Do pulsed microwaves cause brain injuries? UW-Madison researchers work to find out

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are launching the first comprehensive study into how pulsed microwaves might cause traumatic brain injuries.

The federally-funded project is tied to reports of sudden headaches, dizziness and nausea from more than 100 U.S. personnel working in Russia, China, Cuba, Austria and Washington D.C.

Since 2016, a growing number of U.S. diplomats and intelligence officers have reported suddenly feeling sick while serving overseas.

In Cuba, diplomats said they heard metallic hissing sounds and began experiencing nausea, vertigo and decreased cognitive function. That gave rise to what the CIA has called “anomalous health incidents,” colloquially known as “Havana Syndrome.”  

In 2021, federal agencies investigated two reports of people experiencing the same symptoms near the White House in what was reported as a potential “directed energy attack.”  

The cause of the symptoms remains a mystery, but in 2020 a panel convened by the National Academy of Sciences said one plausible explanation is “directed, pulsed radio frequency energy.”

That got the attention of Christian Franck, a professor of mechanical engineering at UW-Madison. He said pulsed radio frequency energy means microwaves, but not the kind found in kitchens. Those familiar home appliances use continuous electromagnetic radio waves to heat food by exciting the water molecules within.

Franck said a “landmark paper” published in 2021 by former UW-Madison researcher Amy Dagro used computer models to show high-powered microwave pulses can rapidly heat water in cells within the brain that create “stress waves,” which bounce within the skull and cause injuries. Dagro is still a collaborator with UW-Madison but now works for the U.S. Army Research Lab.

“So, these are extremely short pulses, and we sort of stumbled upon them when we’re trying to understand what might happen when you have microwaves hitting someone’s brain,” Franck said.

Franck and his team are now working to put that theory into practice with the first-ever comprehensive study on how pulsed microwaves might injure the brain. The goal is to answer questions about how brain tissue might stretch or deform from pulsed microwave exposure at the molecular level and in animals. 

Franck said another study from the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine released in 2019 found changes in the brains of 40 U.S. government personnel who experienced the symptoms in Cuba. 

“Something clearly happened,” Franck said. “I’m hoping that within the next year or two, we can tell you exactly what we think might have happened.” 

The research is being funded, in part, through a $10 million grant to UW-Madison’s PANTHER Program from the U.S. Office of Naval Research. Panther, which Franck directs, focuses on understanding, detecting and preventing traumatic brain injuries.

Ever since “anomalous health incidents” were first reported there has been debate about the validity of the claims and whether foreign powers had developed some type of new secret weapon. Franck said said some scholars initially thought it might be a case of collateral damage from devices designed to disrupt electronics.

U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that while they don’t know how the reported “Havana Syndrome” sicknesses happened, they didn’t suspect a foreign government was to blame.

The U.S. already has directed energy weapons, like high powered lasers that have been used to shoot down drones. Another example is the U.S. military’s non-lethal Active Denial System that uses a beam of steady electromagnetic waves to create an “intolerable heating sensation” felt from head to toe.

Franck said he doesn’t care about any of the debate surrounding “anomalous health incidents.” He said for him, it’s about following the science.

“I feel very confident that we can put this to rest one way or another,” Franck said. “I mean, the beauty of science is its objective. It will tell you one way or another. So, I’m going to go in there with an open mind.”