MRI Could Solve Cellphone Radiation Problems

Years of studies to determine whether cellphones can cause brain tumors have yielded one popular consensus: More studies are needed. One important piece that has been missing from researchers’ arsenals is a way to see what happens to cellphone radiation that is absorbed by the human brain. Two scientists have now developed a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique that they say could solve that problem. This could be an important tool for researchers who are trying to discover whether extensive cellphone use can cause brain tumors or other health problems.

The technique creates high-resolution 3-D images of the heat created by cellphone radiation absorbed in the brain. In research reported this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the scientists demonstrate the method on cow brain matter and a gel that emulates brain tissue. But the procedure could easily be adapted for tests on human brains, says David Gultekin, a medical physicist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, in New York, who led the development of the technique.

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