Atmospheric Electricity and Biology

Miller-Urey Experiment1953

Clarke et al. (2017)

DC fair weather field

Schumann (1952)

ELF = Extremely Low Frequency < 100 Hz

𝑓𝑛 =𝑐

2𝜋a𝑛 𝑛 + 1

~ 8, 14, 20,… Hz

EW

NS

Magnetic Field detectors

Mitzpe Ramon,

ISRAEL

Electric Field DetectorPrice and Melnikov (2004)

Greenberg and Price (2004, 2007)

Pechony and Price (2007)

Ez

Hx

Hy

Measuring the Schumann Resonances

ELF (1-50 Hz) Magnetic field time series (2 seconds)

observed in the Negev Desert, Israel. M

agn

etic

Fie

ld

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

10 20 30 40 50

Pow

er (

Rela

tive U

nit

s)

Frequency (Hz)

8Hz

14Hz

20Hz

27Hz

33Hz39Hz

Negev Desert, Israel, spectrum of the previous

time series showing Schumann Resonances

50 Hz Power Line

signal

Schumann Resonances5-45 Hz

Frequency (Hz)

(Schumann, 1952)

Fraser-Smith and Bannister (1998)

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.35

0.4

0.45

0.5

0.55

0.6

0.65

50 55 60 65 70 75

Israel

SR

Am

pli

tud

e

Califo

rn

ia S

R A

mp

litud

e

Julian Day 1998

r=0.9

Variability of the daily mean 8Hz SR signal

observed simultaneously in Israel and California

Israel

California

Human EEG

Electric Spectra in Living Animals

Zooplankton

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

10 20 30 40 50

Pow

er (

Rela

tive U

nit

s)

Frequency (Hz)

8Hz

14Hz

20Hz

27Hz

33Hz39Hz

Lightning

Human EEG

Zooplankton

Human EEG

8 14 20 26 8 14 20 26 8 14 20 26 8 14 20 26

Have these weak fields (ELF) had any impact on the evolution of living organisms on Earth?

Why do all animals see in the VISIBLE part of the EM spectrum?

Why do all animals see in the VISIBLE part of the EM spectrum?

Biological Systems use what Nature supplies

Since the Earth has had an atmosphere, it has had an ionosphere, and hence an Earth-ionosphere waveguide.

Since the Earth has had an atmosphere there has been lightning (volcanoes, thunderstorms, dust storms).

Hence, for billions of years the Earth has been bathed in the ELF SR fields, and evolution of living beings has occurred in these fields.

ELF waves penetrate into oceans

ELF

SR

Zang and Yartsev (2019)

Human EEG can detect geomagnetic field

Wang et al. (2019)

Circadian Rhythms (Wever 1967, 1973)Schumann Resonance Links to Biology?

Schumann Resonance Magnetic Fields Improve Spinal Cord Injury

Segal et al. (2016)BrainQ

Breast Cancer Cells

Tang et al. (2019)

Breast Cancer Cells

Our Experiment!!

80 µm length20 µm width

Cardiac Myocytes from rats

3-4 days37 C, CO2

Effect of SR on rat heart cells

Elhalel et al. (2019)

1. Physical Contractions

3. Creatine Kinase (CK)

7.8 Hz

2. Ca+ Transients

Spontaneous contraction rate

Spontaneous calcium transients

Spontaneous calcium transients

Spontaneous calcium transients

• L-type Calcium channels

• Activation of the ryanodine receptors which release calcium from the SR

Cell Protection from Stress

Hypoxia= too little O2

H2O2 = too much O2

• What about other frequencies?

Schumann Resonance observations in Mitzpe Ramon

•What about magnetic field amplitude?

measurements

How can such weak fields impact biological systems?

Stochastic Resonance

Four Main mechanisms of Ca+ regulation

1. L-type Voltage Dependent Calcium Channels (L-VDCC) at cell membrane2. RyR – Ryanodine receptors release of intracellular Calcium3. NCX – Na+/Ca2+ exchanger transfers Na and Ca at cell membrane4. SERCA – Replacement of Ca2+ ions to SR reservoir.

SR = Sarcoplasmic Reticulum

Potential primary targets of EMFs in plants

Extremely low frequency

electromagnetic fields

Changes in Ca2+

transportChanges in ROS

production

Changes in activity of

electron transport chains

PhotosynthesisChanges in productivity

Changes in stress

tolerance

??

Hypothetical ways of influence of extremely low frequency EMFs on

productivity and stress tolerance of plants.

Electrical signaling

Phytohormones

Ca2+ signaling

ROS signaling

Sukhov V, Sukhova E, Vodeneev V Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology, 2019

Reactive oxygen

species (ROS):

H2O2, .O2

- , 1O2, .OH

Preliminary results, supporting a positive influence

of low frequency electromagnetic fields (EMF) on the stress tolerance of plants

High intensity

electromagnetic field:

15 Hz

1,5 Tl

0.5 hours

Sukhova et al., 2017

Photosynthesis experiments

Lower Values imply more efficient growth of wheat plants

ELF ?