Science: Influence by Radio

Two years ago a California radar technician died after exposure to high-powered microwaves. Why? The examining doctor's explanation was that the microwaves caused "intolerable" heating of the man's tissues. Biologist John H. Heller doubted this explanation, suspected that the microwaves had somehow fatally altered the body's cells. To find out, he began experimenting with lower-powered radio waves at the New England Institute for Medical Research in Ridgefield, Conn. Last week in Britain's Nature, he and Dr. A. A. Teixeira-Pinto reported that their experiments had provided "a new physical method" for manipulating cells and their contents, including the all-important chromosomes in the nucleus.

Dr. Heller's method was to set up a pulsed electromagnetic field (80-180 pulses per sec., 27 megacycles) between electrodes. When he put tiny bits of iron, carbon, silver, oil, fat, starch or mammalian cells on a glass slide between the electrodes, he found that any asymmetrical particle promptly turned so that its long axis lay along the lines of force. Groups lined up Indian-file, like iron scraps between magnetic poles. Microorganisms such as bacteria or protozoa were forced to travel in similar paths; they resumed swimming normally at random only when the power was turned off.

Most important, Heller found that the chromosomes could be twisted, turned, forced into new alignments. Since chromosomes carry the genetic material that controls growth and heredity, this maltreatment often kept cells from dividing, or caused mutations. Dr. Heller's waves are so specific that a change of frequency or pulsing can limit their effect to a single kind of cell, leaving slightly different cells unaffected. Since cancer cells differ from normal cells, there is a chance (which Dr. Heller does not want to talk about) that they can be damaged by radio waves that do not hurt healthy tissue.