The electromagnetic radiation from mobile phones appears to offer protection against Alzheimer's disease, at least in mice. Researchers in the United States were expecting the radiation to harm the mice's brains. However, they found it had the opposite effect.

Mice that had been genetically modified to develop Alzheimer's were found not to do so after extended exposure to electromagnetic radiation. Those that already had the disease were cured.

The mice were exposed to a level of radiation comparable to using a mobile phone for two hours a day for between seven and nine months.

Despite years of research, no effective therapy for Alzheimer's has yet been developed. The researchers think the radiation may have the same positive effect on humans as it has on mice.

A US Alzheimer's expert warns that the research is still in an early phase. He says elderly people should not start holding their mobile phones to their heads in the hope of preventing the disease. For years there have been suspicions that mobile phones may actually cause brain tumours.

Photo: Mobile phone - Flickr/Bah Humbug