Bailey Mosier Recaps The Top Stories In Women's Health For The Week Of June 3, 2011.
Hi, I'm Bailey Mosier and this is EmpowHER's, HER Week In Health.
In this week’s edition, a health advisory panel warns that cell phone radiation may possibly cause cancer; one English professor’s Wikipedia assignment motivated her students to perform better in the classroom and a new type of bandage helps to drastically reduce the incidence of scarring.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer announced earlier this week that cell phones are “possibly carcinogenic”.
The World Health Organization panel didn’t conduct any new research, but rather, the group of 31 scientists from 14 countries examined numerous existing studies that focused on radio frequency magnetic fields which are emitted from cell phones.
The group says high cell phone usage may be linked to a rare type of brain tumor, but other experts criticize the group’s misleading conclusions, telling consumers to understand the difference between labeling cell phones as a “possible” carcinogenic and telling us they pose a real health risk.
Experts say we are safe to continue using our cell phones, but that it’s never a bad idea to use a hands-free headset or text message to lower our radio frequency exposure.
A college professor from Canada recently assigned her students to write short biographies on Canadian authors that would then be posted to Wikipedia.
She found that once her students realized their work would live in the public realm, they were motivated to produce better-written, accurately cited, factual pieces.
The professor believes that because students were asked to work on something integral to their internet-browsing lives, they were more inclined to do a good job and hone skills that would transfer outside the classroom.
The college professor is not insisting her Wikipedia way is the only way students can learn, but she hopes her initial experiment will at least get the conversation started on how to better integrate modern technologies into the classroom and motivate students to produce better work.
Colleagues from Stanford University have invented a bandage that prevents injured skin from deforming as it heals, drastically reducing scarring.
The bandage works because it shields the stress of everyday activity and actually prevents the wound’s edges from being stretched or pulled by daily movement. Think of it like how a cast holds a broken bone in place to heal, the new bandage holds skin tight and renders it immovable and impervious to the outside world.
Further testing needs to be done but these bandages could mean lesser severe and fewer total scars for us all.
That wraps up your EmpowHER HER Week In Health. Join me here, at EmpowHER.com every Friday as we recap the latest in women’s health.
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