Gizmodo: add

Cellphone Use While Pregnant Causes Kids To Go Haywire, Study Says

Elaine Chow — Sun, 18 May 2008 15:30:00 EDT

Pregnant women should probably add cellphones to the list of things they need to avoid, along with alcohol, sushi and cat poo. A giant study that surveyed over 13,000 children found that women who used mobile phones when pregnant were more likely to give birth to kids with behavioral problems.

The study, conducted by UCLA and Aarhus University in Denmark, found that using cell phones just two or three times a day would raise the risk of their babies developing hyperactivity and emotional disorders by the time they enter Kindergarten.

The scientists responsible for the study say that the results were "unexpected," and that they haven't discovered what biological mechanisms causes the problems. But the results stayed the same even when they accounted for other possible causes—such as smoking, family psychiatric history or socio-economic status.

But before everyone freaks out and buys a MummyWrap, the scientists stress that the results "should be interpreted with caution" and affirmed by other studies. In the meantime, maybe tell Mommy-to-be to limit her cellphone use a little bit, just in case. [The Independent via Textually]

Brix Modular Cell Phone Concept Can Expand to Big-Screen Proportions

ybaranovsky — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 20:00:16 EDT

Watching TV on a cell phone is about as fun as taking a drill to your eye — and that's something concept designer Seokwon Hong hopes to alleviate with the Brix. The Brix is a modular concept for a cell phone that would allow you to create a bigger and bigger screen depending on how many Brix bezel-less modules you may have.

We're not quite sure how feasible this concept is just yet. If every Brix model would cost as much as they look like they would cost, you'd be spending a fortune getting a lot of these, unless one acts as a hub and the others are cheap screen modules and even that would probably cost you at least a lung or two. [YankoDesign via SciFi]

South Korea to Build Robot Land, Robots Rejoice in Electronic Bliss

ybaranovsky — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 22:19:17 EDT

If there's one thing the world sorely needs it's some sort of place where robots can go to chat, find love, and make plans to destroy Humanity. Luckily, South Korea is well-aware of their plight and has announced plans to build "Robot Land" — a city entirely created for the robotics industry. The city will feature facilities for research, development, and production of robots — it'll even have a stadium for robot-related competitions, like the much-heralded "Who Can Malfunction And Kill Everyone First" contest.

The project will cost $530 million dollars and will begin construction sometime in 2009 — which is also the year North Korea begins construction on their very own "Crazy Killer Robot Land" — a land that may or may not have nuclear weapons. [WaziWazi via SciFi]