Now that we know the island was selected to be part of the Dharma initiative because of its strong electromagnetic field, I'm wondering about how ELF's influence the mind. Has anyone else heard of experiments that demonstarted bombarding the brain with a strong electromagnetic field can cause anxiety, exhaustion, and hallucinations? Could this be the cause of the "sickness" and the weird visions people have had on the island? Jack's erratic behavior in this episode?
I did some searching on the 'net and this seems to be more of a conspiracy theory, but I swear once upon a time someone told me they had heard that scientists believed people who had supposedly been abducted by aliens lived in areas of concentrated ELF's and consequently were victims of hallucinations.
Anyone?
Please be kind, this is the first thread I've ever started. :angel:

Good idea. I've heard of one supposed experiment where scientists used electromagnetic waves in an attempt at mind control... (the whispers, possibly?) There has to be some scientific way of explaining those things.

From what I have read, the electromagnetic waves bombard the brain and I think they can cause brain damage if used often enough.

I thought about this when Sawyer kept having those headaches. He's seemed fine since he headed out on the raft.

Well, I guess we know now why the compasses were off! :biggrin:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia_experiment

The physiological effects on the crew were profound. Almost all of the crew were violently ill. Some suffered from mental illness (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_illness) because of the experience - behavior conforming to schizophrenia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizophrenia) is described in some accounts. Still other members were missing — supposedly "vanished" — and allegedly five of the crew were actually fused to the metal bulkhead or deck of the ship. Horrified, Navy officials immediately cancelled the experiment.

Most medical claims about the health effects of EMFs fall squarely on the "pseudo" side of the science v. pseudo-science divide. Which is fine, this is fiction, and DL and others have said that everything on the island could be explained by or the other. For the state of legitimate research on the topic (specifically, possible links between EMFs and cancer clusters), you can go here:

http://www.niehs.nih.gov/emfrapid/html/EMF_DIR_RPT/Report_18f.htm

How do you become fused to metal or the deck of a ship? Weird.

Scientists have done experiments on people by bombarding them with elecromagnetic fields and found that they can cause one to experience hallucinations, senstations of moving, etc. If a person was in a specific frame of mind when they were bombarded, that would affect their experience (e.g. having an experience that could seem like an abudction after thinking about aliens).

My physics professor in college worked on the world's largest electromagnet, and told us in class that the effects of electromagnetic fields on the human body isn't really known.

I was wondering how the magnetism would effect them physically. You know how people wear the little magnetic bracelets? Isn't that for their health? It's supposed to have some sort of good effect on the body or something? But that's a small magnet. What about the HUGE magnet in the hatch? And what about these strong electromagnetic fields? Is that different then the huge magnet in the hatch?

But I guess my real question is how it would effect your health. The moon is a huge magnet and effects the tides. And our bodies are made mostly of water...so how would huge amounts of magnetism effect the body? I think it could make them go a bit nuts.