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So often "pure" rationalizations fail in the realms of complex systems and biological systems, such as the principal of bio-accumulation of toxins, where extremely low environmental levels of a substance may aggregate to very high levels in a predator species. Or japanese subway cars where the high number of cell phones, and the closed metal shell of the car, can cause standing waves (microwave hotspots) within the car, far greater than the individual phones power output. Resonance can cause astonishing accumulations of power from very low power sources.

The most compelling description of neuronal damage in the brain due to microwave EMF at low levels, similar to a cell phone were studies which found that the blood brain barrier membrane in rats dilated slightly under low level microwave EMF. This then allowed albumin proteins to pass through the membrane into the brain, where subsequent neuronal damage was caused through the molecular interactions.

So, the amount of power required to induce the membrane change was in fact too low to directly cause tissue damage, but the brain was profoundly perturbed due to a subsequent cascade of effects. The world (and us) are symbiotic and minor changes can destabilize the entire system. Acting like a know-it-all cuz you weren't open to following a counter-intuitive concept all the way through is kinda dangerous.. znew=z^2+c

"...but they're still slurping a monsterous percentage of the Colorado River."

I wouldn't recommend that for pregnant women BTW.

The stuff tends to concentrate in breast milk and in some produce.

As Woody Allen said in Sleeper, my brain is my second favorite organ. Ever since I read about this research and saw a few before and after pictures:
protectingourhealth.org
I have used the headset pretty much exclusively. I also try to hold it away from my first favorite organ as well; I haven't noticed any research about this but I'm sure I don't want to see THOSE pictures.

Can anyone explain why people think mobiles cause cancer?

Because heating while being the most straight forward concern, isn't the only one. Tests on a rat model here in Sweden seems to indicate that mobile phone radiation could make the blood-brain barrier more permeable to the protein albumin. While this doesn't cause cancer, it does cause brain damage. And brain damage was observed in the rats. No-one is quite clear why, albumin wasn't thought to be that dangerous, but a hypothesis is that it takes heavy metals with it from the rest of the body.

So in short the jury's still out on the subject. It's as you said: if heating was the only possible mechanism in which EM fields could affect humans, we'd be set.

Salford et al. document serious neuronal damage in rat brains following exposure to microwave radiation from a cell phone, at levels comparable to what people would experience during normal use. Damage to nerve cells was observed in several places within the brain, including the cortex, hippocampus and basal ganglia. It was associated with evidence of leakage of proteins through the blood-brain barrier. The authors express concern that "after some decades of (often) daily use, a whole generation of [cell phone] users may suffer negative effects, perhaps as early as middle age."

The above excerpt from here

-FL

-FL

1. Biological nervous systems are electrochemical in nature. This is why EEG scanners work; they are able to pick up on EM activity generated by the brain. In all systems where electromagnetic signals are integral, foriegn signals can have an impact.

2. There are documented mechanisms [geocities.com] through which low power, non-ionizing EM fields can affect the function of the nervous system.

3. Very small currents are all that are needed to causes these effects.

4. High frequency signals which are modulated to replicate lower frequencies, (As seen in Cell phone technology), are sufficient to cause effects.

5. The ocean of EM we live in DOES have an effect. Sleep, reproductive and various other biological cycles have been shown to be deeply affected, and often reliant upon ambient EM from the Earth and sky.

-FL

1. Biological nervous systems are electrochemical in nature. This is why EEG scanners work; they are able to pick up on EM activity generated by the brain. This being the case, electromagnetic signals MUST be able to also cause an effect. --To be very blunt, speakers and microphones are interchangeable.

2. There are documented mechanisms through which low power, non-ionizing EM fields can affect the function of the nervous system.

3. Very small currents are all that are needed to causes these effects.

4. High frequency signals which are modulated to replicate lower frequencies, (As seen in Cell phone technology), are sufficient to cause effects.

5. The ocean of EM we live in DOES have an effect. Sleep, reproductive and various other biological cycles have been shown to be deeply affected, and often reliant upon ambient EM from the Earth and sky.

-FL

But, aside from the statistics of how effective they are, meteorology passes two tests that astrology does not: there is a plausible explanation given for why it should work; and the results are falsifiable.

Of course the parallel between weather and astrology ends at this point. There are, to my knowledge, only theories as to why Astrology works. Some of them sound fairly reasonable, but none is testable in a lab setting with the current knowledge allowed by orthodox science. --Which is not to say that there is not available a lot of otherwise good science which might be used to explain the hows and whys behind human behavior patterns. (For instance, how biological life is affected by electromagnetism and gravity is a wide and largely untapped area of study. Robert O. Becker has raised many observations which might be worth considering.) People have indeed been studying this stuff for a good long time in a variety of arenas. But certain areas of knowledge are very much off-limits to the public realm. Becker, for instance, despite his long and respected career, his many contributions to science and medicine, the inherent value of his work in these 'off-limits' areas is largely ignored.

As well, it is true that most 'astrologers' are jokers, so of course they are going to play the non-falsifiable game. I don't argue with that at all, but then I don't consider them important to any discussion about Astrology except in recognizing that they are part of the fog bank which helps to obscure things.

It would be nice if public arena science could hand out answers regarding the mysterious forces upon which Astrology is based. --Heck, it would be nice if public arena science could hand out answers regarding the mysterious forces upon which Quantum Physics is based. But at the moment, public domain science can do neither. --It does not stop, however, those forces from being both predictable, and useful areas of study.

Very simply, just because something cannot be explained does not mean it isn't there. There are a lot of things which cannot yet be explained but which I am sure could be, (and very probably have been), given enough time and proper study.

There are two problems with Astrology and Energy practices; 1. They are derived from periods of history which came before the arise of scientific doctrine, and as such, have the dubious honor of falling under the same umbrella as religion and dark-age belief systems; that is, they are treated as toys and subjects put away with the childhood of the human race. And 2., were they acknowledged and taken seriously by the modern world, they would prevent the current power structure from being able to direct and control humanity in quite the way it does.

Becker again is an example. --Cellphone radiation is a hot button topic, as we all know. In Becker's study of Acupuncture, (which the American military first turned him on to, because, "We don't know why, but gosh Darn it! It sure seems to work! We want to use it on the battle field. See what you can come up with." --Through researching this, Becker discovered that the function of the human body is enormously affected by micro-currents of DC electricity. (When those acupuncture needles are inserted and set to rotating in the air, they generate micro currents which go on to affect the body in certain ways.) This led into wider areas of research, including everything from how non stem-cells can and do dedifferentiate, to the understanding of certain mechanics through which EM radiation affect the human nervous system in a multitude of ways entirely ignored, and worse, actively rejected by the media, corporate and government bodies, and by those in academia.

Here's an article on Cell phone radiation and how it has been shown to cause the blood-brain barrier to become permeable; something previously claimed impossible by many in respected science. I