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I don't personally believe that non-ionizing radiation can cause any damage, but if I put on my "brainstorming" hat, I can think of some things to test to at le
by deftnerd 7y ago
I don't personally believe that non-ionizing radiation can cause any damage, but if I put on my "brainstorming" hat, I can think of some things to test to at least rule them out.
Non-ionizing radiation doesn't have the power necessary to remove charged particles like electrons from atoms, but it does have the energy necessary to physically move or manipulate atoms. It's probably not enough to actually remove atoms from molecules (although, I'm curious how much energy would be necessary to do that)...
But, if certain atoms are able to have their motion or position in molecules affected, even in minute amounts, could that affect biological processes such as the energy necessary for cellular machinery to split DNA? Or to work with RNA? Or could it affect protein folding? Just how sensitive is our biological machinery to small adjustments of those reliable constants? And would that cause any problems, or just make our cellular machinery use a tiny bit more or less ATP?
Overall, I think the cellular processes in all the life on earth are likely very robust. the tiny amount of inefficiencies (possibly) brought on due to an increasing background RF level likely has no effect at all, but it wouldn't hurt to check it out.
It would be like asking "how does the introduction of a single drop of water in a car gas tank affect performance". The answer is probably "pretty much not at all", but it gives an opportunity to design some exciting and useful testing methods that could be used for other purposes in other experiments.
Learning how to determine energy used by cellular machinery with that kind of precision could be very useful for a lot of biological science and drug research. Learning how, and what kind, of RF can affect different atomic bonds might yield useful information like how to slightly strengthen or weaken molecules temporarily, which might open up possible chemical reactions that were previously "almost possible".