CO2 levels are projected to rise strongly over coming decades, whereas there are encouraging signs that particle pollution is at last being brought under control. "We're going to be in a situation, unless we act, where the cooling pollutant is dropping off while the warming pollutant is going up. That means we'll get reduced cooling and increased heating at the same time and that's a problem for us," says Cox.

Even the most pessimistic forecasts of global warming may now have to be drastically revised upwards. That means a temperature rise of 10°C by 2100 could be on the cards, giving the UK a climate like that of North Africa, and rendering many parts of the world uninhabitable. That is unless we act urgently to curb our emissions of greenhouse gases.  ¶ 12:31 AM 0 comments

  APOD: 2004 October 13 - Contrail Clutter over Georgia APOD: 2004 October 13 - Contrail Clutter over Georgia



Contrail Clutter over Georgia
Credit: MODIS, Terra Satellite, NASA

Explanation: Artificial clouds made by humans may become so common they change the Earth's climate. The long thin cloud streaks that dominate the above satellite photograph of Georgia are contrails, cirrus clouds created by airplanes. The exhaust of an airplane engine can create a contrail by saturating the surrounding air with extra moisture. The wings of a plane can similarly create contrails by dropping the temperature and causing small ice-crystals to form. Contrails have become more than an oddity - they may be significantly increasing the cloudiness of Earth, reflecting sunlight back into space by day, and heat radiation back to Earth even at night. The effect on climate is a topic of much research. You can help NASA measure the actual abundance of contrails by participating in a contrail counting exercise that runs over the next two days.   ¶ 12:29 AM 0 comments

  A novel without a word telling a love story? A novel without a word telling a love story?

A novel without a word telling a love story?
By Ng Ting Ting (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2005-07-14 10:34

A writer from Shanxi Province is waiting for someone to decode his novel, a novel without a single word but a set of 14 punctuations, with a reward of 140,000 yuan (US$16,900).

The author of the special touching love story "。" Hu Wenliang [baidu]

He claimed those 14 marks represent a touching love story, reported by the Beijing Daily Messenger on Wednesday.

It might be the shortest novel ever, and it might be the only novel without a word. But Hu Wenliang, the author the novel entitled 《。》, claimed that he spent one year to write a novel with five sections as follows:

：？

：！

“‘……’”

（、）·《，》

；——

Hu, a member of the Shanxi writers' association, has written eight books including novels, proses and reports totaling to about 3 million words in the past. He is currently working in the Public Relation Department of the Coal Geological Bureau in Shanxi as a department head.

Although the novel consists of only 14 Chinese punctuations, he insisted that it tells a touching love story, with ups and downs and a complete outline, which he spent a whole year on the novel.

Hu is offering to reward those who can understand the hidden story with 140,000 yuan. He said 20 people have already come with their interpretations but none of them satisfied Hu. Hu thought they are all too far away from the story his novel is telling.

"I have my own answer, which is around 100 Chinese characters. The interpretation should cover the description of characters and the plot of the story, I will reward someone who can guess 80 percent the hidden story correct" he said.

But Chinese language experts said that a story could not be constructed by punctuations alone.

"Using 14 punctuations to make a story is pretty like a farce," said Chen Xiaoming, professor of the Department of Chinese Language from the prestigious Peking University.

"The use of punctuations has very clear rules, for instance, a full stop is used at the end of a statement or the end of imperative sentences; question mark is placed a the end of request. Punctuations are subordinates of words, which cannot be used alone as a story," he explained.

Chen thought that authors could use other ways to emphasize the importance of punctuations and doubted Hu''s novel as hype.  ¶ 1:40 PM 0 comments

 
A little old and a little off-topic, perhaps, but almost every bit of electronics hardware we use every day comes into our country via container ship. This beauty is the Orient Overseas Container Line Shenzhen, out of Hong Kong. It is big.

Thanks to large-scale automation, Shenzhen has a crew complement of only 19, and virtually the entire ship can be controlled and adjusted from a single Windows-based computer terminal. Several such terminals are scattered throughout the ship, meaning that the ship��s officers can make adjustments to the ship from their cabins if necessary.  ¶ 1:19 PM 0 comments

 
canoe @ huron river in the arb  ¶ 12:20 AM 0 comments

 
heart @ huron river in arb  ¶ 12:20 AM 0 comments

 
heart in arb  ¶ 12:19 AM 0 comments

 
heart in arb  ¶ 12:19 AM 0 comments

 
Heart in Arb. A2  ¶ 12:19 AM 0 comments

  88 ways to Know If You're Chinese 1.You look like you are 18.
2.You like to eat chicken feet.
3.You suck on fish heads and fish fins.
4.You have a Chinese knick-knack hanging on your rear view mirror.
5.You sing karaoke.
6.Your house is covered with tile.
7.Your kitchen is covered by a sticky film of grease.
8.Your stove is covered with aluminum foil.
9.You leave the plastic covers on your remote control.
10.You've never kissed your mom or dad.
11.You've never hugged your mom or dad.
12.Your unassisted vision is worse than 20/500.
13.You wear contacts, to avoid wearing your "coke bottle glasses".
14.You've worn glasses since you were in fifth grade.
15.Your hair sticks up when you wake up.
16.You'll haggle over something that is not negotiable.
17.You love to use coupons.
18.You drive around looking for the cheapest petrol.
19.You drive around for hours looking for the best parking space.
20.You take showers at night.
21.You avoid the non-free snacks in hotel rooms.
22.You don't mind squeezing 20 people into one motel room.
23.Most girls have more body hair than you, if you are male.
24.You tap the table when someone pours tea for you.
25.You say "Aiya!" and "Wah!" frequently.
26.You don't want to wear your seatbelt because it is uncomfortable.
27.You love Las Vegas, slot machines, and blackjack.
28.You unwrap Christmas gifts very carefully, so you can reuse the paper.
29.You only buy Christmas cards after Christmas, when they are 50% off.
30.You have a vinyl tablecloth on your kitchen table.
31.You spit bones and other food scraps on the table. That's why you need the vinyl tablecloth.
32.You have stuff in the freezer since the beginning of time.
33.You use the dishwasher as a dish rack.
34.You have never used your dishwasher.
35.You keep a Thermos of hot water available at all times.
36.You eat all meals in the kitchen.
37.You save grocery bags, tin foil, and tin containers.
38.You have a piano in your living room.
39.You pick your teeth at the dinner table (but you cover your mouth).
40.You twirl your pen around your fingers.
41.You hate to waste food.
42.You have Tupperware in your fridge with three bites of rice or one leftover chicken wing.
43.You don't own any real Tupperware - only a cupboard full of used but carefully rinsed margarine tubs, takeout containers, and jam jars.
44.You also use the jam jars as drinking glasses.
45.You have a collection of miniature shampoo bottles that you take every time you stay in a hotel.
46.You carry a stash of your own food whenever you travel
(travel means any car ride longer than 15 minutes). These snacks are always dried and include dried plums, mango, ginger, and squid.
47.You wash your rice at least 2-3 times before cooking it.
48.Your dad thinks he can fix everything himself.
49.The dashboard of your Honda is covered by hundreds of small toys.
50.You don't use measuring cups.
51.You beat eggs with chopsticks.
52.You have a teacup with a cover on it.
53.You always look phone numbers up in the phone book, since calling information (*69) costs 50 cents.
54.You only make long distance calls after 11pm.
55.If you are male, you clap at something funny and if you are female, you giggle whilst placing a hand over your mouth.
56.You like Chinese films in their original undubbed versions.
57.You love Chinese Martial Arts films.
58.You've learnt some form of martial arts.
59.Shaolin actually means something to you.
60.You like congee with thousand-year-old eggs.
61.You prefer your shrimp with the heads and legs still attached.
62.You never call your parents just to say hi.
63.If you don't live at home, when your parents call, they ask if you've eaten, even if it's midnight.
64.When you're sick, your parents tell you not to eat fried foods or baked goods due to yeet hay.
65.You know what yeet hay is.
66.You e-mail your Chinese friends at work, even though you only 10 feet apart.
67.You use a face cloth.
68.You starve yourself before going to all you can eat places.
69.You know someone who can get you a good deal on jewelry or electronics.
70.You save your old Coke bottle glasses even though you're never going to use them again.
71.You own your own meat cleaver and sharpen it.
72.Your toothpaste tubes are all squeezed paper-thin.
73.You know what moon cakes are.
74.When there is a sale on toilet paper, you buy 100 rolls and store them in your closet or in the bedroom of an adult child who has moved out.
75.Your parents know how to launch nasal projectiles.
76.You iron your own shirts.
77.You play a musical instrument.
78.Even if you're totally full, if someone says they're going to throw away the leftovers on the table, you'll finish them.
79.You've eaten a red bean popsicle.
80.You bring oranges (or other produce) with you as a gift when you visit people's homes.
81.You fight over who pays the dinner bill.
82.You majored in something practical like engineering, medicine or law.
83.You live with your parents and you are 30 years old (and they prefer it that way). Or if you're married and 30 years old, you live in the apartment next door to your parents, or at least in the same neighborhood.
84.You don't tip more than 10% at a restaurant, and if you do, you tip Chinese delivery guys/waiters more.
85.You have acquired a taste for bitter melon.
86.You eat every last grain of rice in your bowl, but don't eat the last piece of food on the table.
87.You know why there are 88 reasons.
88.You see the truth in this and then send it to all your Chinese friends.  ¶ 11:10 PM 0 comments

  Self-referential multiple-choice test

SELF-REFERENTIAL APTITUDE TEST, by Jim Propp (propp@math.wisc.edu)

The solution to the following puzzle is unique; in some cases the
knowledge that the solution is unique may actually give you a short-cut
to finding the answer to a particular question, but it's possible to
find the unique solution even without making use of the fact that the
solution is unique. (Thanks to Andy Latto for bringing this subtlety
to my attention.)

I should mention that if you don't agree with me about the answer to #20,
you will get a different solution to the puzzle than the one I had in mind.
But I should also mention that if you don't agree with me about the answer
to #20, you are just plain wrong. :-)

You may now begin work.


1. The first question whose answer is B is question
(A) 1
(B) 2
(C) 3
(D) 4
(E) 5

2. The only two consecutive questions with identical answers are questions
(A) 6 and 7
(B) 7 and 8
(C) 8 and 9
(D) 9 and 10
(E) 10 and 11

3. The number of questions with the answer E is
(A) 0
(B) 1
(C) 2
(D) 3
(E) 4

4. The number of questions with the answer A is
(A) 4
(B) 5
(C) 6
(D) 7
(E) 8

5. The answer to this question is the same as the answer to question
(A) 1
(B) 2
(C) 3
(D) 4
(E) 5

6. The answer to question 17 is
(A) C
(B) D
(C) E
(D) none of the above
(E) all of the above

7. Alphabetically, the answer to this question and the answer to the
following question are
(A) 4 apart
(B) 3 apart
(C) 2 apart
(D) 1 apart
(E) the same

8. The number of questions whose answers are vowels is
(A) 4
(B) 5
(C) 6
(D) 7
(E) 8

9. The next question with the same answer as this one is question
(A) 10
(B) 11
(C) 12
(D) 13
(E) 14

10. The answer to question 16 is
(A) D
(B) A
(C) E
(D) B
(E) C

11. The number of questions preceding this one with the answer B is
(A) 0
(B) 1
(C) 2
(D) 3
(E) 4

12. The number of questions whose answer is a consonant is
(A) an even number
(B) an odd number
(C) a perfect square
(D) a prime
(E) divisible by 5

13. The only odd-numbered problem with answer A is
(A) 9
(B) 11
(C) 13
(D) 15
(E) 17

14. The number of questions with answer D is
(A) 6
(B) 7
(C) 8
(D) 9
(E) 10

15. The answer to question 12 is
(A) A
(B) B
(C) C
(D) D
(E) E

16. The answer to question 10 is
(A) D
(B) C
(C) B
(D) A
(E) E

17. The answer to question 6 is
(A) C
(B) D
(C) E
(D) none of the above
(E) all of the above

18. The number of questions with answer A equals the number of questions
with answer
(A) B
(B) C
(C) D
(D) E
(E) none of the above

19. The answer to this question is:
(A) A
(B) B
(C) C
(D) D
(E) E

20. Standardized test is to intelligence as barometer is to
(A) temperature (only)
(B) wind-velocity (only)
(C) latitude (only)
(D) longitude (only)
(E) temperature, wind-velocity, latitude, and longitude

( to go to the main SRAT page, go to www.math.wisc.edu/~propp/srat.html )
  ¶ 10:51 PM 0 comments

 
A Chinese woman walks in a farm in Luoding, southern China's Guangdong province June 26, 2005. The World Bank's director for China said on June 28 Beijing's fixed exchange rate policy was a 'legitimate choice' and not a manipulation of the yuan currency, despite escalating rhetoric from Washington. 'I don't agree with any of the criticisms of China that it is manipulating its exchange rate,' David Dollar told a meeting of the Washington-based Center for Global Development. (Jason Lee/Reuters)  ¶ 4:11 AM 0 comments

 
Checking the list : Two Albanian men check for their names at the lists of the legislative elections, in village of Bathore, near Tirana. (AFP/Gent Shkullaku)  ¶ 4:10 AM 0 comments

 
In this picture released by MPL International Ltd, Thursday June 30, 2005, adventurers Bear Grylls, 30 and Lieutenant Commander Alan Veal, 34, are the diners enjoying a dinner party suspended from a balloon at a height of nearly 24.262 ft (7395 meters) flying over Somerset, England. The pair were making a successful attempt to break the world record for the highest formal dinner party. The previous record was held by adventurer Henry Shelford, who held his dinner party 22,326ft (6805 meters) up a Tibetan mountain in 2004. (AP Photo/MPL International Ltd/ho)  ¶ 4:09 AM 0 comments