Sabine Hossenfelder
2 HN recommenders · recommended in 3 months, 2021–2022
17:48 · 1.6M views · Dec 19, 2020
Physicist Sabine Hossenfelder explains how 5G works and examines the health concerns around millimeter wave radiation. She reviews the scientific evidence and the open letters from scientists.
HN recommends it as an even-handed physicist's take for 5G skeptics, noting it is probably safe but under-studied.
4 comments from Hacker News
If you’re actually curious about the topic, this is an even-handed (reasonably well-informed) take on the matter from physicist Sabine Hossenfelder: this video One of the interesting points in the video is that 5G’s high frequency band of 24-48GHz is _not_ well understood with studies. The typical cell phone radiation/cancer studies deal with the much lower-frequency bands (hundreds of MHz or 1-5GHz), but that doesn’t necessarily transfer to the new higher frequencies. Per the video, it is known that frequencies that high can warm the skin and irritate the eyes if they’re at really high power, but it’s not known exactly what power threshold for such millimeter waves is considered “safe”, and the number of studies isn’t sufficient to completely dismiss any safety concerns. She’s not saying “5G isn’t safe”, but rather “5G hasn’t been completely determined safe yet because more studies are needed for the newer mm-wave spectrum” and “studies showing the safety of previous generations of cell phone radiation don’t necessarily apply to the new frequency band.” It’s not necessarily alarm-worthy, but it’s more nuanced than just “crystal-worshipping hippies”…
Sabine Hossenfelder has a great explanation of 5G controversy[1] that is somewhat relevant. Explains why it is probably not dangerous, but also indicates why some additional study is warranted. [1]: this video
While you're ignoring everything they say about radiation, you can also suggest they watch "All you need to know to understand 5G" by Sabine Hossenfelder. this video
Regarding 5G I thought the same but according to Sabine it is not quite clear it is safe: this video [14:00] "Now the thing is if you look what is known about the health risks from long-term exposure to the new millimeter waves band, there are basically no studies. "