'Havana Syndrome': Diplomatic Staff Malaise In Cuba & China—A Sonic Or Microwave Weapon?

[hunck]

Cuban 'acoustic attack' report on US diplomats flawed, say neurologists

Doubt cast on official report

Tests stating staff suffered brain damage were ‘misinterpreted’ and ruled out other explanations such as mass psychogenic illness

Claims that US diplomats suffered mysterious brain injuries after being targeted with a secret weapon in Cuba have been challenged by neurologists and other brain specialists.

In four separate letters to the Journal of the American Medical Association, which published the original medical study, groups of doctors specialising in neurology, neuropsychiatry and neuropsychology described what they believed were major flaws in the study.

For example:

Robert Bartholomew, an Auckland-based expert on mass psychogenic illness, argued that Smith’s team failed to rule out a psychological explanation for the sickness affecting the diplomats. Mass psychogenic illness arises in stressful situations, but can start slowly and last for months and years, he wrote, and often features neurological symptoms. “There are several cases in the annals of mass psychogenic illness that parallel the audio perceptions and symptoms reported in the Cuban embassy subjects,” he said.

the University of Pennsylvania team stood by their report

More at link.

 

[hunck]

I've just noticed that Robert Bartholomew posted on page 2.

 

[GNC]

Article in FT 370 says the noise assumed to be a sonic weapon could have been the chirping of Jamaican field crickets, which can get incredibly loud and disruptive. Don't know if they have those in China, mind you.

 

[EnolaGaia]

... Does a focused microwave generator exist ...

Yes. The original stimulated emission beam device was the 'maser', which led to the 'laser'. A maser is to microwaves what a laser is to visible light.

... could it have the effects reported? ...

Conceivably, but there's no need to invoke a maser.

There's a well-known phenomenon variously known as (e.g.) the 'microwave auditory effect' or 'Frey effect':

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave_auditory_effect

... in which radio frequency / microwave radiation induces what are sensed as auditory perceptions.

Here's a brand new science article in which one researcher claims the diplomatic personnel's 'sonic weapon' malaise is attributable to the Frey effect rather than anything 'sonic':

Researcher links diplomats' mystery illness to radiofrequency/microwave radiation
Writing in advance of the September 15 issue of Neural Computation, Beatrice Golomb, MD, PhD, professor of medicine at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, says publicly reported symptoms and experiences of a "mystery illness" afflicting American and Canadian diplomats in Cuba and China strongly match known effects of pulsed radiofrequency/microwave electromagnetic (RF/MW) radiation.

Her conclusions, she said, may aid in the treatment of the diplomats (and affected family members) and assist U.S. government agencies seeking to determine the precise cause. More broadly, Golomb said her research draws attention to a larger population of people who are affected by similar health problems.

"I looked at what's known about pulsed RF/MW in relation to diplomats' experiences," said Golomb. "Everything fits. The specifics of the varied sounds that the diplomats reported hearing during the apparent inciting episodes, such as chirping, ringing and buzzing, cohere in detail with known properties of so-called 'microwave hearing,' also known as the Frey effect.

"And the symptoms that emerged fit, including the dominance of sleep problems, headaches and cognitive issues, as well as the distinctive prominence of auditory symptoms. Even objective findings reported on brain imaging fit with what has been reported for persons affected by RF/MW radiation."

SOURCE: https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-08/uoc--rld082918.php

 

[hunck]

Interesting, though I note in the Wiki article:

"In 2003–04, the WaveBand Corp. had a contract from the U.S. Navy for the design of a MAE [microwave auditory effect] system they called MEDUSA (Mob Excess Deterrent Using Silent Audio) intended to remotely, temporarily incapacitate personnel. Sierra Nevada Corp. reportedly took over the contract from Waveband. Experts, such as Kenneth Foster, a University of Pennsylvania bioengineering professor who published research on the microwave auditory effect in 1974, have discounted the effectiveness of the proposed device. Foster said that because of human biophysics, the device "would kill you well before you were bothered by the noise". According to former professor at the University of Washington Bill Guy, ”There’s a misunderstanding by the public and even some scientists about this auditory effect," and "there couldn’t possibly be a hazard from the sound, because the heat would get you first".

 

[EnolaGaia]

Interesting, though I note in the Wiki article:

"In 2003–04, the WaveBand Corp. had a contract from the U.S. Navy for the design of a MAE [microwave auditory effect] system they called MEDUSA (Mob Excess Deterrent Using Silent Audio) intended to remotely, temporarily incapacitate personnel. ...

There's a difference between accepting the Frey effect as a possible explanatory factor in (e.g.) the diplomatic malaise case(s) versus deliberately trying to leverage it in a anti-personnel application.

There's no question the effect is real and fits the evidence as well or better than other theories put forward to date.

There's little question a non-lethal anti-personnel weapon based on the effect is a bad idea, for a number of reasons.

I'm still of the opinion that if there is indeed some 'beamed' cause for the malaise, it's an unexpected / unintended side effect.

 

[kamalktk]

CNN is also reporting on the microwave angle, if you have sound on the page plays an annoying tone.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/02/heal...epartment-microwaves-sonic-attacks/index.html

 

[uair01]

I couldn't find the right place for this:
US Intelligence thinks Russia may have microwaved US embassies in Cuba, China
Directed energy weapon could be responsible for auditory hallucinations, brain injuries.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy...y-have-microwaved-us-embassies-in-cuba-china/

Earlier this month, the head of the team that conducted the study told The New York Times that microwaves were the most likely cause of the brain injuries. The Times' William Broad reported that a number of experts have now connected the symptoms experienced by the victims with the Frey effect, also known as the microwave auditory effect (MAE)—in which microwaves induce the sensation of sounds (or even speech) inside a person's head.

 

[Jim]

I couldn't find the right place for this:
US Intelligence thinks Russia may have microwaved US embassies in Cuba, China
Directed energy weapon could be responsible for auditory hallucinations, brain injuries.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy...y-have-microwaved-us-embassies-in-cuba-china/

Earlier this month, the head of the team that conducted the study told The New York Times that microwaves were the most likely cause of the brain injuries. The Times' William Broad reported that a number of experts have now connected the symptoms experienced by the victims with the Frey effect, also known as the microwave auditory effect (MAE)—in which microwaves induce the sensation of sounds (or even speech) inside a person's head.

Microwave energy can cause serous damage and even kill. If one is radiated with a high enough magnitude of microwave energy it can fry a person from the inside out. In my years of working with high powered radars which operated in the microwave spectrum (0.3 to ~ 100) GHz, I've seen a few poor souls take on a nasty burn.

 

[Kingsize Wombat]

An in depth look at the "Havana Syndrome" by the New Yorker. I hadn't actually looked at the details of this mystery closely, but it is certainly an interesting story.

The Mystery of the Havana Syndrome
Unexplained brain injuries afflicted dozens of American diplomats and spies. What happened?

All the victims described being bombarded by waves of pressure in their heads. Unlike Lee, though, the C.I.A. officers said that they heard loud sounds, similar to cicadas, which seemed to follow them from one room to another. But when they opened an outside door the sounds abruptly stopped. Some of the victims said that it felt as if they were standing in an invisible beam of energy.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/11/19/the-mystery-of-the-havana-syndrome

 

[EnolaGaia]

This newly publicized research adds more details on the malaise but no significant clues as to its cause ...

Cuba health mystery: Diplomats had inner-ear damage early on
American diplomats affected by mysterious health incidents in Cuba showed damage in the inner ear shortly after they complained of weird noises and sensations, according to their earliest medical exams, publicized Wednesday.

The detailed findings were published in a medical journal nearly two years after what the U.S. calls "health attacks" began — and they shed no new light on a possible culprit.

"What caused it, who did it, why it was done — we don't know any of those things," said Dr. Michael Hoffer of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, who led the exams.

The U.S. says since late 2016, 26 people associated with the embassy in Havana suffered problems that include dizziness, ear pain and ringing, and cognitive problems such as difficulty thinking ...

The Miami researchers examined 25 of those people, who reported hearing a piercing noise or experiencing a sensation of pressure before their symptoms began. The patients failed a variety of tests that detect inner-ear problems associated with balance, what's called the vestibular system — although there were no pre-symptom medical records to compare.

Testing of 10 other people who were in the same building at the time of the incidents found they were fine ... Hoffer also traveled to Cuba to check 100 other Americans stationed there, who also turned out to be healthy.

... And earlier this year, a team of doctors at the University of Pennsylvania who also examined many of these patients, but months later, reported they suffered a concussion-like brain injury, despite no blow to the head.

In a brief interview with The Associated Press, Hoffer said the two studies aren't contradictory, but they have different findings because patients were tested at different times and in different ways. ...

For doctors, Wednesday's paper adds specifics about the pattern of damage, abnormalities in structures involved with sensing gravity and acceleration, said Dr. Maura Cosetti of the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai. ...

"This provides an important step in creating a picture of the injury that people sustained," she said. She added that often people with long-term balance problems also report a "brain fog." ...

... The AP has reported that an interim FBI report last January found no evidence that sound waves could have caused the damage.

FULL STORY: https://news.yahoo.com/cuba-health-mystery-diplomats-had-inner-ear-damage-174103167.html

 

[AlchoPwn]

May well relate to infrasound:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrasound

 

[OneWingedBird]

There's a difference between accepting the Frey effect as a possible explanatory factor in (e.g.) the diplomatic malaise case(s) versus deliberately trying to leverage it in a anti-personnel application.

There's no question the effect is real and fits the evidence as well or better than other theories put forward to date.

There's little question a non-lethal anti-personnel weapon based on the effect is a bad idea, for a number of reasons.

I'm still of the opinion that if there is indeed some 'beamed' cause for the malaise, it's an unexpected / unintended side effect.

That's one way to make Frey Pie in the microwave. :O

 

[EnolaGaia]

This is a new twist ... Analysis of a recording alleged to represent the sounds heard by victims may well be crickets ...

The Sounds That Haunted U.S. Diplomats in Cuba? Lovelorn Crickets, Scientists Say

In November 2016, American diplomats in Cuba complained of persistent, high-pitched sounds followed by a range of symptoms, including headaches, nausea and hearing loss.

Exams of nearly two dozen of them eventually revealed signs of concussions or other brain injuries, and speculation about the cause turned to weapons that blast sound or microwaves. Amid an international uproar, a recording of the sinister droning was widely circulated in the news media.

On Friday, two scientists presented evidence that those sounds were not so mysterious after all. They were made by crickets, the researchers concluded.

That’s not to say that the diplomats weren’t attacked, the scientists added — only that the recording is not of a sonic weapon, as had been suggested.

Alexander Stubbs of the University of California, Berkeley, and Fernando Montealegre-Z of the University of Lincoln in England studied a recording of the sounds made by diplomats and published by The Associated Press.

“There’s plenty of debate in the medical community over what, if any, physical damage there is to these individuals,” said Mr. Stubbs in a phone interview. “All I can say fairly definitively is that the A.P.-released recording is of a cricket, and we think we know what species it is.”

Mr. Stubbs presented the results of the analysis at the annual meeting of the Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology. He and Dr. Montealegre-Z also posted an early version of their study online. They plan to submit the paper to a scientific journal in the next few days. ...

FULL STORY: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/04/science/sonic-attack-cuba-crickets.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

ABSTRACT of the Pending Research Paper: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/01/04/510834

 

[GNC]

If the sound of crickets made for mass hysteria/nausea, wouldn't it be happening a lot more often? For millennia? What set this off now?

 

[EnolaGaia]

The researchers' main point was that the sound(s) captured on recordings may not be directly related to the malaise, and the immediate cause of the victims' symptoms may be something other than a 'sonic' influence.

A possibly secondary point is that there may have been some 'sonic' influence, but it involved transmissions based on the crickets' noise.

 

[GNC]

I don't know what's so difficult about slipping something in the victims' drinks, if they were that keen on messing them up. A lot simpler. Unless they were aiming for something undetectable (assuming anyone was aiming for anything at all).

 

[Sharon Hill]

This entire scenario remains implausible. The Cubans were not likely targeting anyone with microwaves or anything else. Crickets certainly bothered some people. Hell, the cicadas make my head vibrate sometimes. Sound doesn't cause brain damage and I doubt they had any damage at all. The medical reports are dubious and do not seem to reflect anything unusual or particular to a specific cause for this subgroup. The only thing these diplomats and associates had in common was being seriously stressed at a time of strained relations with a nutjob administration in charge. I still have not found any reason to think this was anything more than a complex psychological reaction to a bad situation where medical facts were retrofitted to suit a preconceived "cause".

 

[Mythopoeika]

Sound doesn't cause brain damage and I doubt they had any damage at all.

Unless it's not just sound that's involved.
I'm thinking focused, high-powered microwaves.

 

[Sharon Hill]

Unless it's not just sound that's involved.
I'm thinking focused, high-powered microwaves.

Who? How? and Why? My take is that this is a "situation" that was formed by external forces molding bits of things together and creatively forcing a narrative. From the beginning, the media took administration officials, a few eager doctors, and some excitable scientists far too seriously. The more reserved people who said, "this simply makes no sense as it's described" were marginalized under the glaring, scary headlines. If there was something really going on to point to, all lines of evidence would be guiding us to it. But it's weakly tilting in various directions instead. Up until the Trump years, I didn't see how lame the media really is. Now I believe it. Not usually nefarious, but often incompetent.

 

[Yithian]

Who? How? and Why? My take is that this is a "situation" that was formed by external forces molding bits of things together and creatively forcing a narrative. From the beginning, the media took administration officials, a few eager doctors, and some excitable scientists far too seriously. The more reserved people who said, "this simply makes no sense as it's described" were marginalized under the glaring, scary headlines. If there was something really going on to point to, all lines of evidence would be guiding us to it. But it's weakly tilting in various directions instead. Up until the Trump years, I didn't see how lame the media really is. Now I believe it. Not usually nefarious, but often incompetent.

I think it's fair to say that if there is a phenomenon to be explained here, we, the public, haven't been given more than glimpses (and at times contradictory ones) of it through the media. We need medical reports, witness statements, times, dates and locations; what we've been given is a random splatter of second-hand symptoms and speculation.

Yes, the media is partially to blame, but if there is any phenomenon behind the rumours, I'll bet the military, diplomatic and intelligence agencies are being somewhat less than forthcoming with the actualité.

 

[Kingsize Wombat]

The Sounds That Haunted U.S. Diplomats in Cuba? Lovelorn Crickets, Scientists Say

Diplomatic officials may have been targeted with an unknown weapon in Havana. But a recording of one “sonic attack” actually is the singing of a very loud cricket, a new analysis concludes.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/04/science/sonic-attack-cuba-crickets.html

The thing is - wouldn't a sonic weapon be outside of the audible range anyway?

 

[EnolaGaia]

... The thing is - wouldn't a sonic weapon be outside of the audible range anyway?

Not necessarily. Some sonic crowd control devices are based on loud or irritating sounds within the (normal; average) audible range. The 'mosquito' device purported to ward off teen punks would be an example.

Due to resonance with ear structures, some folks (myself included) can detect sounds in the high frequency range beyond the bounds of the ordinarily audible. Low frequency infrasound is directly felt rather than 'heard', but tends to resonate a lot of objects in the vicinity to generate an indirect 'buzz' or 'din'.

 

[Kingsize Wombat]

I just came across a lengthy Vanity Fair article on the subject. It is interesting - but also baffling. I will just quote the end of it - make of it what you will:

This fall, the Joint Chiefs of Staff were briefed by several experts about the mysterious noise at the embassy in Havana. Among them was James Giordano, chief of neuroethics studies at Georgetown University, who believes that there is a “high probability” that the diplomats in Cuba were attacked by a “directed energy” weapon. After the briefing, Giordano reported that the Joint Chiefs expressed interest in “the idea of brain sciences as forming at least one vector to the new battle space.”
Then, as scientists are prone to do, Giordano switched from English to the kind of sci-fi word salad rarely heard beyond the bridge of the starship Enterprise, when Scotty carries on about tachyon pulses and anti-time convergences.
“The most likely culprit here,” Giordano explained, “would be some form of electromagnetic-pulse generation and/or hypersonic generation that would then utilize the architecture of the skull to create something of an energetic amplifier or lens to induce a cavitational effect that would then induce the type of pathologic changes that would then induce the constellation of signs and symptoms that we’re seeing in these patients.”
Machete one’s way through all the Star Trek syntax and twaddle, and what Giordano is telling us, in sum, is both true and terrifying. There is a new battlespace in America’s ongoing war over what is real, and it can be found inside the architecture of our own skulls.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/01/the-real-story-behind-the-havana-embassy-mystery

 

[Sharon Hill]

I just came across a lengthy Vanity Fair article on the subject. It is interesting - but also baffling. I will just quote the end of it - make of it what you will:

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/01/the-real-story-behind-the-havana-embassy-mystery

But this is even more Fortean:
"So, between the shaky medical study and the government secrecy, the description of the patients that emerged has always remained vague. Bartholomew, the medical sociologist, calls this the data equivalent of “a fuzzy Bigfoot photo.” That is to say, every nonexistent creature captured in an out-of-focus photograph is typically just blurry enough to permit anyone to see whatever they want to see, like Chupacabra, or the Ivory Billed Woodpecker, or Ebu Gogo, or batsquatch, or the Lizard Man of Scape Ore Swamp. "

And conversion disorder is still the best fit. People hate to admit it, but like the LeRoy, NY school outbreak and the hundreds, maybe thousands, of examples of illness outbreaks in factories where women endure horrible working conditions, this is a real phenomenon but not some toxin or weapon. It's stress and social factors that affect the body.

 

[Kingsize Wombat]

But this is even more Fortean:

You won't get an argument from me there!

 

[Kingsize Wombat]

Here's another long article on the subject - this time from the NYT:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/05/15/magazine/diplomat-disorder.html

According to this, it could be a mass outbreak of "Functional Disorder". I had no idea what a "Functional Disorder" is, but according to rarediseases.org, it's a bit like this:

"At the time FND begins, studies have shown that there may be triggering factors like a physical injury, infectious illness, panic attack or migraine which can give someone the first experience of the symptoms. These symptoms normally settle down on their own. However, in FND the symptoms become ‘stuck’ in a ‘pattern’ in the nervous system. That ‘pattern’ is reflected in altered brain functioning. The result is a genuine and disabling problem, which the patient cannot control. The aim of treatment is to ‘retrain the brain’, for example by unlearning abnormal and dysfunctional movement patterns that have developed and relearning normal movement. "

Which, it turns out, is the modern way of describing the old "Hysteria". It all just keeps getting odder and odder.

https://rarediseases.org/rare-diseases/fnd/

 

[EnolaGaia]

Here's the latest investigatory result ... Discriminable brain changes or anomalies were evident in at least some of the affected embassy personnel.

US Embassy Staff in Cuba Show Unusual Brain Changes After Alleged 'Sonic Attacks'

More than two years after several dozen U.S. embassy workers in Cuba reported experiencing bizarre sensory symptoms, including loud noises and unusual vibrations, exactly what happened to them remains a mystery.

Now, a new study adds to the intrigue.

The study, which used advanced brain-imaging technologies, revealed distinct differences in the brains of embassy workers who were potentially exposed to the bizarre phenomena, compared with healthy people who were not exposed.

In particular, the researchers found differences in a brain area known as the cerebellum, which is responsible for coordination of movements, such as those involved in walking and balance, according to the study, published today (July 23) in the journal JAMA. ...

This finding is notable given that a number of the embassy workers show abnormalities in balance and coordination of eye movements, said study co-author Dr. Randel Swanson, an assistant professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine. However, the researchers acknowledge that they can’t say exactly what their findings mean or what caused the brain differences. In other words, the study doesn't bring us any closer to understanding the cause of the alleged phenomena.

Still, it appears that "something happened to at least a subset of [these] patients," Swanson told Live Science.

It's possible that the brain differences seen on the images may underlie some of the symptoms documented in the embassy workers, he said. ...

FULL STORY: https://www.livescience.com/66002-brain-changes-cuban-embassy-attacks.html

Published Article: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/ja...ftm_links&utm_content=tfl&utm_term=072319#top

 

[Sharon Hill]

Here's the latest investigatory result ... Discriminable brain changes or anomalies were evident in at least some of the affected embassy personnel.


FULL STORY: https://www.livescience.com/66002-brain-changes-cuban-embassy-attacks.html

Published Article: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/ja...ftm_links&utm_content=tfl&utm_term=072319#top

I haven't read the full article yet and would prefer if a neurologist could interpret it. But it seems to suggest there is something different about some of these people. That is the first thing they must establish instead of jumping to the (sometimes extraordinary) explanations that have already been proposed. I see they did include in the intro "with potential exposure to directional phenomena" which I think was ill-advised to say. We seem very far from getting an answer to this; there are so many potential hypotheses to test.

 

[Ascalon]

Cuba has dismissed the findings of a US academic study which found brain abnormalities in US diplomats who worked in Cuba, reports the BBC.

"The research follows accusations by the US that Cuba carried out "sonic attacks", after several diplomats complained of unexplained symptoms including dizziness and hearing loss.

"The study's authors said brain scans showed the diplomats' symptoms were "not imagined".

"But Cuba said the results were unclear."

Hmm, the plot eh, isn't getting any clearer.