Snipped from SciAm.com.

Here is some snack food for the brain. SciAm went out and got some hard evidence for the everyday wonders — ever wonder about cell phone use and brain tumors, if certain creams can make your thighs thinner, or if you are smarter than a chimp? Well, then you will love this little bite-size review of this week’s science news.

Here is a small portion of the article:

Cell phones may up tumor risk

Is your cell phone practically glued to your ear? Beware: New research published in the American Journal of Epidemiology says that regular mobile phone use may increase your risk of developing tumors. AFP reports that Israeli researchers found that frequent cell phone users—described as people who chatter on mobiles more than 22 hours a month—had a nearly 50 percent higher risk than others of developing a tumor on the parotid gland (the largest of the salivary glands on the side of the face just in front of the ear).

Are you smarter than a chimp?

Don’t count on it. Japanese researchers pit young chimps against human adults in short-term memory tests—and, lo and behold, monkey, um, ape beat man. “No one could imagine that chimpanzees—young chimpanzees at the age of five—have a better performance in a memory task than humans,” researcher Tetsuro Matsuzawa of Kyoto University said in a statement. In one test, chimps taught to count from one to nine (in return for a peanut or other treat) competed with a dozen human volunteers in monitoring numbers that turned into squares on a computer screen. The goal was to touch all the squares in order of the numerals they replaced. Researchers report in Current Biology that the chimpanzees—although no more accurate—were quicker on the uptake than people.