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What's wrong with that quote? That's true of many things in science; we know the existence of a relationship but not the cause. For example, charge separation b
by akd 18y ago
What's wrong with that quote? That's true of many things in science; we know the existence of a relationship but not the cause. For example, charge separation between the sky and ground is a very poorly understood phenomenon, but we know that it happens since we have lightning.
Twenty years from now, we may find that cellphones cause horrible brain problems or that they have no effect at all. What the scientists are saying is that the data we have now doesn't allow us to make a call one way or the other.
- jcl 18y agoI assume the problem with the quote is that saying "we don't know how cellphones cause brain cancer" -- though technically true -- carries the implicit message that "cellphones cause brain cancer"... even though we don't know that, either. For example: "I don't watch reality television," said Dr. Gupta, "While there is no known mechanism for reality television to cause cancer, that doesn't mean it doesn't exist."
- andreyf 18y agoThere is no correlation between reality television and cancer, but there is with cell phone use.
- yummyfajitas 18y agoIs there? I've seen very little that is conclusive. A few studies here and there show some, but that's to be expected: a 5% confidence interval means 1/20 otherwise good studies will get it wrong. Interaction between weak radiation and matter is very well understood (1). Unless the currently known laws of physics are completely wrong, the interaction between cell phone radiation and your brain is so small as to be irrelevant. (1) Look up Fermi's golden rule in Landau/Lifshitz, here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi's_golden_rule http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi's_golden_rule or elsewhere. Also look up multiphoton ionization; if you've got a university library, look up Phys. Rev. A 42, 3090 - 3106 (1990).
- jcl 18y agoActually, I wouldn't be surprised if there is some correlation between reality television and cancer. After all, significant television consumption is correlated with obesity, and obesity is correlated with several forms of cancer -- never mind other risk factors like vitamin D deficiency. For all we know, reality television could be more correlated with cancer than cellphone use.