Reported Cellphone Effects on Brain Energetically Consistent with Electrostriction

Cellphone exposure reportedly alters brain EEG [1], blood flow [2] metabolism [3], and blood-brain barrier [4]. Others claim slight heating is the only plausible effect. We find deformation of soft tissue by electrostriction forces energetically possible. We consider a simple model of two hemispheres of fatty brain immersed in an aqueous fluid of higher dielectric constant. The polar fluid is attracted to regions of stronger electric field at the skull surface. The pressure pushing the hemispheres together could be transduced by pressure sensors between the hemispheres; cycling of the pressure might also cause damage akin to mechanical fatigue. Such forces are small but normally vanish due to neutral buoyancy. Assuming very soft tissue (rat brains soften with age) and published tissue permittivities, we find the energy difference ΔU = (e1−1 - e2−1 ) S V / 2c from displacing a volume V of 1 cc of fluid by a nearby cell tower or wi-fi computer causing incident power density S of one mW/m2 creates deformation that slightly exceeds thermal noise. Data modulations cannot be transduced by the slow-moving fluid, but pulse modulations (used to reduce mobile devices' duty cycles) can. Blood also has a higher dielectric constant than brain, so there would be a force on the blood brain barrier.Sharp et al. [5] similarly invoked photon pressure as the basis for microwave hearing [6]. Lower frequency fields are better shielded by the skin, but the effect might explain headache from a pulsed low-frequency electric field [7].1. Schmid+, J. Sleep Res. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2869.2011.00918.x (2011).2. Huber+, J. Sleep Res. 11:289 (2002).3. Volkow+, JAMA 305:808 (2011).4. Salford+, Environ. Health Perspect. 111:881 (2003).5. Sharp+, Microwave Theory & Techniques, IEEE Trans. on, 22:583 (1974).6. Frey+, Science 181:356 (1973).7. Marino+, Int. J. Neurosci. doi:10.3109/00207454.2011.608139 (2011).