The explosive growth in the use of cellular telephones is threatening the field of radio astronomy which investigates everything from the formation of galaxies to finding better ways of predicting earthquakes (Newsletter of the International Telecommunication Union, No 8).

The warning came from the authors of the new Handbook on Radio Astronomy, published by the European Science Foundation's Committee on Radio Astronomy Frequencies. James Cohen, the Committee's chairperson and co-author of the handbook said that "the interference from radio and cell phone activity on neighbouring bands is a growing problem."