
Terahertz radiation can disrupt proteins in living cells - consumer451
https://phys.org/news/2020-06-terahertz-disrupt-proteins-cells.html
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mikece
There is so much FUD, conspiracy, and disinformation surrounding the topic of
the hazards of EM radiation to human tissue that it's hard to separate what's
relevant from the hyperbolic. Is there a good primer on which frequencies are
actually harmful to humans? I seem to remember from studying for my amateur
radio license (back in 1990) that the potential harm to a human was based one
height and the frequency in question, that the body would act like an antenna
and resonate with certain frequencies but in the 5G and Terahertz discussions
we're talking about something rather different.

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aSockPuppeteer
Human height ~ frequency. Power level and time are the other parameters.

A 6ft tall person’s resonant frequency is 150MHz. 300,000,000 m/s (light) /
height(wavelength) = frequency

From what I remember, the higher microwave frequencies have less affect unless
they are directed at you or confined like a microwave oven. Then it’s a matter
of the resonant frequencies of water.

There is more to it but that’s just an intro.

“The most dangerous frequencies of electromagnetic energy are X-rays, gamma
rays, ultraviolet light and microwaves. X-rays, gamma rays and UV light can
damage living tissues, and microwaves can cook them.”
-[https://sciencing.com/wavelengths-frequencies-
dangerous-7487...](https://sciencing.com/wavelengths-frequencies-
dangerous-7487438.html)

~~~
hopfscotch
Humans are not conductive enough for standing waves to form at that scale, so
this analysis does not make sense. The human body, as a macro object, does not
resonate with EM waves in any way.

Proteins in the body are a different story, obviously.

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consumer451
Deeper link:
[https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-65955-5](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-65955-5)

~~~
Junk_Collector
It's interesting to me because this same team published
[https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-28245-9](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-28245-9)

which claims to show that THz radiation promotes actin filaments, but their
new publication claims are that the THz radiation induces mechanical
vibrations which remove or destroy actin filaments. It will be interesting to
see where this all goes.

~~~
elcritch
They could be doing both. Similar to how oxidants stimulate cellular
regeneration. If the THz waves induce mechanical destruction, especially on
already weakened or damaged actin filaments, it could induce cellular repair
mechanisms to create new action. It might be something useful in certain
cases. Say, deep cellular regeneration... or not.

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flingo
What's the goal in posting this/having this phrasing?

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terahertz_gap](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terahertz_gap)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_spectrum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_spectrum)

Please point to the spot on the EM-specrtum that you're scared of, and tell me
what color it is.

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sansnomme
HN needs something like r/science's level of rigorous moderation when it comes
to comments on scientific articles that are not math/CS/classical mechanics
related.

