Using a hairdrier could damage your short-term memory - but it recovers as soon as the device is switched off, say researchers at the University of Bristol.
Alan Preece and his colleagues conducted standard memory tests on volunteers who had electrical coils placed on either side of their heads. The coils generated an alternating magnetic field but the volunteers were not told whether they were switched on. The researchers found a significant short-term memory loss when the coils were generating a magnetic field
* International Journal of Radiation Biology