# New study suggests Wi-Fi is killing trees by radiation poisoning



## Eric_S (Aug 26, 2009)

An interesting new study released today:

http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-11/wi-fi-radiation-killing-trees

More studies are being planned to figure out the precise effects of radiation on plant life


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## Gregn (Mar 26, 2010)

I think it affects humans as well with the craziness I've witnessed in people.
Radiation overdose could be classified with Acid rain on effects of plant life I guess.


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## AaronK (Nov 30, 2008)

yeah i've noticed that wifi radiation tends to make humans' thumbs stick to their palms.


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## SCOTSMAN (Aug 1, 2008)

yeah i've noticed that wifi radiation tends to make humans' thumbs stick to their palms.
NAH that's just an old Scottish trick to save you paying for a round of drinks at the bar when your turn comes round LOL Alistair


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## AaronK (Nov 30, 2008)

i think i might have that problem too!


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## DrDirt (Feb 26, 2008)

I see right off a number of flaws in the study - 
They point out that "Urban Forests" are dying compared to the trees in the countryside…and have decided that it MUST be WiFi??? Because it "Couldn't be tied to bacterial or viral causes"

Couldn't it more likely be the aerial spraying of the cities to control insects especially mosquitoes, for west nile virus.
The fact that in the cities, all of the underbrush is generally removed
People are picnicing around the urban trees for shade, but pouring out their drinks nearby, which attract ants to the sugars.
Smog
pesticides
run-off from the streets

and on and on and on…. My background is chemistry not electricity, but for an Urban vs. Rural tree damage, I can see a number of more serious differences in the two environments. Electrical transmission has a much larger EMF than Wi-Fi does, but powerlines don't weem to be killing trees off

but these guys are convinced that it is Wifi. I see this as another example of our government studies at work. Like the recent revelation that Democrat and Republican audiences have a different top 10 list of TV shows…..oooh Ahhhh Shocking! ;-)


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## Eric_S (Aug 26, 2009)

Dave, this is just one particular study that specifically focused on wi-fi radiation.

Ignore the statistical percentages mentioned about rural vs urban and focus on the study itself that is explained. "To test the hypothesis that the mystery illness was caused by radiation poisoning, the researchers took 20 ash trees and exposed them to *various kinds of radiation* for three months. Sure enough, the ash trees exposed to Wi-Fi signals showed telltale signs of radiation sickness, including a "lead-like shine" on their leaves, indicating the oncoming death of those leaves." It isn't saying that other factors are also contributing, this study is specific to wi-fi. I'm sure if they did a study focused on run-off water and pesticides they could find other sorts of poisoning to trees and plant life(I believe these studies have been done already).

The study wasn't specific to urban either. Just trees in general. http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=nl&tl=en&u=http://www.antennebureau.nl/actueel/nieuws/2010/eerste-indruk-kennisplatform-onderzoek-naar-bomen-en-wifi-zendsignalen The real details though aren't apparent yet. "He warns strongly that there are no far-reaching conclusions from its results" Its just an interesting study and the first of its kind.


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## NBeener (Sep 16, 2009)

Fascinating.

It surely needs to be replicated, and then species-checked to find out whether some are far more susceptible than others, and whether some don't mind.

And then I wouldn't really mind knowing if these effects DO translate into deleterious effects for all, or other, carbon-based organisms.

In the meantime, though, I have noticed the beginnings of what surely looks like a third arm, growing, in the middle of my chest.

It's going to be a HUGE asset, in soldering, so … I'm not really bothered by it….. ;-)


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## Roger Clark aka Rex (Dec 30, 2008)

Another study suggest that trees are blocking out Wi-Fi Transmissions.


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## swirt (Apr 6, 2010)

How does one expose 20 ash trees only to wifi and exclude all other signals and contaminants? Wifi signals are so low powered compared to cell phones and other transmitters that something just doesn't sit right about this study. That would be one heck of a greenhouse.

My take on this is that it is a small study that was weak but showed positive results in an effort to secure more funding for a real study, which will have inconclusive results.


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## Howie (May 25, 2010)

I think it's aliens causing this!


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## Eric_S (Aug 26, 2009)

Swirt, they put the plants in a controlled room. These weren't tested in the city or rural areas but in a controlled isolated room to remove and other variables that would affect the study.

"My take on this is that it is a small study that was weak but showed positive results in an effort to secure more funding for a real study, which will have inconclusive results." 
Exactly, this is the first study of its kind and shows there is some validity to their theories and hopefully can get more funding.

Neil, are you sure its a third arm growing in the middle of your chest and not a Chestburster from Aliens lol?


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## wseand (Jan 27, 2010)

If you look hard enough at just about anything it causes damage to something. Hell cows are one of the worst contributors to global warming supposedly. Somehow this planet has suvived for millions of years and now in the 6 plus thousnds years we have destroyed it. I am all for finding ways to make things as safe as possible for this planet but there is a lot of frivaless crap people study so they can pay off their enormous student loans. Anyways, we all do a lot of damage to the forests by needing wood for our projects and houses and frivaless furniture we could probably do without. Sorry for all the misspelled words and my little rant. I wasn't in the infantry for my intelagence or my ability to spell.


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## DrDirt (Feb 26, 2008)

My skepticism follows swirts point.
I have wifi in the house and struggle to get a signal in different rooms. WiFi generally doesn't travel that far…unlike cellphone transmissions and powerlines.

Ever try to get a wi fi signal on your laptop…even in the city park..never mind the urban forests?

I'd love to know what kind of dosage was in their small study. "We put the 1.21 Gigawatt flux capacitor at a distance of 3 centimeters 24/7 for 3 months and saw evidence that it wasn't healthy" now we need a grant to do a real study to generate more of the inconclusive results they deride at the beginning of their story!

I am all for researching safety…but if high power transmitters on poles to give you 10 mile radius 4 bar coverage = "no problems" now we move to low power. To me I wonder if someone just couldn't get the funding for 'another round' on cell phone safety, so now they move on to a new source for WiFi.

Ya need to spend some time seeing how this grant and funding process works. I did my PhD research for 5 years at Penn State, and worked for a brand new assistant professor get established and gain funding and tenure. then 2 years as a Research Fellow for semiconductor materials at Arizona State University where I worked with their MRSEC (Materials Research Science and Engineering Center) which was a pooling of resources to gain mega government bucks as a consortium rather than funding individual professors.

EVERY anomolous finding represents the next cure for cancer, global warming and Erectile dysfunction all in one time release capsule if only we could get enough funding…
And if I just paste it in… It absolutely is an URBAN issue. They specifically state that rural trees are UNAFFECTED…and what does their comment (urban areas, especially) mean if not that they focused on urban areas?
The study, conducted by Wageningen University, investigated findings that trees in areas with high Wi-Fi activity (urban areas, especially) were suffering from symptoms that couldn't be tied to typical bacterial or viral causes. The symptoms included bleeding (!), fissures in the bark, the death of parts of leaves, and abnormal growth. 
;
;
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Of course, trees in rural or even simply non-urban environments are pretty much unaffected, but theoretically, all deciduous trees in the Western world could be affected.

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## swirt (Apr 6, 2010)

"hey put the plants in a controlled room." 20 plants in a truly controlled room is beyond the capabilities of most universities. Let alone another 20 in a separate controlled room for a control and 20 more in a controlled room with cell phone radiation plus another 20 for normal electric radiation ….


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## traupmann (Oct 8, 2010)

My Baloney Detector is pegging.

There is not enough radiation from Wi-Fi to affect any living item leaning on it.

Get a grip: all this *fear * journalism is simply the uninformed screaming unintelligible hogwash.

I haven't decided which is worse: the local news story about the next program on the network, or about some fear item.

Fear the Dumb!


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## Eric_S (Aug 26, 2009)

This wasn't meant to be fear journalism and I don't see how it is. Its just a research study that I found interesting and I thought others here would as well since it related to wood. Some may be reading into this way too much though. I apologize for posting it.


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## wseand (Jan 27, 2010)

No need to apologize Eric. The article wasn't fearful, in fact it was a bit humorous. The fact that the gurus already know that radiation effects biological life. They most likely know how much each Wi-Fi system gives off, so then they can multiply that by possible number of systems in any given area. And then they cam figure out if this could be a problem or not. It also stated that urban Netherlands is basically going to lose 70% of their trees. It sounds a bit farfetched but who am I to question scientists.


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## traupmann (Oct 8, 2010)

Hey, I meant fear as a direction, not like terrorists, but more like the boogie man. 
There is far more electromagnetism surrounding your incoming electric wires than from wi-fi. I don't see dying trees near electric lines. This is just more of the boogie man world trying to 'warn' us fools. The real problem is that only a very few journalists are capable of understanding volts, watts, and amps, much less electromagnetism (aka: radiation) We've had power-line scares, cell phone scares, read the literature, it states that this is bunk. 
Acid rain kills trees, beetles kill trees, fungi kill trees, wi-fi, is well below the strength level to effect living organisms.

If you would like a number of references, I will be happy to provide them…


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## NBeener (Sep 16, 2009)

I know that correlation does not equal causation, but ….

I recently moved my laptop to a stool, in front of my living room window.

I now notice that-whenever I post to this site, or send an e-mail-the Marshall's Seedless Ash, in my yard, loses a major branch. It just … plummets, precipitously, to the ground.

Odd, huh ?

;-)


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## rivergirl (Aug 18, 2010)

All I have to say is OMG- not again…...................... Cow poop causes methane gas/global warming- Global warming causes global warming; wifi causes plant life to die, etc. etc. Anyone ever consider that the SUN is a giant ball of RADIATION and a fantastic source of HEAT? Dinosaurs came and went- and so do shopping malls. Ever watch a blade of grass push through the concrete within moments of the mall closing? All this whining all the time about stuff that is well manure- and stuff that we cannot control (and please don't get all verbose and tell me how we can control it.. ). I see this posting about wifi is from a guy who in his avatar is driving an..automobile? Could it be an SUV? As in fossil fuels.. as in global warming… I mean.. where's his horse and buggy… no wait.. can't do that… methane… If you want to save the world, then grow a garden that is organic as possible, bake your own bread, raise responsible kids, don't throw trash out the car window, support your local farm market, turn off the TV, avoid Fox News and Ted Turner, have the cellphone surgically removed from your head, turn down the thermostat, live without A/C in the house and car, live your life. Worrying about the cosmos every dang minute of the freakin day will cause cancer far faster than WIFI. Hey- if a is tree killed by WIFI and falls in the forest, does it make a sound? And if a blog that is peripherally related to wood and suggests the possibilty of differing opinons and smacks of controversy is posted on L/J will anyone read it before it is permanently blocked and deleted?


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## canadianchips (Mar 12, 2010)

We need to get together and do a "STUDY" about the people that do "STUDIES". If we are paid enough money we can make every "study" say what the people paying us want !
I really am sceptical about any "studies" or "projections" in the past 30 years.
Enough rambling on by me !
I need to go to workshop and "study" my sketches.


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## miles125 (Jun 8, 2007)

""More studies are being planned to figure out the precise effects of radiation on plant life""

Hopefully we don't discover solar radiation is really the culprit.


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## dfletcher (Jan 14, 2010)

Hmmm, could this be why my Japanese Maple in my front yard hasn't done as well as I had hoped?


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## rivergirl (Aug 18, 2010)

Dennis- probably right on the maple.  I used miracle grow on my red maple - liberally- diluted in water. I loved that tree and was so sad when I moved from that house and couldn't take the tree that had grown from a sapling into a shade wonder.


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## DrAllred (Sep 2, 2010)

I keep saying that the environmental studies that groups do will force us back into the stone age to save one fish, bird, tree or bug. I guess I had better get some hand tools, but then again, we can't cut down a tree because an endangered insect just might make it's home in the tree…


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## MsDebbieP (Jan 4, 2007)

1. It is interesting and sad how our lives are inundated with *fear* - it is the basis of pretty much all news items, advertising … 
2.* research/statistics*: buyer beware and reader beware. It's important for people to point out the possible flaws so we can make an "informed" decision.
3. *Environment*: in the end, it all boils down to what everything on this planet needs - clean air, clean soil, clean water. Anything that can contaminate that is not good. I'm pretty sure that Wi-Fi would fall into the contamination category, especially when you think of how much there is.

And at that thought (clean air/soil/water) it makes me think handtools are precious.


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## Knothead62 (Apr 17, 2010)

I heard a former US congressman make the statement that the government has to have some sort of crisis to spend money.


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## wseand (Jan 27, 2010)

I was just wonder where are all the environmentalist are going to hang out and blog the day away. Starbucks has WiFi and they can't be killing trees. LOL. Will SB go to free wired internet.


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## rivergirl (Aug 18, 2010)

Funny wseand!


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## Beeguy (Jun 11, 2008)

Eric, I am glad you posted this. It is interesting, has to do with wood, and has sparked conversation. I think you hit the nail on the head when you stated it was a small study looking to gain additional funding for a larger study.

I am a biologist by education, have worked in the chemical indusrty over 30 years, and I am also sideline beekeeper. As a scientist I cannot disguard nor accept any theory on face value until stands up to testing. But it is obvious that some theories are low on merit. I can say pretty much when it comes to any research study the first thing you have to do is follow the money. Most research does not generate income so researchers are always looking for their next dollar.

I sure most of you heard that in recent years honeybee colonies have been dying at an unprecedented rate. When US Congress appropriated one million dollars to study the problem, "researchers" came out of the woodwork trying to get some of that money. This included studing cell phones, and God's Rapture calling the bees home.

The point is if your theory does not strike a chord with public concern chances are you will not get any grants. The bad part of all this is good research money is being wasted. I don't know anything regarding this study on trees. But I work in building that has WiFi throughout and have not noticed any of the live plants suffering including some very delicate orchids that are located really close to one of the units. So while, I can't discount the tree study yet, it seems to me WiFi should have been low on the lists of possible causes when investigating this issue.


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## BarbS (Mar 20, 2007)

This reminds me of a recent blogger I was reading who brought up the point that new legislation in emission controls would have one major set-back: Yellowstone Nat'l. Park would have to be "shut down" because it could not comply. I'm waiting to see the gov'mnt try that one.


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## AaronK (Nov 30, 2008)

what ron said 

thanks for posting this eric. the subject is worth discussing even if the specific study is of debatable merit (key word debatable).


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## Knothead62 (Apr 17, 2010)

"Cow poop causes methane gas/global warming" 
Yes, a cow gives off methane gas from both ends. Why do you think it is possible to light "gaseous emissions" with a match or lighter? Global warming? I don't think so. I'd wager that we have more people than cows.


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## wseand (Jan 27, 2010)

Well there are a lot of cows and since women don't fart and most men are referd to as pigs or some other animal. Then the cows have it hoones down. But back to the subject at hand., what was that again. Oh yeah, cows, no no, 
WiFi, it all comes down to there is not a damn thing we can do about it, the study must go on. I am thinking about having a steak tonight, tired of turkey. Have a good turkey gorging weekend all.


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## dubsaloon (Oct 2, 2010)

Man Eric! You opened a can-o-worms. I was wondering why I don't feel so good then you pointed out the silvering of the leaves and I was stopped dead in my tracks. I have silver like sheen on my skin…OH MY GOSH! I'm gonna Die! Wait a minute. I was painting my Kohler engine with high temp….Silver. Cause and effect maybe, were those silver maples they were "testing"? Not to worry. if the wi-fi doesn't kill you the guy drinkin his coffee while smoking a cigarette talking on his cell phone helping his son with long division driving his SUV while flirting with the (not his wife) in the next lane is just fine.

Peace


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## Howie (May 25, 2010)

I think it's an alien plot to kill off all the trees…......
Remember. we sent real people to Washington so they could approve crap like this for study. No wonder we are going broke.


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