Amir Raz, assistant professor of clinical neuroscience at Columbia University, offers the following answer.
Definitely. Radiation is energy and research findings provide at least some information concerning how specific types may influence biological tissue, including that of the brain. In some cases the effect may be therapeutic. For example, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a technique used to induce a short-term interruption of normal activity in a relatively restricted area of the brain by rapidly changing a strong magnetic field near the area of interest. Mark George provided a nice account of TMS in the September 2003 issue of Scientific American. In it he described how head-mounted wire coils can deliver powerful yet evanescent magnetic pulses directly into focal brain regions to painlessly modulate neural activity by inducing minute electric currents. Clinically, TMS may be helpful in alleviating certain symptoms, including those of depression.
Researchers typically differentiate between the effects of ionizing radiation (such as far-ultraviolet, X-ray and gamma ray) and nonionizing radiation (including visible light, microwave and radio). The ionizing variety may be undesirable because it can cause DNA damage and mutations, thus we should all limit our exposure to its sources--radioactive materials and solar radiation among them. However, given modern technology, nonionizing radiation from power lines, personal wireless devices, cell phone towers and other sources is practically unavoidable. Extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields (EMF) surround home appliances as well as high-voltage electrical transmission lines and transformers.
Evidence of health effects from EMF, including their influence on the brain, is inconclusive, and the probability that EMF exposure is a genuine health hazard is currently small. Nevertheless, exposure to high levels of nonionizing energy, such as at radio wave frequencies, can damage the structure and function of the nervous system. For example, microwave frequencies below 3,000 megahertz can penetrate the outer layers of the skin, be absorbed in the underlying tissues, and result in all of the known biological effects of heating, including burns, cataracts, and possibly death. Indeed, government regulators set most exposure limits to ensure that the amount of tissue heated by the absorption of energy is not in excess of what the body can take.
It is possible that heating is not the only effect of radiation. Some scientists claim that human tissue, including the brain, may be affected nonthermally. Regrettably, many exposure parameters, such as frequency, orientation, modulation, power density and duration, make it difficult to directly compare experiments and draw specific conclusions at nonthermal levels. Also, it is important to remember that, perhaps expectedly, interpretations of findings in this area of investigation are shrouded in controversy, particularly because special interests may influence some of the research. The publication of findings does not necessarily scientifically validate a study.
At lower levels of exposure, evidence for specific effects that may occur as a result of direct neural interactions with radio frequency fields is sparse. In addition, many of the studies that claim provocative results have yet to be replicated by independent laboratories. Other studies describe potential associations. For example, a recent report suggests that the low-intensity electromagnetic field of geomagnetic storms--disturbances in the earth¿s magnetic field caused by gusts of solar wind--may have a subtle but measurable influence on suicide incidence in women.
In recent years, cell phones, which transmit and receive at radio frequencies, have become ubiquitous. Researchers have investigated whether these low-intensity radio waves influence the central nervous system and cognitive performance. A few studies concluded that cell phone exposure enhanced certain aspects of cognitive performance as measured by reaction time and accuracy; others showed no difference, and a few, including a very recent investigation, showed that such exposure had detrimental effects in specific contexts such as attention span. Replication of either the negative or positive effects of exposure on cognition is sorely lacking in the scientific literature and more work is required to verify and reconcile differences between studies reporting either contradictory or no effects.
See what we're tweeting about
5 Comments
Add CommentWhat are the affects of absorption of antena directed radio waves absorbed by humans?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSince this article is so old, I am not sure if the author will recieve this comment, but i have to try. My girlfriend and friend have both been diagnosed with FibroMylgia; one of them has Autism. I have been postulating that with a missing genetic marker or an extra one, the bodies' defences to external disruptions in the brain's electromagnetic field are weakened and could cause a recalibration of normal brain function in the sense that the rate of neuronal firing increases and sends a false message of urgency and pain to the brain. I have a theory that might explain why I believe this.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI will post it next.
I am not a scientist nor have I the education to provide the math to prove my theory, however I do have ideas to search for the proof. I believe that should this theory prove true, it will answer many questions we have about the universe around us; not just the grand reaches of space, but also the invisible micro world right before our eyes. So here is my theory:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisUsing particle duality, consider the electromagnetic particle created by a neuron. It contains information that travels from point A to points B, C, etc.; within the brain. The electromagnetic waves that are emitted from brain activity produce a sea of light and sound around us and any living organism that produces or consumes energy. Each information particle produced in the brain by the sparking of a neuron carries a wave that connects a ‘doppelganger’ particle outside the brain. The swarm of particle activity inside the brain is copied and tethered outside the brain and swirls in the light and sound we produce. Because our brains do not produce high energy, the wave lengths are too low to be detectable by our own senses.
The light and sound is like a personal bubble that resonates at a certain frequency that corresponds to our mood and intensity of brain activity. When two people's ‘bubbles’ intermingle, the information particles swirling in the sea of light and sound have an opportunity to exchange or transfer information from person to person. If the polarity and frequency is compatible, the exchange and/or transfer take place. A personal quantum signature tags every electromagnetic particle created by our brains. This tag stays with the particle no matter where it goes. I believe that these particles containing information can also be sent to a specific location; an intentional transfer, especially if the sender is familiar with the quantum signature of the receiver, such as a twin. These particles can go from person to person to flower to rabbit to person,.. basically riding the light and sound waves of living things to arrive at its destination. The particle would find suitable polarities and frequencies to propel itself along the waves.
EEG's can record the brain waves that can be transferred to sound through a little creativity and some background in music and sound. Work is being done on that right now by a hand full of people, however they are either missing the science or the music background to get anywhere. Aura photography has captured the light waves emitted by our brains, but the resolution has not gotten to the point of seeing the particles within the light. A slow motion camera has been used to see the firing neurons inside the brain to the tune of 1 million frames a second. Although, I have seen; with relaxed eyes and a focus close to my face, these particles moving around. It is always only seen against a baby blue sky background. They look like small balls of energy riding along invisible pathways; like that of a network of neurons. The number of particles and the speed are always dependent on how deep in thought I am.
I think that if we can fine tune and connect these detecting devices, we should be able to view and hear the sights and sounds of our consciousness. We would then realize that we are connected to all living things and are in a sense all the same, only quantifyingly different. We may also find this micro process to be the case for larger things in the universe.
Thank you for the opportunity to share my theory with you. I look forward to your comments.
Whitehorseking: The simplified truth is that, as the old new age hippy saying goes, "everything is light". Or more scientifically speaking, everything is electromagnetic energy. Everything is literally all one and the same thing, and it is only the rate of the waves and the size of the waves (at high speeds like in radio and light waves and the speed at which the atom twirls, these could be seen as "vibrations") which distinguishes one thing from another in this vast array of existence around us.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt is only that most frequencies cannot be picked up and experienced by our sensory organs. Just as humans cannot see ultraviolet light, as an example, and yet both our full color spectrum and ultraviolet light is only a tiny fraction of the frequencies.
Radio waves are yet another. These waves travel through solid objects, like the aether that was once spoken of with mystic overtones; that element so fine that it passed right through everything at first glance, but the deepest truth is that the ether is what held all things together. Now, we are seeing this with science, as per the unified theory and this quest for absolute knowledge of our physical world.
Radio waves, light, and likely even the gears twirling the bits of the atom, are all recognized as a frequency of electromagnetic energy. Could our thoughts be anything else? So for these massive waves of radiation, however "harmless"... the air does not "harm" the water, yet winds will create waves and also help evaporate water.
Even if these radio waves are "finer" than our brain waves, it will have an influence. And if our minds are the finer of the two? We're in big trouble. Our minds are not solid, they are fluid, constantly fluxing and changing. The energy pattern of that is one that can be influenced. These waves must have some effect.
CharlieCobb: Thankyou for responding to my theory.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe Mayans based their calendar on ages of perception, so I believe that their calendar stops at a time when perception of the world will change...our perception of the world. If these informational particles could be seen; floating all around us, then I believe that a revelation of community will take place. The perception of the world, beliefs and knowledge will all completely change if we could see that we are all connected as one.
ESP, mass consciousness, shared experience, nurture and nature, good and evil, mental disorders, brain injuries, truth or lies; these could all be explained with the proof of this theory. It might even reveal the mechanics of the universal motion; meaning how galaxies rotate, orbit, tether together...a model of mechanics that may be applied to larger scale mechanics as well as smaller scale.
Imagine that the Earth or even the Milky Way galaxy as a large scale information particle. Is it inside the body of God or outside? We in Him and He in us? Are the particles that are too small for us to see just galaxies or planets that contain life? I believe the theory is sound, but I need help to prove it. Do you think it can be done?
Let me know what you think.