Naked Science Forum

General Discussion & Feedback => Just Chat! => Topic started by: SkepticalDebunker on 10/12/2023 16:13:34

Title: Geomagnetic storms cause heart attacks, schizophrenia, seizures, and suicides.
Post by: SkepticalDebunker on 10/12/2023 16:13:34
https://biomedscis.com/fulltext/the-effects-of-solar-activity-and-geomagnetic-disturbance-on-human-health.ID.000203.php

''m) Solar activity may contribute to the development of and be a trigger of the exacerbation of nervous and mental disorders, such schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease, and multiple sclerosis [38].''

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5805718/

https://blogs.biomedcentral.com/on-health/2019/09/19/geomagnetic-disturbances-and-cardiovascular-mortality-riskutm_sourcebmc_blogsutm_mediumreferralutm_contentnullutm_campaignblog_2019_on-health/

''Our results may be explained through the direct impact of environmental electric and magnetic fields produced during GMD on the human autonomic nervous system. Interactions between GMD and the autonomic nervous system are likely to induce a cascade of reactions in the body's electrophysiology that culminate in the collapse of organ functions and death.''

https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13769-does-the-earths-magnetic-field-cause-suicides/ Geomagnetic storms and suicides.

https://aepi.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s42494-020-00019-9 geomagnetic activity also causes seizures.

Scientists theorize that this is because when Earth's magnetic field fluctuates, it messes up the pineal gland, causing all sorts of issues. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geomagnetic_storm
Title: Re: Geomagnetic storms cause heart attacks, schizophrenia, seizures, and suicides.
Post by: paul cotter on 10/12/2023 17:17:29
All creatures will be influenced by environmental changes but that does not mean a particular set of parameter changes actually cause these pathologies. Heart attacks are known to be caused by a build up of atheroma and I suspect the temperature the individual is exposed to will have far greater effect than the solar wind.
Title: Re: Geomagnetic storms cause heart attacks, schizophrenia, seizures, and suicides.
Post by: Bored chemist on 10/12/2023 18:45:49
Solar activity may contribute to the development of ...
Or it may not.

That's not a story.

"Our results may be explained through..."

Ditto
Title: Re: Geomagnetic storms cause heart attacks, schizophrenia, seizures, and suicides.
Post by: SkepticalDebunker on 10/12/2023 18:58:03
Solar Storms may cause thousands of heart attack deaths each year: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2324402-solar-storms-may-cause-up-to-5500-heart-related-deaths-in-a-given-year/
Title: Re: Geomagnetic storms cause heart attacks, schizophrenia, seizures, and suicides.
Post by: alancalverd on 10/12/2023 19:14:10
Given that  worldwide there are about 5,000,000 deaths each year from heart attacks alone, and probably as many more from other "heart-related" causes (whatever they may be), and that the reporting of cause of death varies from country to country and year to year, you'd need to do some pretty shrewd statistics to demonstrate that solar storms are responsible for another 5,500 in any given year.   

There's an odor of bullshit about this story.
Title: Re: Geomagnetic storms cause heart attacks, schizophrenia, seizures, and suicides.
Post by: paul cotter on 10/12/2023 19:38:53
Indeed, I thought I could smell that aroma, too.
Title: Re: Geomagnetic storms cause heart attacks, schizophrenia, seizures, and suicides.
Post by: Bored chemist on 10/12/2023 19:56:51
Reminds me of this.
https://www.tylervigen.com/spurious-correlations
Title: Re: Geomagnetic storms cause heart attacks, schizophrenia, seizures, and suicides.
Post by: SkepticalDebunker on 10/12/2023 21:11:56
I just did a quick experiment by rapidly waving a fridge magnet across my heart and also my head. Nothing happened despite a fridge magnet being hundreds of times stronger compared to the Earth's magnetic field. For some odd reason my heart didn't stop despite the studies I linked in my OP suggesting that a much weaker field (Earth's) moving much more slowly has such catastrophic effects on human health.
Title: Re: Geomagnetic storms cause heart attacks, schizophrenia, seizures, and suicides.
Post by: paul cotter on 10/12/2023 21:33:55
In that case I would expect an mri scanner to instantly kill all patients. Funny, does not seem to happen, weird.
Title: Re: Geomagnetic storms cause heart attacks, schizophrenia, seizures, and suicides.
Post by: SkepticalDebunker on 10/12/2023 21:44:58
In that case I would expect an mri scanner to instantly kill all patients. Funny, does not seem to happen, weird.

Another weird thing: almost all of these articles reporting links between geomagnetic storms and negative health effects are very recent. Like, within the past 3 or so years, cropping up suddenly at a similar time. You'd think people would've noticed the slew people just dying in MRI scanners and everytime they were unfortunate enough to walk past a fridge magnet long before then.
Title: Re: Geomagnetic storms cause heart attacks, schizophrenia, seizures, and suicides.
Post by: alancalverd on 11/12/2023 08:44:54
I just did a quick experiment by rapidly waving a fridge magnet across my heart and also my head. Nothing happened
Beware the onesided correlation!

Beware self-reported medical statistics!

If you had suffered a fatal heart attack, we would never have learned about it. So there may indeed be a very strong causative correlation, and you are an outlier. Further research is necessary.

Living in the countryside, everything smells of bullshit, so I'm a natural skeptic. What's the correlation between gullibility and urbanisation?
Title: Re: Geomagnetic storms cause heart attacks, schizophrenia, seizures, and suicides.
Post by: alancalverd on 11/12/2023 08:53:19
In that case I would expect an mri scanner to instantly kill all patients. Funny, does not seem to happen, weird.
You do realise there's a CIA conspiracy to cover up these deaths, don't you?
Title: Re: Geomagnetic storms cause heart attacks, schizophrenia, seizures, and suicides.
Post by: Petrochemicals on 11/12/2023 09:59:53
there are about 5,000,000 deaths each year from heart attacks
Or is the from a fatty western diet? Or is it from a lack of exercise? Or from dna breakdown during cell replenisment? Or from natural selection due to those more able to store fat during famines having an icreaced representation in the populace? The only under 40 I have heard about having heart attacks have heart defects.

Title: Re: Geomagnetic storms cause heart attacks, schizophrenia, seizures, and suicides.
Post by: SkepticalDebunker on 11/12/2023 14:22:24
Should I be concerned about Harvard peddling this woo? https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014cosp...40E1114G/abstract#%3A~%3Atext%3DIt%20was%20shown%20statistically%20that%2Ccomparison%20with%20quiet%20geomagnetic%20conditions
Title: Re: Geomagnetic storms cause heart attacks, schizophrenia, seizures, and suicides.
Post by: Origin on 11/12/2023 14:27:31
Should I be concerned about Harvard peddling this woo?
No, I don't think you need to worry.
Title: Re: Geomagnetic storms cause heart attacks, schizophrenia, seizures, and suicides.
Post by: SkepticalDebunker on 11/12/2023 14:28:22
Should I be concerned about Harvard peddling this woo?
No, I don't think you need to worry.

I'm not too well versed on Harvard, but is it considered a reputable source? I always got the impression that it was but I'm not sure if people were talking about the website I linked to, or something else with the same name.
Title: Re: Geomagnetic storms cause heart attacks, schizophrenia, seizures, and suicides.
Post by: Origin on 11/12/2023 14:41:25
I'm not too well versed on Harvard, but is it considered a reputable source?
Certainly better than a youtube video.
This is simply one 10 year old paper that may or may not have been peer reviewed. 
So, like I said I wouldn't be too concerned, I'm certainly not going to lose any sleep.  If you're really concerned you could wrap tin foil around your head and for heavens sake don't run by your refrigerator! ;)
Title: Re: Geomagnetic storms cause heart attacks, schizophrenia, seizures, and suicides.
Post by: SkepticalDebunker on 11/12/2023 14:54:59
After reading through some more studies, I've noticed they typically have six things in common.

1. There appears to be a disproportionate amount of studies conducted by Russian authors.

2. Take a shot everytime Schumann Resonances or the Pineal Gland are mentioned.

3. The studies are new, like, published within the past three years. Most of these studies seem to have all suddenly cropped up at once out of nowhere.

4. The studies always specifically blame Earth's magnetism on the negative health effects.

5. The health effects due to solar flares are always very negative.

6. The studies are published or mentioned on reputable-seeming sites.


What exactly are "Schumann Resonances" and "Pineal Gland"?
Title: Re: Geomagnetic storms cause heart attacks, schizophrenia, seizures, and suicides.
Post by: paul cotter on 11/12/2023 17:04:16
Schumann resonances are the natural resonances of the earth created by the waveguide effect produced by the conductive earth and the conductive ionosphere. At ~7.8hz radiated electromagnetic energy will traverse this cavity and arrive back where it was initiated in phase. Lightning is the source of such energy. The pineal gland is a secretor of melatonin, the sleep hormone. The pineal gland is associated with lots of new age woo-woo.
Title: Re: Geomagnetic storms cause heart attacks, schizophrenia, seizures, and suicides.
Post by: SkepticalDebunker on 11/12/2023 17:19:26
Schumann resonances are the natural resonances of the earth created by the waveguide effect produced by the conductive earth and the conductive ionosphere. At ~7.8hz radiated electromagnetic energy will traverse this cavity and arrive back where it was initiated in phase. Lightning is the source of such energy. The pineal gland is a secretor of melatonin, the sleep hormone. The pineal gland is associated with lots of new age woo-woo.

Do Schumann resonances have an effect on human health?
Title: Re: Geomagnetic storms cause heart attacks, schizophrenia, seizures, and suicides.
Post by: Petrochemicals on 11/12/2023 18:08:04
The lunar effect is a similarly touted environmental factor.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_effect

More motorbike crashes, more crime and apparently your blood doesn't clot as well, although this was rebuffed by the royal college of surgeons(who may know better)
Title: Re: Geomagnetic storms cause heart attacks, schizophrenia, seizures, and suicides.
Post by: SkepticalDebunker on 11/12/2023 23:49:32
The lunar effect is a similarly touted environmental factor.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_effect

More motorbike crashes, more crime and apparently your blood doesn't clot as well, although this was rebuffed by the royal college of surgeons(who may know better)

When I saw the articles it reminded me of the so called "Lunar Effect" as well, but instead of the moon it's the sun, and instead of "tidal forces" it is "Schumann resonances" and magnetism. The Lunar Effect has been talked about for ages. I'm wondering why all of a sudden there seem to be studies cropping up within the past 2-3 years making claims that geomagnetic storms cause pretty much every health problem imaginable. They're done by different authors in different countries, but they always seem to use the same terms and focus on Earth's magnetic field as the culprit for all these negative effects on the human body.

First time hearing of "heliobiology" as well, which is apparently what this field of science is.
Title: Re: Geomagnetic storms cause heart attacks, schizophrenia, seizures, and suicides.
Post by: Petrochemicals on 12/12/2023 15:36:39


When I saw the articles it reminded me of the so called "Lunar Effect" as well, but instead of the moon it's the sun, and instead of "tidal forces" it is "Schumann resonances" and magnetism. The Lunar Effect has been talked about for ages. I'm wondering why all of a sudden there seem to be studies cropping up within the past 2-3 years making claims that geomagnetic storms cause pretty much every health problem imaginable. They're done by different authors in different countries, but they always seem to use the same terms and focus on Earth's magnetic field as the culprit for all these negative effects on the human body.

First time hearing of "heliobiology" as well, which is apparently what this field of science is.
The motorbike crashes they think is to do with shadows and eyesight. Maybe a similar reason for crime, full moons where always good for night time activities, other than covert operations, maybe it is the fact that more people get caught under a full moon.

If pace makers are affected by magnetism, perhaps a small percentile of pacemakers go ponto?
Title: Re: Geomagnetic storms cause heart attacks, schizophrenia, seizures, and suicides.
Post by: SkepticalDebunker on 12/12/2023 16:43:01


When I saw the articles it reminded me of the so called "Lunar Effect" as well, but instead of the moon it's the sun, and instead of "tidal forces" it is "Schumann resonances" and magnetism. The Lunar Effect has been talked about for ages. I'm wondering why all of a sudden there seem to be studies cropping up within the past 2-3 years making claims that geomagnetic storms cause pretty much every health problem imaginable. They're done by different authors in different countries, but they always seem to use the same terms and focus on Earth's magnetic field as the culprit for all these negative effects on the human body.

First time hearing of "heliobiology" as well, which is apparently what this field of science is.
The motorbike crashes they think is to do with shadows and eyesight. Maybe a similar reason for crime, full moons where always good for night time activities, other than covert operations, maybe it is the fact that more people get caught under a full moon.

If pace makers are affected by magnetism, perhaps a small percentile of pacemakers go ponto?

The studies aren't talking about people with pacemakers, though. They're implying the fluctuations in Earth's magnetic field during solar flares causes disruptions in human nervous systems and hearts (without pacemakers) similar to how they disrupt power grids.
Title: Re: Geomagnetic storms cause heart attacks, schizophrenia, seizures, and suicides.
Post by: SkepticalDebunker on 12/12/2023 18:50:02
I searched American College of Cardiology and found a paper from Mayo Clinic Proceedings, which sourced Journal of the American College of Cardiology which seems to debunk the notion that geomagnetic storms cause arrhythmias:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4807870/ - sample size is large at around 60,000 people.

No effects seen on the heart at magnetic fields up to 8 T: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15556667/

However, Journal of the American Heart Association finds a correlation between geomagnetic storms and higher blood pressure: https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/JAHA.120.021006 Associations remained after adjustment for ambient air pollutants and ambient particle radioactivity.
Title: Re: Geomagnetic storms cause heart attacks, schizophrenia, seizures, and suicides.
Post by: Petrochemicals on 12/12/2023 20:42:29
The studies aren't talking about people with pacemakers, though. They're implying the fluctuations in Earth's magnetic field during solar flares causes disruptions in human nervous systems and hearts (without pacemakers) similar to how they disrupt power grids.
How do meteorological events impact upon illness?
Title: Re: Geomagnetic storms cause heart attacks, schizophrenia, seizures, and suicides.
Post by: SkepticalDebunker on 12/12/2023 21:28:32
The studies aren't talking about people with pacemakers, though. They're implying the fluctuations in Earth's magnetic field during solar flares causes disruptions in human nervous systems and hearts (without pacemakers) similar to how they disrupt power grids.
How do meteorological events impact upon illness?

Are you talking about how solar flares allegedly affect human health? The theories always seem to involve Schumann resonances, fluctuations in Earth's magnetic field, and the pineal gland. As to the exact mechanism these articles never go into detail about that.
Title: Re: Geomagnetic storms cause heart attacks, schizophrenia, seizures, and suicides.
Post by: Petrochemicals on 12/12/2023 23:08:16
The studies aren't talking about people with pacemakers, though. They're implying the fluctuations in Earth's magnetic field during solar flares causes disruptions in human nervous systems and hearts (without pacemakers) similar to how they disrupt power grids.
How do meteorological events impact upon illness?

Are you talking about how solar flares allegedly affect human health? The theories always seem to involve Schumann resonances, fluctuations in Earth's magnetic field, and the pineal gland. As to the exact mechanism these articles never go into detail about that.
Barometric pressure, rain sun heat humidity etc. How does this relate to any solar flare activity.
Title: Re: Geomagnetic storms cause heart attacks, schizophrenia, seizures, and suicides.
Post by: SkepticalDebunker on 13/12/2023 03:11:00
The studies aren't talking about people with pacemakers, though. They're implying the fluctuations in Earth's magnetic field during solar flares causes disruptions in human nervous systems and hearts (without pacemakers) similar to how they disrupt power grids.
How do meteorological events impact upon illness?

Are you talking about how solar flares allegedly affect human health? The theories always seem to involve Schumann resonances, fluctuations in Earth's magnetic field, and the pineal gland. As to the exact mechanism these articles never go into detail about that.
Barometric pressure, rain sun heat humidity etc. How does this relate to any solar flare activity.

I'm not sure how this is relevant to the topic of geomagnetic storms causing health problems.
Title: Re: Geomagnetic storms cause heart attacks, schizophrenia, seizures, and suicides.
Post by: alancalverd on 13/12/2023 08:41:04
Time now to ask the killer question: So what? Having failed to control the earth's climate, are we now going to have to fund fatuous conferences on controlling sunspots?   
Title: Re: Geomagnetic storms cause heart attacks, schizophrenia, seizures, and suicides.
Post by: Petrochemicals on 13/12/2023 09:12:46
I'm not sure how this is relevant to the topic of geomagnetic storms causing health problems.
Well given we have established magnetism does not cause health problems, if there is a link, it must be via another avenue. Perhaps a geomagnetic storm causes a large pressure change, perhaps ionisation of the air has an effect.

https://earth-planets-space.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40623-014-0154-2