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Brain abnormalities found in victims of US embassy attack in Cuba

theguardian.com

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Re: Brain abnormalities found in victims of US embassy attack in Cuba

#11

Post by kurthr »

rdtsc wrote: post #4

> As Cuba works to limit damage to its reputation and economy, its government has produced TV specials and an online summit about its own investigation. I guess if is deliberate, it might be interesting to look who would benefit from it? It hurts American diplomats but it also hurts Cuba's position. Would stand to benefit from Cuba looking bad or from hurting the improved relationship between Cuba and US. There was t…

What's interesting is that we don't even know if this is a screw-up or intentional (and it could be both since multiple parties are involved). It really doesn't seem like an acoustic effect (as raised in the article) and may well be a modulated microwave since that would correspond both to the locality of the "noise" and brain effects. Or it could simply be very high powered.

http://www.newsweek.com/russia-us-attack-cuba-officials-6495...

http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/13/politics/cuba-us-diplomats-aco...

I fully expect a barrage, but based on your question, cui bono... Russia needs to keep the US separate from Cuba. They want the client state that provides a physical base and influence in the US backyard. Why now is another question, but perhaps because they thought they could get away with it now.

Re: Brain abnormalities found in victims of US embassy attack in Cuba

#12

Post by dumbneurologist »

mccoyspace wrote: post #3

This is such a fascinating (and disturbing) situation. And quite mysterious. High frequency ultrasound is used routinely in medicine and has never been shown to change brain tissue. Infrasound has some effect on tissue but its probably overstated. (the infamous 'brown note' [1]. Other sonic weapons rely on volume/amplitude. None of this seems to be the case here. Another really interesting point is the description of…

ultrasound is completely capable of not only affecting brain tissue, but destroying it.

as with anything else: it's about the amount of energy you put into it.

Focused ultrasound would be completely capable, and share the quality of being perceptable in the targeted region, and absent elsewhere.

https://www.fusfoundation.org/diseases-and-conditions/neurol...

Re: Brain abnormalities found in victims of US embassy attack in Cuba

#15

Post by acdanger »

MsMowz wrote: post #14

I think it's interesting that this was immediately framed as an "attack," with of course the implication being that the Cuban government attacked American diplomats, since Cuba has so much to lose from attacking diplomats and literally nothing to gain.

True. But it's also possible that this a deliberate attack carried out by an actor other than the Cuban government.

Re: Brain abnormalities found in victims of US embassy attack in Cuba

#16

Post by ImSkeptical »

rdtsc wrote: post #5
mccoyspace wrote: post #3

This is such a fascinating (and disturbing) situation. And quite mysterious. High frequency ultrasound is used routinely in medicine and has never been shown to change brain tissue. Infrasound has some effect on tissue but its probably overstated. (the infamous 'brown note' [1]. Other sonic weapons rely on volume/amplitude. None of this seems to be the case here. Another really interesting point is the description of…

Can something activate the perception of the sound in the brain, maybe a high intensity ultrasound or another frequency that with enough intensity would activate the hairs in the inner ear or the nerve signals. For something to cause brain damage through the skin and skull bone it would have to be pretty intense I would imagine...

I believe they have an audio recording of the sound, suggesting it's not purely a brain activation/attack.

https://youtu.be/HcI7yYK_6Z8

Re: Brain abnormalities found in victims of US embassy attack in Cuba

#17

Post by mc32 »

rdtsc wrote: post #4

> As Cuba works to limit damage to its reputation and economy, its government has produced TV specials and an online summit about its own investigation. I guess if is deliberate, it might be interesting to look who would benefit from it? It hurts American diplomats but it also hurts Cuba's position. Would stand to benefit from Cuba looking bad or from hurting the improved relationship between Cuba and US. There was t…

It could be that these were unintended side effects of something else they were trying to do.

Perh they were testing some new surveillance or countersurveillance tech but things didn't work out as planned, snafus and of course they got outed by the obvious effects or side effects.

It would be hard to believe the resulting effects were deliberate. The actions yes, but not how they worked out.

Re: Brain abnormalities found in victims of US embassy attack in Cuba

#18

Post by Spooky23 »

rdtsc wrote: post #4

> As Cuba works to limit damage to its reputation and economy, its government has produced TV specials and an online summit about its own investigation. I guess if is deliberate, it might be interesting to look who would benefit from it? It hurts American diplomats but it also hurts Cuba's position. Would stand to benefit from Cuba looking bad or from hurting the improved relationship between Cuba and US. There was t…

Venezuela, China and the Russia come to mind.

Cuba is an incredibly undervalued asset. They have a well educated population, resources and are a political gateway to Latin America, which is an incredibly valuable, undervalued market. When Cuba finally opens up the economy, they are going to be an incredibly strategic target for all of the global power blocs.

Re: Brain abnormalities found in victims of US embassy attack in Cuba

#19

Post by raverbashing »

dumbneurologist wrote: post #12
mccoyspace wrote: post #3

This is such a fascinating (and disturbing) situation. And quite mysterious. High frequency ultrasound is used routinely in medicine and has never been shown to change brain tissue. Infrasound has some effect on tissue but its probably overstated. (the infamous 'brown note' [1]. Other sonic weapons rely on volume/amplitude. None of this seems to be the case here. Another really interesting point is the description of…

ultrasound is completely capable of not only affecting brain tissue, but destroying it. as with anything else: it's about the amount of energy you put into it. Focused ultrasound would be completely capable, and share the quality of being perceptable in the targeted region, and absent elsewhere. https://www.fusfoundation.org/diseases-and-conditions/neurol...

Yes, but at which frequencies, power and more important, acoustic coupling with the skull?

Re: Brain abnormalities found in victims of US embassy attack in Cuba

#20

Post by lazerpants »

dumbneurologist wrote: post #12
mccoyspace wrote: post #3

This is such a fascinating (and disturbing) situation. And quite mysterious. High frequency ultrasound is used routinely in medicine and has never been shown to change brain tissue. Infrasound has some effect on tissue but its probably overstated. (the infamous 'brown note' [1]. Other sonic weapons rely on volume/amplitude. None of this seems to be the case here. Another really interesting point is the description of…

ultrasound is completely capable of not only affecting brain tissue, but destroying it. as with anything else: it's about the amount of energy you put into it. Focused ultrasound would be completely capable, and share the quality of being perceptable in the targeted region, and absent elsewhere. https://www.fusfoundation.org/diseases-and-conditions/neurol...

But generating that much energy requires a huge piece of equipment. For example, the unit used for the ablative technique you linked to is quite large and works only at very short distances.

[image of device] https://www.israel21c.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/insight...

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