Many of you may know that I have a passion for technology in addition to health. That is one of the reasons this newsletter has been so successful, as I have been able to merge these two passions.  In addition to reviewing the health literature, I also review hundreds of blog posts on technology every day, and I have reached some conclusions that I thought many of you might benefit from.

Emerging Technology that Will Change the Way You Interact with Computers

I have never been a major fan of Apple products for a variety of reasons and was skeptical of the iPad when it was first introduced.  It just never made sense why anyone would ever use a device like this. It was 8 months after it was introduced before I got one, as a friend gave it to me for Christmas last year and I actually played with it.

If you own an iPad already then you know and I am preaching to the choir, but only about 10% of the people actually own one, so for those that don’t, let me tell you that shortly after using this device it became very clear to me that this will radically transform computing technology. 

The key is the form factor and the ability to EASILY consume electronic content and have rapid access to key information when you need and want it.  It is about the size of weight of many magazines, yet it can hold hundreds of thousands of books.  Unlike a bulky notebook computer which typically weight three to five times as much, it is easier to carry around and nearly always socially acceptable.  You will get very few stares in a business meeting or restaurant if you break out an iPad, but you would most certainly if you stating to use your notebook computer.

Emerging social trends confirm my observation, as now Yale Medical School has its entire curriculum on the iPad and many if not most airlines are in the process of converting their forty pounds of flight manuals carried by each pilot to iPad equivalents.  There is simply no question that most schools will switch to tablets and away from textbooks. This is simply inevitable.

The tablet computer is really designed primarily as a consumption device to read and consume information. It is not intended to write large amounts of texts.  If you plan on substituting it for a notebook you will be disappointed, as it is not easy to enter long streams of texts unless you have an external keyboard. Even though I have one for my iPad, I have never used it and always wind up using my notebook for extended writing.  It is certainly easier than typing on a smart phone but anything beyond a sentence or two is cumbersome and highly inefficient.

Hints on How to Use the iPad

There is no question that for the foreseeable future the iPad will dominate the tablet market. Hopefully Android tablets will provide some competition down the road, but for now the iPad rules.  If you haven’t purchased one, it is my suggestion to not purchase one with a wireless modem for several reasons. They are $100 more expensive, you need to pay monthly fees and the current 3G connection is too slow.  So get the Wi-Fi version for $100 less. If you can afford more memory go for it, if not the base model at $499 is fine.

The key to making the iPad a great tool is the speed of your connection, as many of the useful apps will be cumbersome to use at typical slow 3G speeds. So you can hook up by your home or office Wi-Fi,  or when you are mobile you can hotspot into a phone that has 4G LTE.  I got the first phone with the service from Verizon in March and it is extraordinary. I only use it when travelling but it is amazing. No more internet connection fees at hotels or airports, and it is nearly ten times faster than 3G. At some point Apple will likely have 4G LTE, but they don’t now, so best to avoid their slow 3G

My Favorite Apps to Make the iPad Useful

The reason you use an iPad is for the apps, so I thought many would appreciate which ones I find useful. Many of my friends realize I am passionate about this, so I typically share my latest findings with them and my family. Part of the reason I wrote this article was to have it in place to make it easier to share with my friends, and I thought that many of you would also appreciate these insights.

I have scanned many thousands of articles and downloaded several hundred applications, and these are the best of the best that I have been able to find. The cream of the crop, from my perspective.  You might have some other interests or needs, so clearly these are not the only good aps out there, so I would encourage you to keep your eye open for others.

So here you go, my top recommendations:

The Weather Channel

One of the most useful information you can obtain from your device is to know the weather now and in the immediate future. I downloaded all the major weather apps, including the paid ones and there is one clear winner in this area that literally decimates the others.  The Weather Channel was an order of magnitude better than the other aps, but they recently released an update that makes it even better.  This free ap is an absolute must have ap.  Beautiful graphics that allow you to easily compare different cites by a single swipe and colorful graphic ten day predictions.  Of course they have Doppler Radar maps so you can easily predict when the rain or snow will hit your area.  I use this every day and suspect you will too.

Flipboard

Many may not realize that RSS feeds are the tool I have used for nearly 15 years to access the news. Unfortunately RSS feeds never took off and I am not sure why.  But the newer version of them is Flipboard, basically RSS feeds on steroids.  It is essentially a customized magazine that you create that you can read like a colorful print magazine.  Like the Weather Channel, it is also a free and must have ap

Its key innovation is to make finding and subscribing to RSS feeds very easy. It has dozens of preconfigured channels that you can subscribe to, or you can find your favorite RSS feeds and use it as your RSS reader.  Unlike a typical RSS feed where it is difficult to find the subscribe button, you will never fail with Flipboard as it simple to do.  This is clearly one of my favorite apps on the iPad.

MyFitnessPal

Another free ap that I use every day to record my food intake and help me keep track of my macronutrient ratios.  It has a fitness element but I only use it for the food dairy, as it is clearly one of the best. Like the weather ap I looked at many in this category, and MyFitnessPal is clearly head and shoulders above the rest.

Newspapers

These are all free on the iPad. In my experience the best papers are the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the USA Today.  The Times and the Journal apps are free, but do require a subscription to read many of the articles.  What many don’t know is that you can copy the headline of the article you want to read that is locked behind their firewall, paste it into Google, and click on the Google link, you will be able to read the article for free in your browser.

Fitness Builder

I also use this ap every day to record my exercise programs. This is one of the few paid aps on this list but it is worth the $10 to purchase it, as it is like a personal trainer in that it has about five thousand exercises you can choose from, and they each have videos to describe how to perform it.  There is a very simple interface to identify exercise by body part and equipment that you want to use.

KNO

Earlier I had mentioned that virtually all schools will replace textbooks with tablets.  KNO is currently the leading application that allows students to purchase textbooks for the iPad.  It is a free application, and what I use it for is to read PDFs, books and manuals on.  And unlike the PDF or book reader, with the iPad you can highlight text and the text will be saved into a journal, so you can review all your highlights in a separate journal. You can also make notes in the document.

DropBox

Another free essential ap that allows you to easily transfer and share files between your computers and your iPad.  It is also a brilliant and easy way to work around the 10 megabyte limit present in most email clients. So when you need to send someone a larger file you can just email them your Dropbox public file link and they get it instantly, couldn’t be quicker or easier and it is free. They give you 2 gigabytes of storage, which is more than enough for most, but if you need more you can always purchase it from them.

Instapaper

One of the other paid apps that I find helpful, as it allows you to maximize the use of your iPad as a reading tool.  You can use this to easily transfer articles you find on your computer to your iPad.  You simply purchase the app for $5 and install it on your iPad.  Then you install the web version on your desktop or notebook by dragging their icon to your toolbar. When you find an article you want to read later, you merely click their icon in your toolbar and like magic the article appears on your iPa,d ready to read with all the ads stripped out, making it very easy to read.  You can easily delete it from your iPad or archive it, depending on your needs

DragonGo

Great app that costs you no money and allows you to dictate notes into your tablet.  Most likely this will be replaced by Apple’s new intelligent personal assistant SIri, which is available for free on the new iPhone 4S, once it gets ported over to the iPad.

The European Commission has adopted new rules regarding X-ray, or backscatter, body scanners at all European airports. European Union members have been asked to remove X-ray scanners from its airports in order to prevent risks to “citizens’ health and safety.”

The X-ray scanners are still being used by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration, in spite of criticism from public-safety advocates. Studies have shown that scanning millions of passengers every year could cause cancer in some travelers.

According to Time Magazine:

“… [C]ritics of the scanners say that any small amount of cancer is too much to tolerate … [T]he TSA doesn’t show signs of budging on the use of X-ray scanners”.

Researchers affiliated with the Russian Academy of Sciences recently
published two studies.  The studies describe
the effects of mobile phone radiation exposure on children’s bodies, and show
that children’s bodies are more sensitive than those of adults.

Children exposed to such radiation demonstrate an increased
number of phonemic perception di­sorders, abatement of efficiency, reduced
indicators for the arbitrary and semantic memory, and increased fa­tigue.

According to Electromagnetic Health:

“…
[I]t is imperative governments around the world take steps to improve
environments for children so they are free of electromagnetic fields.”

A new device called MelaFind, just approved by the U.S. FDA, makes detailed, digital images of skin growths and uses a computer to analyze them for signs of cancer.  The hope is that the device will allow dermatologists to find more melanomas sooner.  Almost all patients diagnosed with early-stage melanoma can be treated and cured, but most patients with late-stage melanoma die from it within five years.

The device emits light that penetrates below the skin’s surface, taking multicolored images of the depth and shape of skin growths.

According to Yahoo News:

“MelaFind underwent a contentious, years-long review by the Food and Drug Administration, which initially rejected the device and concluded it could ‘potentially cause more harm than good.’  Regulators worried that the device could give physicians a false sense of certainty, leading to fewer biopsies.”

In 1998, a panel of radiation safety experts gathered to evaluate a new airport security device called the Secure 1000, which was designed to beam X-rays at people to see underneath their clothing.  One after another, the experts pointed out that the machine violated a basic principle of radiation safety:  humans should not be X-rayed unless there is a medical benefit.

Nonetheless, today millions of airline passengers in the U.S. walk through such X-ray body scanners, even though many other countries have concluded that they pose an unacceptable health risk. Even though safer, effective alternatives are available, the U.S. government is relying on the X-ray scanners.

Scientific American reports:

“Research suggests that anywhere from six to 100 U.S. airline passengers each year could get cancer from the machines. Still, the TSA has repeatedly defined the scanners as ‘safe,’ glossing over the accepted scientific view that even low doses of ionizing radiation — the kind beamed directly at the body by the X-ray scanners — increase the risk of cancer.”

Laboratory research into the effects of electromagnetic radiation on the growth of plants has indicated that the radiation might negatively affect plant health.

A study found that ash trees in urban environments are increasingly suffering from growth disturbances.  The problems, which included discoloration and die-back of leaves, were found to be related to WiFi access points.

According to the study, as translated from the Dutch:

“Trees in urban areas in recent years show an increasing number of damage such as cracks, bumps, discoloration and various forms of tissue necrosis.”

Wireless technology has changed modern life.  But how much is too much?  Is it a problem that when people are separated from their phones, computers and tablets, they begin to feel nervous, irritable, and tense — in other words, to exhibit classic withdrawal symptoms?

One definition of ‘addiction’ is when other your life begins to suffer because of an activity you know you should cut back on, but don’t.  Have you ever had the urge to pull out a cellphone even when someone you’re with is in the midst of a conversation with you?  Or felt isolated and anxious if you are offline for an extended period of time?

A CNN editorial has a piece of advice for those who are growing concerned:

“… [C]onsider locking all of those devices in another room at night … [I]t makes a difference: ‘You’ll sleep better.’”

New research shows that women who only have a screening mammogram every other year are substantially less likely to experience false-positive results and unnecessary biopsies than those who opt for annual screenings.

The study estimated that over the course of 10 years of screening, 61% of women who have annual mammograms and 42% of women who have biennial mammograms will be called back at least once for an unneeded follow-up test.  Over the same period, 7% to 9% of women who have annual mammograms and only 5% to 6% of those who have biennial mammograms will have unnecessary biopsies.

According to CNN:

“Annual mammograms were not conclusively more effective than biennial screening at identifying dangerous late-stage cancers”.

Breast Cancer Awareness campaigns have touted early detection through x-ray mammography for a quarter of a century. But almost no progress has been made in making the public aware about the crucial differences between non-malignant lesions or tumors and invasive or non-invasive cancers detected through this technology.

Many women have never been informed that they have a choice when they are first diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) — the abnormal growth of cells within the milk ducts.  Rather than immediately succumb to aggressive treatment, women can choose watchful waiting — or better yet, can adopt a radical lifestyle that includes improved exercise and nutrition.

According to Green Med Info:

“Because DCIS is almost invariably asymptomatic and has no palpable lesions, it would not be known as a clinically relevant entity were it not for the use of x-ray diagnostic technology. Indeed, it was not until the development and widespread application of mammography in the early 1980s … that rates of DCIS diagnosis began to expand to their present day epidemic proportions … A solid argument can be made that watchful waiting is the most appropriate response to the diagnosis of DCIS, and that in many cases DCIS would be better left overdiagnosed and under-treated.”

Studies show that thermography, a form of infrared imaging, identifies precancerous or cancerous cells earlier than mammography, and produces unambiguous results that cut down on additional testing.  Heat indicates that inflammation exists; inflammation is typically present in precancerous and cancerous cells — as well as torn muscles, ligaments, and arthritic joints, which can also be detected through thermography.

If you use thermography as your regular breast cancer screening tool, it’s likely that you would have more opportunity to make adjustments to your diet, beliefs and lifestyle in order to transform your cells before they became cancerous.

According to Dr. Christiane Northrup, writing in the Huffington Post:

“Thermography is a particularly good choice for younger breasts, which tend to be denser. It doesn’t identify fibrocystic tissue, breast implants or scars as needing further investigation. It’s also good at detecting changes in the cells in the armpit area, an area that mammography isn’t always good at screening.”

The American Academy of Pediatrics is warning parents of infants and toddlers that they should limit the time their children spend in front of televisions, computers, and “educational” video games. The group stated that video screen time provides no educational benefits for children under age 2 and leaves less room for activities that do.

The recommendation makes clear that there is no such thing as an educational program for children that young, and that even leaving the television on as background noise distracts both children and adults.

According to the New York Times:

“The new report strongly warns parents against putting a TV in a very young child’s room and advises them to be mindful of how much their own use of media is distracting from playtime … The new report from the pediatrics association estimates that for every hour a child under 2 spends in front of a screen, he or she spends about 50 minutes less interacting with a parent, and about 10 percent less time in creative play.”

Scientists researching the feline immunodeficiency virus have to created glow in the dark cats for study purposes.  The glow-in-the-dark felines were created through a process called gamete-targeted lentiviral transgenesis.

Researchers created the effect, which is visible under a special blue light, so they can track modified genes and cells in the animals.

According to the Inquisitr:

“In an interview with  LiveScience … researcher Dr. Eric Poeschla revealed:  ‘We want to see if we can protect the domestic cat against its AIDS virus, if we can protect any species, eventually including ours, against its own AIDS virus.’”

A newly developed tooth-regenerating paste could reverse bacterial-induced tooth decay. The amino acid toothpaste that contains a compound that assembles into fibers. When applied to a decayed tooth, it forms a gelatinous scaffold that attracts calcium.

The paste has already been tested on a small group of patients with the early signs of tooth decay, and results suggest the damage was reversed.

According to Popular Science:

“A dentist would still have to clean out the decay, so it’s not clear that the dental drill will be entirely eliminated with this new toothpaste. But it’s a step toward making dental visits a lot more pleasant.”

A new kind of temporary tattoo might be able to collect and transmit information about your heart rate, temperature, muscle contractions or brain waves.  It’s a flexible electronic circuit that moves with your skin and stays in place without any adhesive — a thin, flexible silicon film that can be applied directly on the skin.

The developers hope that the new technology might soon allow medical monitoring to become simpler, more reliable and uninterrupted.

According to Scientific American:

“Much of today’s monitoring equipment requires bulky hardware, such as heart monitors that cardiac patients often have to drag or tote around. But this new device would be ‘almost mechanically invisible to the wearer’ … Being slim and sleek would allow it to go where other devices can be awkward or invasive. One possible application could be for premature babies”.

Senomyx is a high tech research and development business which is “dedicated to finding new flavors to reduce sugars and reduce salt.”  But their focus is not on whole, organic fruits and vegetables, or grass-pastured meats, dairy and eggs.  Senomyx develops patented flavor enhancers by using “proprietary taste receptor-based assay systems.”

That’s a testing system that provides scientists with biochemical responses and electronic readouts when a flavor ingredient interacts with their patented receptor, letting researchers know whether or not their flavor enhancer is effective. The receptors are made from HEK293 — HEK stands for Human Embryonic Kidney cells, with 293 denoting that the HEK was from the 293rd experiment.  HEK293 originally came from a healthy, electively aborted baby whose cells were then harvested and cloned.

According to the Weston A. Price Foundation:

“Senomyx’s salt taste, savory flavor, and sweet flavors — as well as all their other flavor enhancers — are purposefully developed so that they stimulate your taste buds without them actually tasting anything … Much like MSG, these flavor enhancers operate on the neurological level to produce these reactions … Since they are not actually ingredients but rather ‘enhancers’ they are not required to be listed in a package’s ingredients except as ‘artificial flavors’ … [And] because very small amounts of the additives are used … Senomyx’s chemicals have not undergone the FDA’s usual safety approval process for food additives.”

A recent study looked at mammography radiation-induced DNA damage in epithelial breast cells. The results showed that damage was induced both through a low-dose effect and a repeated dose effect.

According to the study, as reported by Green Med Info:

“These findings may lead us to re-evaluate the number of views performed in screening using a single view (oblique) in women whose mammographic benefit has not properly been proved”.

In related news, an article in the prestigious British Medical Journal compared breast mortality rates in a variety of different countries before and after the introduction of routine mammography screening.  It demonstrated that screening apparently did not play a direct part in reductions in breast cancer mortality.

Radiologists often rely on specialized “CAD” computer software to find suspicious areas in mammograms.  But a large new study showed that the technology has failed to improve breast cancer detection.  In fact, it increased a woman’s risk of getting a “false positive” result and being told she had an abnormal mammogram when she was actually cancer free.

The study analyzed 1.6 million mammograms taken between 1998 and 2006. Some experts are saying  that in light of the new evidence, radiologists should use more discretion in interpreting CAD results.

CNN reports:

“CAD is now used in roughly three of every four screening mammograms … The detection rate for noninvasive breast abnormalities improved at radiology facilities that adopted CAD technology, but, crucially, the rate did not improve for invasive breast cancers, the dangerous type that invade healthy tissue in the breast or other parts of the body.”

Free smartphone apps from Epocrates are used by nearly half of the U.S. doctors to look up information on drug dosing, interactions and insurance coverage.  But calling them “free” may be a bit misleading —  to use the apps, doctors must first see marketing messages for prescription drugs.

The apps select messages based on a doctor’s search and prescription histories. And the company has further plans — they are discussing the possibility is a virtual sales rep that would help drug makers get access to physicians who normally refuse such meetings.

The New York Times reports:

“The marketing messages are difficult to ignore. For example, a psychiatrist in Massachusetts who recently opened Epocrates … had to click past ‘DocAlert’ messages on hypertension, bipolar disorder, and migraines. Two of the three showed they had been paid for by pharmaceutical companies promoting their products.”

Nine scientists from the FDA became concerned that drugs and medical procedures are released to the public without proper testing for safety or efficacy.  They sent a letter to president Obama stating there has been “gross mishandling” by FDA managers, putting the country at risk.

The scientists cited a breakdown of the independent scientific review process at the FDA as far back as 1998, when mammography computer-aided detection devices were not appropriately approved, setting into motion a chronic breakdown of the FDA’s system.

 According to Health Central:

“… [T]hese devices were not backed by clinical evidence showing they were effective in detecting breast cancer, thus causing undue biopsies for thousands and thousands of women … FDA scientists and physicians have recommended five times that these mammography devices not be approved without valid clinical, scientific evidence.”

When Juliet Jacobs developed lung cancer, she decided to enter a promising research study.  Doctors would look for gene patterns in her tumor cells that would determine the best drugs to use on her particular cancer.

But the tests turned out to be worthless, and Jacobs died a few months after treatment.  The episode is emblematic of a serious problem in such gene-pattern research.  It has yet to yield reliable methods for diagnosis or treatment.  The research behind the study Jacobs entered has been discredited, and it turned out to be riddled with errors.

“The New York Times reports:

“Doctors say the heart of the problem is the intricacy of the analyses in this emerging field and the difficulty in finding errors … With such huge data sets and complicated analyses, researchers can no longer trust their hunches that a result does — or does not — make sense.”

Dave Evans is Cisco’s chief futurist, and the chief technologist for the Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group.  He outlined what he believed to be 10 technological trends that will change the world in 10 years. Here are some of them:

The Internet of Things:  There are now more things are connected to the Internet than people. By 2020, the number of Internet-connected things could be more than six devices for every person on Earth.

The Data Flood:  About 5 exabytes of unique information were created in 2008 — the equivalent of billion DVDs.  In 2011, it will be 1.2 zettabytes (one zettabyte equals 1,024 exabytes.)

The World Gets Smaller:  With always-on connectivity, social influences will continue to move rapidly between cultures. A smaller world also means faster information dissemination.

The Power of Power:  As the human population also continues to grow, more efficient methods to provide power are becoming a necessity, particularly solar energy.

Another Family Tree:  Virtual humans, both physical (robots) and online avatars will be added to the workforce.  By 2025, the robot population could surpass the number of humans in the developed world. By 2035, robots could completely replace humans in the workforce.

To read the rest, you can click on the link below.

Evidence suggests that CT scans to measure lung tumors can be unreliable.  This could potentially lead patients and doctors to believe the cancer is growing when it’s not.

A new study found that changes of up to 10 percent can happen simply as a result of the inherent variability of CT imaging.

According to Reuters:

“[The study] … is the first to test how reliable lung cancer scans are — work that’s long overdue, experts say, because CT scans have already become the gold standard for measuring cancer growth and treatment response.”

Titanium dioxide and zinc oxide nanoparticles are increasingly being used in sunscreens. In larger particle form, these compounds reflect UV radiation. However, in nanoparticle form, they absorb UV radiation, which releases reactive oxygen species — chemicals known to alter DNA.

Some previous studies had suggested that the effect might not be significant, because the nanoparticles might not penetrate below the stratum corneum, the outermost layer of your skin. But recent research suggests that the danger is very real.

According to one analysis, reported by Green Med Info:

“However, some recent studies suggest that nanoparticles may, under certain circumstances, breach that barrier. The majority of those studies have used animal skin models rather than human skin.”

Modern technology can now be employed to help you sleep.  White Noise, for example, is an iPhone app that comes with a large menu of sleep-aiding noises.

Other methods include:

• The Marpac Sound Screen 980A, which creates white noise mechanically.
• A variety of noise-masking devices such as those available from the Ear Plug Superstore – like noise-canceling headphones, that use microphones to detect patterns of ambient sound and create an “anti-noise” signal, and the SnoreMasker Pro, which combines an earplug with white noise.
• Etymotic EB-15 earplugs, about $500 a pair. These plugs have a tiny acoustic chip which only quiet sounds to pass through.

Extended exposure to broad-spectrum terahertz radiation, such as the type used in airport scanners, can result in specific changes in cellular functions that are closely related to DNA-directed gene transcription.

Although 89 percent of protein coding genes do not respond to applied terahertz radiation, among the rest certain genes are activated, while other are repressed.

According to a study, as reported by Green Med Info:

“Our findings suggest that the applied terahertz irradiation accelerates cell differentiation toward adipose phenotype by activating the transcription factor peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARG) … We propose that THz radiation is a potential tool for cellular reprogramming.”

There has long been controversy about the low energy x-rays used for mammography breast screening. Recent studies have provided compelling evidence that such x-rays may be 400 percent more likely to cause mutational damage than higher energy x-rays.

A recent study compared the in vitro irradiation of a human cell line using a mammography x-ray source to a high energy source similar to the radiation observed in survivors from the Hiroshima atomic bomb (a commonly used means of estimating radiation risk.)  Analysis showed that the risk from the low energy x-ray was likely higher.

According to the study, as reported by Green Med Info:

“The risk/benefit analysis, however, implies the need for caution for women screened under the age of 50, and particularly for those with a family history (and therefore a likely genetic susceptibility) of breast cancer. In vitro radiobiological data are generally acquired at high doses, and there are different extrapolation mechanisms to the low doses seen clinically.”

The United States Supreme Court recently overturned a California law banning the sale or rental of violent video games to minors. However, many psychological scientists still believe that a child’s behavior be directly influenced by playing a violent video game.

There have been 140 studies providing evidence that violent video games can lead to an increase in aggressive thoughts, angry feelings, physiological arousal, including increased heart rate, and aggressive behavior.

According to Medical News Today:

“The research shows that when parents set limits on children’s media use, it is a powerful protective factor for children.”

Transportation Security Administration union representatives in Boston say that radiation from full-body scanners be responsible for a “cancer cluster” among airport security workers.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) obtained documents from the Department of Homeland Security which they say provide evidence that the government failed to properly test the safety of full-body scanners. Many scientists have expressed skepticism about the safety testing of the devices, claiming that the TSA relies on tests performed by the manufacturers of the scanners themselves.

According to Time Magazine:

“Although TSA union reps at Boston’s Logan Airport asked that the agency allow its screeners to wear radiation-monitoring devices, the TSA has yet to provide the dosimeters, EPIC said. Meanwhile, another document obtained by EPIC shows that NIST recommends that TSA screeners avoid standing next to the scanners whenever possible, and a Johns Hopkins University study finds that radiation zones around body scanners could potentially exceed the ‘General Public Dose Limit.’”

In May, a branch of the World Health Agency called the International Agency for Research on Cancer declared cellphone radiation “possibly carcinogenic to humans.”  Now, some scientists are saying that certain types of cellphones could be more potentially carcinogenic than others.

There is accumulating evidence that cellphones that operate on GSM networks (such as AT&T and T-Mobile) emit significantly more radiation than do cellphones operating on CDMA networks (such as Verizon and Sprint.)  This is not immediately apparent from looking at a phone’s specs, because phone companies are only required to list the “specific absorption rate” (SAR) — a number that can be misleading, as it measures the maximum radiation a cellphone emits rather than the average amount of radiation it emits.

According to Live Science:

“Several recent studies have shown that CDMA phones normally emit a small fraction of their maximum radiation output, while GSM phones emit, on average, half the maximum … The radiation spikes at the beginning of GSM phone calls means that they emit, overall, up to 28 times more radiation than CDMA phones … [I]n most parts of the country, where both CDMA and GSM towers are ubiquitous, CDMA phones will emit less radiation than GSM phones.”

Did you just drop your cell phone into water? According to Yahoo News, all may not be lost! Here are their suggested steps which might enable you to rescue a drowned phone:

Step 1: Do NOT turn on the phone

Step 2: Pull out the battery and SIM card

Step 3: Rinse in freshwater if you dropped your phone in salt water (to rinse out the salt)

Step 4: Dry your phone using compressed air (DO NOT dry it in the oven)

Step 5: Cover your phone with uncooked rice for at least 24 hours (to absorb moisture)

Step 6: Turn your phone back on and see if it works!