Cell-Phone Emissions Excites Brain; Warning For Epilepsy

Cell phone emissions excite the part of the brain cortex nearest to the phone according to a study published in the Annals of Neurology.

Dr. Paolo Rossini of Fatebenefratelli hospital in Milan and colleagues used Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation or TMS to check brain function while people used these phones.

In 12 of the 15 male volunteers, the cells in the motor cortex adjacent to the cell phone showed excitability during phone use but returned to normal within an hour.

The cortex is the outside layer of the brain and the motor cortex is known as the “excitable area” because magnetic stimulation has been shown to cause a muscle twitch.

The researchers stressed that they had not shown that using a cell phone is bad for the brain in any way, but people with conditions such as epilepsy, linked with brain cell excitability, could potentially be affected.

“Further studies are needed to better circumstantiate these conditions and to provide safe rules for the use of this increasingly more widespread device.”

via Extreme Tech