How Terahertz Waves Tear Apart DNA

Interesting. Perhaps it is true. After all, it's all electromagnetic energy.

You have to ask yourself, didn't anyone test this?

You'd need 3-4 generations of lab rats to be sure.

Cheers.

I agree. Great link, thank you.

Well, if our DNA gets all tweaked we'll just become a world of zombies.

The research looks valid, HOWEVER before people start to panic that terrorists are going to get their hands on THz band radios and start "unzipping" the DNA of a defenceless city the power levels required are rather large and prolonged to produce even small levels of damage (see the actual study for more details).

http://arxiv.org/abs/0910.5294v1

Also bare in mind that any sufficiently high power level of electromagnetic radiation (any frequency) or even simple magnetism or sunlight will do damage to humans, and that THz frequency 'radiation' occurs naturally.

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

In its simplest sense, DNA is pretty rugged and can withstand damage (and recover) which is fortunate as the last thing we would want is to spontaneously dissolve into a pile of base elements because we sat out in the sun too long.

Hopefully this thread won't turn into another 'cellphone radiation scare' discussion.

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

aw heck, where's the fun then....why not have one of those scary cell phone "radiation" discussions?

Re : "Also bare in mind..."

Obviously , at least SOME damage has already been done ... (or, did you leave your mind at the strip-club?) ! ! !

bear

bare

Maybe T-Rays did in T-Rex? Oh, wait, we already know what did in T-Rex. Well as you probably know, since t-rays are so close to microwaves, they could agitate certain molecules...but like previous poster said, it would take a lot of energy. What I didn't see in any of the previous posts was proximity to the source of the ray. T-rays are only given off from extremely hot sources, like the sun, so we get hit with them already, but not very close to the source. Nothing to worry about. My theory is the DNA would burn up before it was ripped apart by the wave...this would be a good experiment!

Our, and my, opinion is worthless. These sort of studies (where the effect is very close to the noise) are difficult to get meaningful answers from. We just need a whole lot more research before we panic.

In the short term we need to ignore any "information" coming from current affairs shows or shock jocks.

It's always worth comparing the relative dangers. How dangerous is it compared to car accident, smoking, slipping in the bath or (for the US readers) alien abduction.

Does this technology have any future for destruction of microbial DNA in water (ie: water disinfection/purification), or for virus destruction in sanitation in hospitals, etc.? Typically, doesnt ~254 nanometer energy (UV) destroy DNAs ability to replicate?.