Magnetosphere Watch Thread - Pictures - Latest Information -

Originally posted by elfie
reply to post by ElectricUniverse

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The solar cycle may have a direct correlation to the Earth's magnetic pole reversals but so far we have been unable to quantify/qualify it. We know that the solar cycles appear to be regular (11 & 22 years). Earth's geomagnetic reversals are not tied to the same short cycles, but seem to occur in hundreds of thousand year cycles, possibly taking thousands of years to complete.

Originally posted by elfie
reply to post by ElectricUniverse

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The solar cycle may have a direct correlation to the Earth's magnetic pole reversals but so far we have been unable to quantify/qualify it. We know that the solar cycles appear to be regular (11 & 22 years). Earth's geomagnetic reversals are not tied to the same short cycles, but seem to occur in hundreds of thousand year cycles, possibly taking thousands of years to complete.

The heart and cardio-vascular system have always been considered the main biological targets of geomagnetic activity. However, the damage inflicted by magnetic storms on human health has been found to be different. Experts from the Institute of Space Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), Institute of Physics of the Earth (RAS), and the Sechenov Moscow Medical Academy have established that the biggest danger emanates from the micro variations of the geomagnetic field, which coincide with the heartbeat. They occur in about half of all magnetic storms, and are most typical for a prelude to a storm with insignificant changes in the geomagnetic field (mostly affecting high altitudes), and for the recovery phase, when the geomagnetic field is coming back to normal.

Medical statistics for Moscow show that 70% of all micro variations, caused by geomagnetic disturbances, are accompanied by an abnormally high incidence of heart attacks (a growth of about 13%), and blood-strokes (7.5% growth). The low and extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields destabilize the heartbeat, leading to a sudden death or infarction. Medical experts have finally explained why heart attacks take a heavy toll before a magnetic storm - because micro variations begin 24 hours before the storm.

"We have analyzed numerous data on the heartbeat of cosmonauts from all Soyuz crews, and the majority of missions to the Mir Station and the International Space Station," said Doctor Tamara Breus (Physics and Mathematics) from the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Space Studies, who heads of a group of physics and physicians, studying this problem.

"We subjected 45 cosmonauts to examination during landing and flights of various duration, when they were exposed to geomagnetic disturbance, and then studied the same parameters in a neutral situation,” he said.

"The influence of a magnetic storm was obvious. It was manifest in a change of pulse and blood pressure, vegetative disorders, reduction of heartbeat rate variability and the power of respiratory undulations, and in a more irregular heartbeat pattern. Reactions varied depending on the duration of the flights and an ability of cosmonauts to adapt themselves to the new environment."

In the opinion of Dr. Breus, these effects were a reaction of the vascular tonus and heartbeat rhythm to magnetic storms.

It is perfectly obvious that the response of such a complicated system as the human organism to external factors largely depends on its condition. A magnetic storm is not dangerous for healthy people.

Neuroscience. 2007 Jan 5;144(1):356-67. Epub 2006 Oct 25. Links
Evidence of a nonlinear human magnetic sense.Carrubba S, Frilot C 2nd, Chesson AL Jr, Marino AA.
Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, P.O. Box 33932, 1501 Kings Highway, Shreveport, LA 71130-3932, USA.

Human subjects respond to low-intensity electric and magnetic fields. If the ability to do so were a form of sensory transduction, one would expect that fields could trigger evoked potentials, as do other sensory stimuli. We tested this hypothesis by examining electroencephalograms from 17 subjects for the presence of evoked potentials caused by the onset and by the offset of 2 G, 60 Hz (a field strength comparable to that in the general environment). Both linear (time averaging) and nonlinear (recurrence analysis) methods of data analysis were employed to permit an assessment of the dynamical nature of the stimulus/response relationship. Using the method of recurrence analysis, magnetosensory evoked potentials (MEPs) in the signals from occipital derivations were found in 16 of the subjects (P<0.05 for each subject). The potentials occurred 109-454 ms after stimulus application, depending on the subject, and were triggered by onset of the field, offset of the field, or both. Using the method of time averaging, no MEPs were detected. MEPs in the signals from the central and parietal electrodes were found in most subjects using recurrence analysis, but no MEPs were detected using time averaging. The occurrence of MEPs in response to a weak magnetic field suggested the existence of a human magnetic sense. In distinction to the evoked potentials ordinarily studied, MEPs were nonlinearly related to the stimulus as evidenced by the need to employ a nonlinear method to detect the responses.

Depression of Human Corticospinal Excitability Induced by Magnetic Theta-burst Stimulation: Evidence of Rapid Polarity-Reversing Metaplasticity
Reinhard Gentner1,2, Katharina Wankerl1, Claus Reinsberger1, Daniel Zeller1 and Joseph Classen1
1 Human Cortical Physiology and Motor Control Laboratory, Department of Neurology, University of Wuerzburg, D-97080 Wuerzburg, Germany, 2 Institute for Measurement Systems and Sensor Technology, Technical University of Munich, D-80333 Muenchen, Germany


Address correspondence to Prof. Dr J. Classen, Human Cortical Physiology and Motor Control Laboratory, Department of Neurology, University of Wuerzburg, Josef-Schneider Str. 11, 97080 Wuerzburg, Germany. Email: Classen_J@klinik.uni-wuerzburg.de

Metaplasticity refers to the activity-dependent modification of the ability of synapses to undergo subsequent potentiation or depression, and is thought to maintain homeostasis of cortical excitability. Continuous magnetic theta-burst stimulation (cTBS; 50 Hz-bursts of 3 subthreshold magnetic stimuli repeated at 5 Hz) is a novel repetitive magnetic stimulation protocol used to model changes of synaptic efficacy in human motor cortex. Here we examined the influence of prior activity on the effects induced by cTBS. Without prior voluntary motor activation, application of cTBS for a duration of 20 s (cTBS300) facilitated subsequently evoked motor potentials (MEP) recorded from APB muscle. In contrast, MEP-size was depressed, when cTBS300 was preceded by voluntary activity of sufficient duration. Remarkably, even without prior voluntary activation, depression of MEP-size was induced when cTBS was extended over 40 s. These findings provide in vivo evidence for extremely rapid metaplasticity reversing potentiation of corticospinal excitability to depression. Polarity-reversing metaplasticity adds considerable complexity to the brain's response toward new experiences. Conditional dependence of cTBS-induced depression of corticospinal excitability on prior neuronal activation suggests that the TBS-model of synaptic plasticity may be closer to synaptic mechanisms than previously thought.

Originally posted by ElectricUniverse
reply to post by DevolutionEvolvd

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In the opinion of Dr. Breus, these effects were a reaction of the vascular tonus and heartbeat rhythm to magnetic storms.

It is perfectly obvious that the response of such a complicated system as the human organism to external factors largely depends on its condition. A magnetic storm is not dangerous for healthy people.

Originally posted by DevolutionEvolvd
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The bolded is exactly the point I was getting to. Myocardial Infarction(Heart Attack) and Sudden Cardiac Death(Cardiac Arrest) are not the result of space weather. If heart disease wasn't prevalent, this discussion would be moot.

It's like blaming a gun for a homicide......

-Dev