CAn YOU HeAR me NOW?

Muse, Mar 2005

What exactly is it about cellphones that makes them so maddening? Scientists with nerves of steel have been trying to find out. The answer, recently reported in news@nature.com, might surprise you. When you can hear only one side of a conversation, your brain thinks you should listen because you might have to reply.

So even if you really don't want to know what the cellphone user is saying, you have more trouble tuning out his monologue than the dialogue of two people sitting nearby. Makes sense to us. As does providing everyone with a personal cellphone jammer at cellphone company expense.