To me at least, there's very little more annoying than someone nearby yammering on a cellphone. Gets under my skin and just screams "I'm an inconsiderate, rude shmuck." But I wasn't completely sure why I felt that way, until now:

You might imagine that it's simply a question of being riled by loud voices spouting inane drivel about people we've never heard of. But that's not the whole story, say Andrew Monk and his colleagues at the University of York, UK.

We also feel an innate need to listen when we can only hear one side of a conversation, the researchers say. Even if it's no louder than a regular two-way exchange, the fact that we can only hear half means that we instinctively tune in, almost as if we're expecting to join in to complete the conversation.

Unfortunately they don't include the really useful information, like how to cook up a cell jammer or an EMP gun that'll just fry the thing outright. No, can't do that, illegal and all that stuff. Stupid terrorists, ruining everyone else's fun.

I guess it's all for the best, really. I mean, if people were able to fry cell phones at will, Amber might lose hers without even knowing about it. Which could lead to, you know, unfortunate consequences if she were to lock herself inside her car or something.