Environment Dept. Seminar: ברקים, אבולוציה וביולוגיה

פרופ' קולין פרייס

10 June 2019, 15:00 
Porter Building ("Capsula"), Auditorium 
Environment Dept. Seminar

Abstract:

Lightning activity on Earth is continuous in time, and has existed on our planet for billions of years.    With 50-100 lightning discharges occurring every second of the day, these flashes of electricity produce radio waves of all frequencies that propagate around the globe, and fill the air around us.  At extremely low frequencies (ELF) below 100 Hz, these radio waves travel a number of times around the globe before decaying into the background noise, producing standing waves, or resonances, we call the Schumann resonances.  The primary harmonic frequency of the Schumann resonances is 7.8Hz, representing an electromagnetic wave with a wavelength equal to the circumference of the Earth (40,000 km).  All biological systems have evolved within these permanent ELF fields, with most organisms on planet Earth showing similar spectral electrical activity to the Schumann resonances, whether in zooplankton in the oceans, or our human brain EEG.  Is this purely coincidence?  We have set about trying to answer this and other questions related to the link between the Schumann resonances and biological systems (Elhalel et al., 2019).  More details in the talk.....

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