So what do our experts think – is it real or just hysteria?

US officials confirm 130 incidents of mysterious Havana syndrome brain injury

….In December, the National Academy of Sciences published a report saying that the brain injuries suffered by US government employees in Cuba and China were most likely the result of some form of directed energy.

Cheryl Rofer, a former chemist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, has questioned the study’s conclusions, and the claim by victims and some experts that some kind of microwave weapon developed by an adversary is responsible for Havana syndrome.

“The evidence for microwave effects of the type categorized as Havana syndrome is exceedingly weak,” Rofer wrote in Foreign Policy. “No proponent of the idea has outlined how the weapon would actually work. No evidence has been offered that such a weapon has been developed by any nation. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and no evidence has been offered to support the existence of this mystery weapon.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/may/13/havana-syndrome-brain-injury-130-incidents

Bubblecar said:

So what do our experts think – is it real or just hysteria?

US officials confirm 130 incidents of mysterious Havana syndrome brain injury

….In December, the National Academy of Sciences published a report saying that the brain injuries suffered by US government employees in Cuba and China were most likely the result of some form of directed energy.

Cheryl Rofer, a former chemist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, has questioned the study’s conclusions, and the claim by victims and some experts that some kind of microwave weapon developed by an adversary is responsible for Havana syndrome.

“The evidence for microwave effects of the type categorized as Havana syndrome is exceedingly weak,” Rofer wrote in Foreign Policy. “No proponent of the idea has outlined how the weapon would actually work. No evidence has been offered that such a weapon has been developed by any nation. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and no evidence has been offered to support the existence of this mystery weapon.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/may/13/havana-syndrome-brain-injury-130-incidents

Too many cigars?

Although the brain itself has no sensory nerves, and thus might not know it was being damaged, all the other tissues do, and they report heat and/or pain when energy passes through them. I would be astonished if this turned out to be true.

Rule 303 said:

Although the brain itself has no sensory nerves, and thus might not know it was being damaged, all the other tissues do, and they report heat and/or pain when energy passes through them. I would be astonished if this turned out to be true.

Wonder what they put in those cigars.

roughbarked said:

Rule 303 said:

Although the brain itself has no sensory nerves, and thus might not know it was being damaged, all the other tissues do, and they report heat and/or pain when energy passes through them. I would be astonished if this turned out to be true.

Wonder what they put in those cigars.

It would be a lot easier to put dynamite in cigars, or shoot people, or just belt them with a baseball bat, than to create and deploy a focused energy weapon. What is the article proposing, that they shot them from space with a lazer to cause a minor brain injury?

>>> No proponent of the idea has outlined how the weapon would actually work. No evidence has been offered that such a weapon has been developed by any nation. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and no evidence has been offered to support the existence of this mystery weapon.” <<<<

The CIA have developed their own version and have made the knowledge of the technique top secret.

Rule 303 said:

roughbarked said:

Rule 303 said:

Although the brain itself has no sensory nerves, and thus might not know it was being damaged, all the other tissues do, and they report heat and/or pain when energy passes through them. I would be astonished if this turned out to be true.

Wonder what they put in those cigars.

It would be a lot easier to put dynamite in cigars, or shoot people, or just belt them with a baseball bat, than to create and deploy a focused energy weapon. What is the article proposing, that they shot them from space with a lazer to cause a minor brain injury?

Yes it is totally ridiculous.

Wiki say:

Havana syndrome is a set of medical signs and symptoms reported by United States and Canadian embassy staff in Cuba dating back to late 2016 as well as subsequently in some other countries, including the United States.

In 2017, President Donald Trump accused Cuba of perpetrating unspecified attacks causing these symptoms. The U.S. reduced staff at their embassy to a minimum in response. In 2018, U.S. diplomats in China reported problems similar to those reported in Cuba, as well as undercover CIA agents operating in other countries who were negotiating with those countries on ways to counter Russia’s covert operations around the world.

Subsequent studies of the affected diplomats in Cuba, published in the journal JAMA in 2018, found evidence that the diplomats experienced some form of brain injury, but did not determine the cause of the injuries. While there is no expert consensus on the cause of the symptoms, a co-author of the JAMA study considered microwave weapons to be “a main suspect” for the phenomenon. A U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine expert committee concluded in December 2019 that microwave energy (specifically, directed pulsed RF energy) “appears to be the most plausible mechanism in explaining these cases among those that the committee considered” but that “each possible cause remains speculative.” In May 2021, anonymous U.S. officials said they did not know the cause of the incident or whether there was an attack, but that Russia’s GRU was an area of “active inquiry.”

Full Article

Bubblecar said:

So what do our experts think – is it real or just hysteria?

US officials confirm 130 incidents of mysterious Havana syndrome brain injury

….In December, the National Academy of Sciences published a report saying that the brain injuries suffered by US government employees in Cuba and China were most likely the result of some form of directed energy.

Cheryl Rofer, a former chemist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, has questioned the study’s conclusions, and the claim by victims and some experts that some kind of microwave weapon developed by an adversary is responsible for Havana syndrome.

“The evidence for microwave effects of the type categorized as Havana syndrome is exceedingly weak,” Rofer wrote in Foreign Policy. “No proponent of the idea has outlined how the weapon would actually work. No evidence has been offered that such a weapon has been developed by any nation. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and no evidence has been offered to support the existence of this mystery weapon.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/may/13/havana-syndrome-brain-injury-130-incidents

It’s Cuba and China they are talking about.

What more evidence do you need?

The Rev Dodgson said:

It’s Cuba and China they are talking about.

What more evidence do you need?

You’ve changed, man.

Bubblecar said:

concluded in December 2019 that microwave energy (specifically, directed pulsed RF energy) “appears to be the most plausible mechanism in explaining these cases among those that the committee considered”

That suggests a surveilance system with unpleasent side effects.

Maybe those tinfoil hats aren’t such a daft idea, after all…

captain_spalding said:

Maybe those tinfoil hats aren’t such a daft idea, after all…

We Need A Randomised Controlled Trial

easier done than said since the blinding is already free

I’ll ask our man in havana what can be done.

ChrispenEvan said:

I’ll ask our man in havana what can be done.

Here, have a cigar.

https://www.snopes.com/news/2020/12/10/scientists-suggest-us-embassies-were-hit-with-high-power-microwaves/

The physics.

Michael V said:

ChrispenEvan said:

I’ll ask our man in havana what can be done.

Might be a tad difficult. Alec Guinness died in 2000.

buffy said:

https://www.snopes.com/news/2020/12/10/scientists-suggest-us-embassies-were-hit-with-high-power-microwaves/

The physics.

That’s a really great snopes article. Details the physics very well.

Let’s examine the symptoms, and see what other causes are likely.

• hearing sounds, headaches, nausea, hearing loss, lightheadedness and cognitive issues.

Other causes could be:

• virus – headaches, nausea, hearing loss, lightheadedness and cognitive issues.
• age – hearing loss, lightheadedness and cognitive issues.
• weather (eg. high temperature) – headaches, nausea, lightheadedness and cognitive issues.
• sick building syndrome – headaches, nausea, hearing loss, lightheadedness and cognitive issues.
• hypnosis – hearing sounds, headaches, nausea, hearing loss, lightheadedness and cognitive issues.
• food, including poison – headaches, nausea, hearing loss, lightheadedness and cognitive issues.
• allergies – headaches, nausea, hearing loss, lightheadedness and cognitive issues.

For hearing sounds specifically, other causes could be:

• loudspeaker
• bug (ie. microphone) malfunctioning
• hypnosis
• hallucinations
• mass hysteria
• stress (eg. caused by stupid orders from Washington)

Or, possibly most likely of all,

• Faulty statistical methods

Tamb said:

Michael V said:

ChrispenEvan said:

I’ll ask our man in havana what can be done.

Might be a tad difficult. Alec Guinness died in 2000.

That would explain the lack of reports from Havana.

Very weird for the NAS to publish that claim.

There have been stories about this going back years but it would be very easy to test using off-the-shelf equipment.

But why test and settle the SCIENCE when instead one could accusé and duck and weave and hide behind uncertainty¿

What about infrasound

or psychological warfare

Cymek said:

What about infrasound

i’d expect if they reported sounds, grating sounds or whatever, it’s microwaves, frequency, duty cycle and modulation adjusted to optimize for the purpose

transition said:

Cymek said:

What about infrasound

i’d expect if they reported sounds, grating sounds or whatever, it’s microwaves, frequency, duty cycle and modulation adjusted to optimize for the purpose

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traveling-wave_tube
possibly use one of these^