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I cooked my brain with a phone. Many years ago I stepped off the plane in ATL with a European 3G phone, turned it on, wondering if it could connect. Held it to my head while it tried to connect. MISTAKE. Not finding base stations on its wavelength, it probably cranked up the power. I had a really weird and uncomfortable headache for two or three days after that. Do not try this at home!

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The maximum power output of a mobile phone is ~200 mW (0.2 watt) and that happens only for short periods (miliseconds) at the time.

That is not enough energy to even penetrate the skin, much less the skull. The amount of energy the article talks about is 1000x that amount and for an extended amount of time.

A lot of travelers experience headache after flying. Blood pressure changes, blocked sinuses, CO2 accumulation, change in sleep cycles etc. can all contribute.

Source: degree in technical medicine

Wow, really interesting degree I haven’t heard much about. Could you please tell a bit on what are you working on/what could you work on with this title?

OK, good to know. It was a genuinely weird headache, but I misattribute it.

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