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DNA is a fractal antenna in electromagnetic fields (2011)

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

31–40 of 48 posts

Re: DNA is a fractal antenna in electromagnetic fields (2011)

#31

In other news, fractal antennas don't work any better than any other antennas when immersed in a bag of salt water, which is what a cell is.

That's not completely accurate. If you consider the water to also be the antenna things are much more complicated.

The ocean blocks radio waves because it is much much larger than them. A small (very small) ocean would act like an antenna, not an insulator.

Re: DNA is a fractal antenna in electromagnetic fields (2011)

#32
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Evidence trumps theory. A theory can be as clever as you like, but if it disagrees with the evidence, the theory is wrong.

And what is the actual evidence of the visible increase of cancer from EM radiation? Is there a real "signal" or a kind of "noise"? I've also stumbled to this: http://www.febsletters.org/article/S0014-5793%2800%2901822-6...

Well, X-rays of course. There's a pretty strong case to be made that exposure to uv increases skin cancer rates.

I'm sure you mean the lower frequency stuff though, and yeah, that's probably pretty safe.

Re: DNA is a fractal antenna in electromagnetic fields (2011)

#33
post #8

Perhaps we should use spread spectrum techniques instead of a single prominent carrier frequency. That way, the signal will look mostly like noise and will not trigger any biological mechanisms that resonate at certain frequencies.

I do not believe spread spectrum transmission allows for lower transmit or receive power. This would mean that you would just be submitted to more radiation instead of less.

Re: DNA is a fractal antenna in electromagnetic fields (2011)

#34
post #31

In other news, fractal antennas don't work any better than any other antennas when immersed in a bag of salt water, which is what a cell is.

That's not completely accurate. If you consider the water to also be the antenna things are much more complicated. The ocean blocks radio waves because it is much much larger than them. A small (very small) ocean would act like an antenna, not an insulator.

No, the ocean blocks radio waves because its index of refraction at RF is very different from that of free space, resulting in a massive impedance mismatch at the boundary. In bulk matter, this is a scale-independent phenomenon.

Re: DNA is a fractal antenna in electromagnetic fields (2011)

#35
post #26

One reason this is interesting is because of the possible role of charge transfer in the DNA repair mechanism. See the work of Jacqueline Barton's group at Caltech [1] for more information. Here was how it was described when she was awarded the National Medal of Science: "For discovery of a new property of the DNA helix, long-range electron transfer, and for showing that electron transfer depends upon stacking of the…

> ...says the man who just ordered a handheld ham radio transceiver that puts out 5 watts at 144/220/440 MHz, which is several times what a cell phone puts out.

The frequency allocations for 2G cellular communications networks do allow the ME to transmit up to 5W. That figure was inherited from the very first brick phones and still holds up, because, you know, there could be still some brick phones in use :)

Re: DNA is a fractal antenna in electromagnetic fields (2011)

#36
post #32
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And what is the actual evidence of the visible increase of cancer from EM radiation? Is there a real "signal" or a kind of "noise"? I've also stumbled to this: http://www.febsletters.org/article/S0014-5793%2800%2901822-6...

Well, X-rays of course. There's a pretty strong case to be made that exposure to uv increases skin cancer rates. I'm sure you mean the lower frequency stuff though, and yeah, that's probably pretty safe.

Yes, of course, I mean all the waves on the infrared side of the light (those that we call "radio waves") not on the ultraviolet one. And I mean not including heating effects, which are already measured.

Re: DNA is a fractal antenna in electromagnetic fields (2011)

#38

In other news, fractal antennas don't work any better than any other antennas when immersed in a bag of salt water, which is what a cell is.

"a bag of salt water, which is what a cell is"!!? Wow. It always amazes me how physicists manage to reduce the extremely complex and beautiful world of biology for their own computational comfort. Is your brain simply a "bag full of bags of saltwater"? The SAR test rationale assumes it is.

Re: DNA is a fractal antenna in electromagnetic fields (2011)

#40
post #38

In other news, fractal antennas don't work any better than any other antennas when immersed in a bag of salt water, which is what a cell is.

"a bag of salt water, which is what a cell is"!!? Wow. It always amazes me how physicists manage to reduce the extremely complex and beautiful world of biology for their own computational comfort. Is your brain simply a "bag full of bags of saltwater"? The SAR test rationale assumes it is.

> Is your brain simply a "bag full of bags of saltwater"?

Also, sugar.

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