Warming: A ginger and brown sugar mixture can help fight the effects of the cold weather. [Photo provided to Shanghai Star]

Health in Focus

Cell phones need to be cleaned daily

Research has found we touch our phones up to 150 times a day, and scientists in the United States discovered 7,000 types of bacteria on 51 phone samples. While most are harmless, some are not.

"When you use your phone it heats up, providing the perfect conditions for bacteria to multiply," says Laura Bowater, a microbiologist at the University of East Anglia.

"Enterococcus [found in faeces] and pseudomonas bacteria [animals and soil], both of which cause nasty pathogenic infections, have been discovered on phones. Phones with keypads are worse, as they have crevices. Clean your phone every day with antibacterial wipes, or as often as you can."

Red wine and peanuts help beat Alzheimer disease A glass of red wine or a handful of peanuts could help prevent memory loss because they both contain a crucial antioxidant. Resveratrol has been widely touted for its potential to prevent heart disease, but it also has positive effects on the hippocampus, an area of the brain that is critical to function such as memory, learning and mood.

The findings may have implications for treating memory loss in the elderly. The latest research was led by Ashok K. Shetty, a professor in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Medicine at the Institute for Regenerative Medicine in Texas.

Researchers find sexiest hobbies for men and women How will I ever know which hobbies are the sexiest? It’s a question you probably weren’t considering, but it’s a question that has an answer. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania published a report on this very subject in the Journal of Creative Behavior. Helpfully and considerately, this study organizes pastimes by gender. Women, for example, like men who play sports, take road trips, make "clever remarks" (habitually, one supposes), and record music. Men like women who also play sports, take road trips, but mostly they like women who dance.