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How We Reverse Engineered the Cuban “Sonic Weapon” Attack (2018)
- BossingAround 5y agoI thought it was accepted now that those were cicadas? [1] [2] [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/04/science/sonic-attack-cuba-crickets.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/04/science/sonic-attack-cuba... [2] https://gimletmedia.com/shows/science-vs/76hgkmv/havana-syndrome-did-a-secret-weapon-fry https://gimletmedia.com/shows/science-vs/76hgkmv/havana-synd...
- jlmorton 5y agoIt is. The linked article is from 2018, before it was determined the recordings were of crickets.
- jjeaff 5y agoBut that doesn't explain the now hundreds of similar reports of illness and other side effects, usually reported after hearing the sound.
- jonny_eh 5y agoMass hysteria combined with nocebo effect? Triggered by an encounter with cicada trapped in a hotel room. Similar example, the Pokemon Panic of 1997: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Radford#Pok%C3%A9mon_panic_(1997) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Radford#Pok%C3%A9mon_... A few legit cases of seizure triggered thousands of "false" cases.
- fay59 5y agoThese attacks are reported to have long-lasting consequences. That would be (I think?) incompatible with mass hysteria or nocebo effects.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- jlmorton 5y agoRemarkably, after the recordings that preceded the illnesses were found to be crickets, everyone stopped reporting the cricket noise before the illness. Now, the American diplomats in Vienna report a new noise, a ringing in their ears, which apparently is not recorded.
- SeanLuke 5y agoNow the "cicadas" and neurological damage are occurring near the White House. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/29/us-investigating-peculiar-attacks-with-hallmarks-of-havana-syndrome-near-white-house.html https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/29/us-investigating-peculiar-at... https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/29/politics/us-investigating-mysterious-directed-energy-attack-white-house/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/29/politics/us-investigating-mys... I think it's looking more and more like an actual attack.
- mc32 5y agoOr countermeasure going haywire.
- SeanLuke 5y agoOr countermeasure going haywire. At any rate, not cicadas.
- mc32 5y agoYes, that seems like an obvious dead end, if not decoy.
- eli 5y agoOr someone just had a bad headache. I don't think it's very likely that there's a secret energy weapon hidden in the bushes near the whitehouse.
- mcguire 5y agoFrom the article: "While the equipment we used in our Cuban re-creation is relatively bulky, ultrasonic emitters can be quite tiny, no larger than a piece of Rolo candy. Online, we found a manufacturer in Russia that sells a fashionable leather clutch that conceals an ultrasonic emitter, presumably to jam recording devices at cocktail parties. We also found electronics stores that carry high- power ultrasonic jammers that cause microphones to malfunction. One advertised jammer emits 120-dB ultrasonic interference at a distance of 1 meter. That’s like standing next to a chainsaw. If a signal from that caliber jammer were to combine with a second ultrasonic source, audible by-products could result." Consider an countermeasure ultrasonic emitter intended to jam microphones in proximity to, say, a spy emitter using ultrasonic sound as a carrier wave for a microphone, as described in the article.
- fanatic2pope 5y agoInteresting. When the cicadas get bad I do have a lot of trouble working for long periods in my outdoor shop. My ears ring and I get headaches.
- spywaregorilla 5y agoIt does seem likely that the sound being recorded was crickets. However, that doesn't really prove that sound of crickets was the thing causing problems if it's being replicated in washington.
- peanut_worm 5y agoWhy does it seen like every article about this “sonic weapon” conflicts with other accounts
- trutannus 5y agoI think any article that starts from the premise that it was a sonic weapon is so deep into the land of speculation that I'd be shocked if they didn't contradict each other. Kinda like asking why every bigfoot sighting is different from others.
- dsjoerg 5y agoWhy is it so hard to get accurate information on cutting-edge spycraft and sensitive matters affecting national security?
- laumars 5y ago2018 and much of the claims in here are now disputed
- amelius 5y agoStill interesting to read how they "reverse engineered" it and came to the wrong/premature conclusions.
- jxramos 5y agoAnybody know what this might technically refer to specifically? He took spectral measurements and noticed that the lightbulb tended to shriek when the air conditioner turned on. Maybe an app on a phone, specialized equipment?
- SilasX 5y agoReal-time analyzer apps, which give the frequency breakdown of ambient noise. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real-time_analyzer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real-time_analyzer Previous thread about the use of these for debugging mystery sounds that not everyone can hear: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14981088 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14981088
- nomel 5y ago> Maybe an app on a phone A good microphone circuit, designed for humans, will have a filter to limit its sensitivity to the audible range. For measurements that include ultrasonic frequencies, specialized equipment is needed, since much higher sample rates are required.
- MsMowz 5y agoWhat's the difference between "reverse engineering" and speculation in this case? It's widely debated whether any device intentionally caused these symptoms. The article doesn't shed any light on this.
- jjeaff 5y agoTo me, this case involves reverse engineering, because they were able to generate a similar time based on carefully deconstructing the recorded sound.
- MsMowz 5y agoI guess I assumed reverse engineering was understood to mean explaining how a phenomenon actually occurred. They've recreated a similar outcome, but haven't given any evidence that it's related to what happened in Cuba. If I look at a hole in the wall and recreate it by pounding my fist through the wall to create another hole, did I reverse engineer the first hole? Or did I just reproduce the effect?
- r721 5y agoOne of the recent developments: "Havana Syndrome Task Force to Be Led by Veteran of Hunt for Bin Laden CIA Director Burns turns to undercover agency veteran to track down cause of health incidents suffered by U.S. spies and diplomats" https://www.wsj.com/articles/havana-syndrome-task-force-to-be-led-by-a-veteran-of-hunt-for-bin-laden-11626885816 https://www.wsj.com/articles/havana-syndrome-task-force-to-b... (https://archive.is/HlDZF https://archive.is/HlDZF) (July 21, 2021)
- blakesterz 5y agoI think this needs a (2018) added to the title.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- antattack 5y agoClickbait, TLDR: we really did not figure it out and have little to go on still.
- fnord77 5y ago> That is, bad engineering may be a more likely culprit than a sonic weapon. hanlon's razor!
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- thrower123 5y agoIt's sort of a funny thing where efforts to recreate something that may be completely mythical, actually end up bringing that thing into existence.
- tomc1985 5y agoI thought it was microwave-type weapons that people claimed were being used against them. Now its sound? I'm confused, are these the same events or different?
- grouphugs 5y agothe u.s. military already took credit for these weapons and their sales and mass production, literally, on live t.v., calling it a secret weapon the issue with that was that the development of these weapons started in iran in the 80's they're not a secret and they can pilot people
- grouphugs 5y agothe u.s. military already took credit for these weapons and their sales and mass production, literally, on live t.v., calling it a secret weapon the issue with that was that the development of these weapons started in iran in the 80's they're not a secret, and they have a lot of capabilities that people should not be messing with i will kill them all