Not long ago, Five Nerds made a semi-tasteless (alright, completely tasteless) joke about the longstanding hypothesis that cell-phones give you cancer.

We said that it wouldn’t be long before people were shouting about the risks of radiating our noggins, and it appears we were right.

Submitted for your reading pleasure, an article about a recent study which suggests that people who use their phones actively have “significantly higher” brain activity in the area closest to the telephone antenna.  The National Institutes of Health study measured glucose metabolism of the brain as an indicator, and it is still too early to predict whether the effects are long-lasting or dangerous. 

The article further suggests that wireless earpieces might be a lower wattage alternative to holding your antenna so close to your dome.

With that said, if you have the choice of radiating your brain, or not radiating your brain, it really doesn’t seem like a choice, does it?

Researchers at McGill University are suggesting that relying on your GPS too much can damage your hippocampus.

The hippocampus is the region of the brain, largely responsible for long-term memory, and spatial navigation.  It is usually one of the first parts of the brain damaged in patients with Alzheimer’s disease, which explains why symptoms of the disease include memory problems and disorientation.

Like most parts of the body, McGill researchers are suggesting that if you don’t use it, you lose it.  

Functional MRI scans were performed on older adults, and results were divided between GPS and non-GPS users. The subjects accustomed to navigating by spatial means were found to have higher activity and a greater volume of gray matter in the hippocampus than those used to relying on GPS.

These non-GPS users also performed better on a standardized test used in the diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment, which often precedes the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.

University College London researchers performed similar tests a decade ago on taxi drivers, and determined that their hippocampus grew larger as the drivers spent more time in the job.

The McGill Neuroscientists believe that using spatial memory regularly may keep the hippocampus fit, and could help minimize risk of later impairment.  They further hypothesize that future studies may show a link between reduced hippocampus activity and earlier onset of Alzheimer’s or dementia.

Perhaps the next time you go someplace you have already been—you will rely a bit more on your memory, and only turn your GPS on if you feel you can’t get there from here.

Some of you might be familiar with Stephen Colbert’s word:  Wikiality.  The word is a mash-up of Wikipedia and reality, and basically means that if it is on Wikipedia, people will accept it as reality.  He poised to viewers that if enough people repeat a falsehood, it becomes fact, and encouraged them to make claims to Wikipedia that the African elephant population had tripled in the previous six months.  Viewers did it, and Wikipedia was amended (albeit temporarily) to reflect the new fact that elephants were no longer endangered.

There are a lot of unsubstantiated claims which are repeated often enough, that they are accepted as fact.

Misconception Junction has compiled a top ten list, which we hope our fellow nerds will enjoy:

So before we get into it, this isn’t going to be an Apple-bashing session.  When I use the phrase iPod, I mean any portable listening device.  I suppose iPod has become the household term, much the same as Kleenex means tissue to most people. 

Let’s expand further to any device which we use on a frequent basis that forces our mind to work, even when we think we are relaxing—i.e. television, phone, automobile.

The New York Times reported today that scientists at University of California, San Francisco have issued the findings of a new study on rats, and the way they process new information.  Rats that give their minds a rest have better recollection of their new-found information.  The scientists suspect that this may be the same amongst humans, and certainly nerds are a subgenus of humans, so this should concern you too.

University of Michigan studies have shown that people who walk in a serene natural environment learn significantly better afterward, than a control group which walked in an urban setting.  The correlation being suggested is that processing information fatigues the mind, even if it is something we enjoy, or perceive as relaxing.

As we struggle to stay connected in an ever-evolving technological landscape, should we worry that we aren’t getting enough real downtime, and giving our brains time to process new information?

Perhaps that is why I’m a big fan of naps. 

The next time you think you are relaxing in front of the television, think about how hard your brain is working to keep up.  Even more if you are multitasking (I have the television on in the background as I write this). 

You owe it to yourself to relax more, and take in what you are learning.  Are you giving yourself enough rest?