9th Grade Science Project Finds Plants Don’t Grow Near Wi-Fi(povolotski.me) Five ninth-grade young women from Denmark recently created a science experiment that is causing a stir in the scientific community. They found that when garden cress seeds are placed near Wi-Fi, they simply will not grow. |
Does anybody have a link to the student's poster? I'd like to see what controls they did. Everything about the original news article "http://www.trueactivist.com/9th-grade-science-project-finds-... is filled with pseudoscience, or claims which cannot be evaluated.
A short list of grievances against the article: Claim: "Many health experts consider Wi-Fi radiation to be extremely dangerous to long-term health.". Citation? Most health experts say there is insufficient evidence of this, given the lack of actual data supporting this claim (and it's not for want of trying; many poor quality articles have since been debunked). it's quite hard to make a strong, actionable statement about wi-fi health. I encourage people who think there is a problem to come up with good experiments, because until you show some unequivocable evidence, skeptics are going to (rightly) doubt you.
"Based on the existing science, many public health experts believe it is possible we will face an epidemic of cancers in the future resulting from uncontrolled use of cell phones and increased population exposure to WiFi and other wireless devices". Really. An epidemic of cancers? Cancer incidence is increasing in the modern world, but that's because we've cured the things that used to kill people at younger ages. Note that over 1 billion people already use cell phones world wide. Can you point to increases in cancer can be solely attributed to the use of wifi or other EMF?
"It started with an observation and a question. The girls noticed that if they slept with their mobile phones near their heads at night, they often had difficulty concentrating at school the next day." Really? you are seriously claiming you can tell if you slept with your phone near your head? OK, no problem, cell phones get hot, maybe there is a thermal effect? But, what is the distance of phone to head? More than an inch? No effect. Seriously, this is a very weak observation. Many things can make you feel tired at school- simply staying up late and not getting enough hours is sufficient to explain this,.
"Over the next 12 days, the girls observed, measured, weighed and photographed their results. Although by the end of the experiment the results were blatantly obvious — the cress seeds placed near the router had not grown. Many of them were completely dead. While the cress seeds planted in the other room, away from the routers, thrived." Was an adequate control used? Both positive and negative controls? Are you sure? Did you swap the locations of the router and test again? Look for hidden biases.
I could go on. That was just the article. I'd need to see the kid's poster to know more.
"Wi-Fi radiation penetrates the body, affects cell membranes and over time cells to lose their ability to function properly. It disturbs the body’s natural energy field causing stress, fatigue and a weakened immune system. It can also cause headaches, concentration problems, dizziness, anxiety, memory loss, depression, hyperactivity, abnormal heart rates, seizures, epilepsy, nausea, skin rashes, insomnia, ringing ears, high blood pressure, brain damage, autism, diabetes, fibromyalgia, infertility, birth defects, DNA damage, leukemia, cancer, etc."
It of course doesn't do any of that, which has been shown to be true in study after study.
Their source is "SafeSpace" which was founded by Joyce Culkin -- "As an inventor who combined expertise in energy healing with a background as an industrial designer adept at blending form, usability, engineering and more to solve problems," == http://www.safespaceprotection.com/about-safe-space.aspx
Wait, what? Body's energy field? Seriously?