Researchers at Örebro University in Sweden found that mobile phone usage increases the brain’s production of transthyretin, a protein found in cerebrospinal fluid that cushions and protects the brain. The researchers don’t know if the increased presence of the protein is good or bad for the brain, or what kind of effects it might have in the long run.

Regardless of the effects, this observation is pretty wild. We’ve talked a lot about how gadgets will change our bodies, but how will our bodies change to accommodate those gadgets?

Maybe increased transthyretin production is brain’s last-ditch effort to fight off cancer. Or maybe it’s the first of many adaptations that will help us let technology become a part of ourselves we’ll observe in the coming years. [Wired]

That’s what NASA is planning to do: use squirrel monkeys to test the possible effect of radiation in humans for long-term space missions. This is the first time the agency is going to test with monkeys since the days of the Mercury Project.

They plan to bomb 27 squirrel monkeys with high-energy gamma-ray radiation, the equivalent of what astronauts could get in a three-year voyage. This obviously can result in two things: monkeys dying in pain or giant green monkeys destroying the whole East Coast.

Clearly, a lose-lose situation.

The $US1.75 million project has encountered strong opposition from animal welfare organisations, but NASA spokesman Bill Jeffs gives a good argument:

NASA-funded research has shown that simulated space radiation can affect nerve cells in culture and also the behaviour of mice and rats, but these studies are limited in the extent they can be extrapolated to human behaviour and performance. Studies in nonhuman primates are essential to be able to best predict neurobehavioral effects of radiation on humans.

Would you prefer 27 squirrel monkeys dying in experiments or six dead astronauts in a capsule floating on the Pacific Ocean? [Space.com]

A few years after the United States unleashed the horror of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Soviet Union tested their first nuclear warhead ever. They appropriately called it “First Lightning”, the opening of a series of 456 atomic tests that brought hell to Earth 60 years ago. For all of us, that summons terrifying but beautiful images like this into our brains:

Sadly, to more than one million innocent people living near the Semipalatinsk Polygon — the Soviet nuclear testing site in the northeast of Kazakhstan — it means this:

For three generations, and more to come, those tests mean deformed babies. They mean premature aging and countless diseases caused by radiation poisoning. The bombs’ ghosts still live in the dead steppe, their invisible fangs ready to suck seven years off the life of every person living around that place. That’s the difference in life-expectancy with the rest of Kazakhstan.

Of course, it’s not the only horror inflicted by weapons in the Soviet Union — or in the rest of the world. I recently read all about them in a fascinating book by Ryszard Kapuściński, one of the best journalists and writers of our time. The book, called Imperium, talks about the Soviet Union through a series of adventures and trips that reach all the corners of the Red Empire. The mosaic is a frightening view of the deadliest, most insensitive killing machine that has ever existed, all through the eyes of the people who suffered it. Not even Hitler matched the horrors of Stalin and his cohorts.

But while Kapuściński’s raw prose have moved me to tears many times, these images by Ed Ou are a perfect summary of the horrors inflicted upon hundreds of millions that Kapuściński describes in his book.

However, as I watch through glassy eyes how Mayra Zhumageldina massages her daughter Zhannoor, or how 29-year-old Berik Syzdykov sings and plays piano despite being deformed and blind after being exposed to a nuclear blast while he was inside his mum’s womb, I try to smile a bit. I try to be a bit optimistic because, no matter how monstrous some men and women can be, the human spirit always seems to find a way to survive. [Adventures With Light and Getty Images via Big Picture]

The issue only affected the scans of stroke patients so damage was limited to affecting about 200 individuals over the course of the 18 months during which the error in programming went unnoticed. While those patients are experiencing symptoms of radiation poisoning, such as hair loss, there’s at least good news in that the FDA has finally issued alerts to hospitals to read the freakin’ manuals before fiddling with their equipment. [LA Times via Slashdot]

Photo by Akira Ohgaki

It’s currently just a design, but Native Union, the folks who might one day peddle Michael Young’s Moshimy mobile phone dock claim that the dock offers “96% protection from the radiation emitted from every mobile phone”. Wow. Impressive. Until you keep reading for the reasoning behind that “protection”:

[U]sing a separate handset when not actually on the move can spare the user from 96% of radiation compared to using a mobile phone directly.

Ah, so it’s the distance from the actual phone that’s the protection then? OK, so how about rewriting the claim for those of us who like to hug our docks while talking on the phone? [Dezeen via The Design Blog]

This is their top 10 in best phones. The mobile phone with less radiation (0.15 – 0.35 W/kg) is the Samsung Impression SGH-a877. Second position goes to the Motorola RAZR V8 (0.36 W/kg), and third is another Samsung, the SGH-t229.

1. Samsung Impression (SGH-a877)
2. Motorola RAZR V8
3. Samsung SGH-t229
4. Samsung Rugby (SGH-a837)
5. Samsung Propel Pro (SGH-i627)
6. Samsung Gravity (SGH-t459)
7. T-Mobile Sidekick
8. LG Xenon (GR500)
9. Motorola Karma QA1
10. Sanyo Katana II

But wait, where are the big names? Well, as you probably guessed, those are the ones with the bad grades, way down in the list. All the iPhone models have poor scores, with the iPhone 3GS getting 0.52 – 1.19 W/kg. The Palm Pre gets a pretty lousy score too, sitting at 0.92 W/Kg, and so does the T-Mobile G1, at 1.11 W/kg.

So there you go: If you are paranoid, and use your mobile phone a lot without an ear piece, then better be safe than sorry, no matter what the research says now. [All mobile phones Ranking and Smartphones Ranking]

Thanks to students at North Carolina State University (my alma matter), looking like a tool may extend beyond the surly bonds of Earth. Their “Space Snuggie” concept could shield future astronauts from radiation.

Officially called the “Lunar Textshield,” this wearable blanket is made from a lightweight polymer material that has a layer of radiation shielding that deflects or absorbs harmful rays. The skin of the blanket also contains solar cells that help to generate electricity.

If NASA wants to make a permanent base on the moon, the question of how to protect our astronauts from radiation for extended periods of time needs to be addressed. Fabric like this could be the answer—but the fate of the project won’t be known until NASA and the National Institute of Aerospace RASC-AL competition concludes during a forum held from June 1st-3rd. Projects entered into the competition could wind up travelling with astronauts on future moon exploration missions. [Networkworld via Digg]

Since there was no easy way to travel by ship across the Northern coast of the Soviet Union, the smartypants of the Communist regime decided that they needed a chain of autonomous lighthouses that could run 24/7/365. The answer: light-weight nuclear reactors and a generation of lighthouse guards with four hands and six eyes.

Right now, these structures can be visited, if you don’t care about you or your future kids growing up extra members–the lighthouses are, obviously, contaminated with radiation. [English Russia]

During the study, scientists exposed samples of blood to varying degrees of microwave radiation (including levels well below those emitted by mobile phones) for periods between ten to 60 hours. No matter how you cut it, the result was hemoglobin leakage (which just sounds nasty). Obviously, heart disease is the most serious condition of the two, but I can tell you from experience that you don’t want any part of a kidney stone either. Those things could make even Chuck Norris cry like a little girl.

I wouldn’t say that this test was the most thorough ever conducted, but I think deep down we all know that when all is said and done, the final verdict about mobile phone use is going to be grim. [MINA via textually]

Omega, a Belgian health products company that usually markets things like suntan lotion and wart treatments, is branching out into protective tech gadgets. It’s E-wave chip, which attaches onto phones, allegedly offsets electromagnetic radiation and neutralizes the “heating effect” caused by electromagnetic signals. All tests to prove these claims seem to have been done by Omega itself.

In case you’ve run out of tin foil hats, this little device is now out in Belgium for $US50. It’ll be rolled out to the rest of the mobile phone radiation fearing world in 2009. [Reuters]