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Subliminal Messaging
22 October 2015

Subliminal Messaging

Your smartphone rings, you answer, and your brain becomes active as you listen. But is it as simple as that? 3G smartphones emit spikes of radiation similar to radio waves. Here, scientists investigated whether those radiation spikes can influence the pattern of brainwaves. They used an electroencephalogram (EEG), a technique normally used to diagnose epilepsy. Women were exposed to either a 3G-active phone (bottom two rows), or to a phone with no signal (top two rows) while being monitored by EEG. To make it a fair test the phones were silent. When a 3G-active phone was held to the ear, changes in brainwave patterns indicated by the colour red, were clearly seen about half a second after a radiation spike (third column). Should you be worried? The phone does activate the brain in ways you‘re not conscious of, but so far no adverse effects have been found.

Written by Julie Webb

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BPoD stands for Biomedical Picture of the Day. Managed by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences until Jul 2023, it is now run independently by a dedicated team of scientists and writers. The website aims to engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biology, and its influence on medicine. The ever-growing archive of more than 4000 research images documents over a decade of progress. Explore the collection and see what you discover. Images are kindly provided for inclusion on this website through the generosity of scientists across the globe.

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