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  by David Hyde and Ben Davidson
 January 21, 
			2017
 New Dawn 146 (Sept-Oct 2014)
 
			from
			
			NewDawnMagazine Website 
			  
			  
			  
			  
			  
			  
			
			 
			  
			  
			Solar energy and cosmic radiation have electrical influences over a 
			multitude of human activities including human health.
 
			  
			Mainstream 
			science has begun to accept these effects, and to investigate the 
			topic in a serious way, but the science itself is by no means 'new'.
 At the December 1926 annual meeting of the American Meteorological 
			Society, Russian Professor Alexander Tchijevsky (also spelt 
			Chizhevsky) presented the paper "Physical Factors of the Historical 
			Process."
 
			  
			The paper examined the 
			cyclical variations in the sunspot number of
			
			the Solar Cycle in order to create 
			a mass index of human excitability throughout history.  
			  
			He found that revolutions 
			and periods of intense fighting seemed to occur during
			
			Solar Maxima - the period of 
			greatest activity in the 11-year solar cycle of the Sun - while 
			cultural flourishing and social cohesion tended to occur during 
			Solar Minima.
 It was in this paper that Tchijevsky wrote:
 
				
				The Sun is an 
				enormous generator of electric energy and emits it in the form 
				of radiation and induction.    
				The Sun is surrounded 
				by an electromagnetic field, the limits of which reach beyond 
				the farthermost planet Neptune, and therefore the Earth with its 
				electromagnetic field is in the Sun's field of tremendous power.
				1 
			Tchijevsky and other 
			observers at this time noticed that during the period of maximum 
			solar activity, all of the Sun's phenomena would acquire tremendous 
			size and strength, and that,  
				
				"The Sun ejects 
				streams of anode and cathode rays which ionize the Earth's 
				atmosphere (Birke, Arrhenius, Nordmann, Paulsen, Villards) and 
				create certain effects." 
			Based on previous 
			research, Tchijevsky postulated that: 
				
				The influence of the 
				Sun on the human organism results in chemical changes in the 
				pigment of the skin, in the chaining of the heart-beat, in the 
				alterations in the chemical composition of the blood and the 
				latter results in changes in the general condition of the 
				organism and its nervous tonicity. 
				
				Lenkei, Behring, Hasselback, Nogler, Aimes, Rollier, Revillet, 
				Marques, d'Oelsnitz, Robin, Moleshott, Loeb, I. Newton, 
				Professor Bechtereff, Lombroso 
			Given that the varying 
			amount of the Sun's energy received by the different climatic zones 
			has such a great influence on humanity, Tchijevsky posed the 
			question:  
				
				Do the periodical 
				changes of the Sun's activity resulting in the amount of the 
				emitted innumerable streams of electrical particles and 
				electromagnetic waves also have an influence upon humanity? 
			It wasn't until 1942 that 
			Soviet leader Joseph Stalin became aware of this paper and Tchijevsky's research.  
			  
			Tchijevsky was 
			subsequently asked to retract his ideas and writings on the 
			influence of Solar Cycles on human behavior,  
				
				"which contradicted 
				Soviet theories of the reasons for the Russian revolutions of 
				1905 and 1917. He refused, was arrested and spent eight years in 
				a forced labor gulag in the Ural mountains." 2 
			Nonetheless, his ideas 
			were central to the budding field of Space Weather research.  
			  
			In a 
			paper from 2007,  
				
				"Solar Activity, 
				revolutions and cultural prime in the history of mankind," Prof. 
				Miroslav Mikulecký's research is in agreement with Tchijevsky's 
				hypothesis that "revolutions culminated near to solar maxima 
				while cultural flourishing usually distinctly near to solar 
				minima.    
				This conclusion is 
				based on the level of statistical significance alpha=0.05" (Mikulecký, 
				2007). 3 
			  
			  
			Space Weather
 
 When we talk about 'Space Weather' we're discussing the
			
			conditions on the Sun and in the 
			solar wind, which contains charged plasma that is emanating away 
			from the Solar surface and stretching all the way out past Pluto.
 
 In this space, charged ions are all flowing along electromagnetic 
			currents, tethers that are connecting each planet to the Sun.
 
			  
			Known as the 
			Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF), 
			this dynamo of sphere magnets (planets) revolving around one 
			central, powerful sphere magnet (the Sun) makes up the protective 
			shell of our Solar System known as the
			
			Heliosphere.
 The Earth has its own protective interface from the various effects 
			of Space Weather, called the
			
			Magnetosphere.
 
			  
			According to the 
			European Space Agency, there are concerns the, 
				
				"force that protects 
				our planet is weakening and may even be on the verge of 
				reversing polarity. Over the last 150 years, the magnetic field 
				has lost about 15% of its strength." 4 
			But that's not all.
			 
			  
			This decline in 
			Magnetospheric strength on Earth has also been accompanied by a 
			weakening in Solar Magnetics, 5 as a Sunspot Grand Minima 
			is quite possibly knocking at our door.  
			  
			Recent research into the 
			modes of Solar Activity have revealed there is, on average, a 400 
			year Sunspot Grand Minima Cycle, 6 with the last one 
			occurring about 400 years ago during what's commonly referred to as 
			the Maunder Minimum: 
				
				During the Maunder 
				Minimum (MM) 
				period extremely few auroras were recorded (Chapman, 1967) 
				suggesting that atmospheric/magnetospheric processes were 
				significantly affected.    
				Reduced solar 
				irradiance such as during the MM and
				
				Dalton Minimum, is correlated 
				with the negative shift of the North Atlantic Oscillation 
				(NAO) 
				index leading to enhance north easterly wind which results into 
				cooling of Europe, whereas enhanced solar irradiance is 
				correlated with positive NAO index. 7 
				
				Singh et al. 2011 
			Whether or not a
			
			Global Warming or a
			
			Global Cooling scenario will 
			play-out is still very much 'up in the air', and the proposed, often 
			exaggerated claims of warming proponents attempt to ignore the 
			natural factors and cyclical variations that are taking place, 
			untamed by any of the anthropogenic 'climate forcing' factors.
			 
			  
			The 11-year
			
			Solar Cycle and 22-year Magnetic 
			Cycle will continue to unfold, unhindered, into the foreseeable 
			future; this periodicity was first discovered by H. von Schwabe 
			in 1851.
 The Heliosphere and Magnetosphere both protect the Earth from the 
			harsh effects of Galactic Cosmic Rays, which are high-speed 
			energetic particles capable of stripping away the Earth's Ozone and 
			atmosphere.
 
			  
			
			
			Cosmic Rays are thought to induce 
			cloud formation in the lower atmosphere 8 and charge-up 
			lightning strikes, thereby impacting regional temperatures.
 Both the Heliosphere and Earth's Magnetosphere are stronger during 
			Solar Maximum (offering more protection from Galactic Cosmic Rays) 
			and weaker during Solar Minimum (offering less protection from the 
			harmful effects of Cosmic Rays).
 
 This inverse relationship between Solar Activity (SA) and 
			Cosmic Ray Activity (CRA) has been well-established in 
			scientific literature. What this means is that whenever SA is high, 
			CRA will be low, and vice versa, whenever SA is low, CRA will be 
			high.
 
 A coronal mass ejection (CME) 
			is a massive burst of solar wind and magnetic fields rising above 
			the Sun's corona or being released into space.
 
			  
			A danger arises when 
			these are directed towards Earth, and the term geo-effectiveness is 
			used when determining a CME's ability to generate geomagnetic storms 
			on Earth.
 An important aspect of geoeffective CMEs is how large of a
			
			Forbush decrease (drop in galactic 
			cosmic radiation) they produce.
 
			  
			In the 2005 NASA article 
			'Who's Afraid of a Solar Flare?', Dr. Tony Phillips wrote 
			that, 
				
				Magnetic fields 
				deflect charged particles, so when a CME sweeps past Earth, it 
				also sweeps away many of the electrically-charged cosmic rays 
				that would otherwise strike our planet. This is the 'Forbush 
				decrease'. 9 
			Large CMEs that become 
			geoeffective often spark geomagnetic storms, which are marked by the 
			appearance of the Aurora Borealis throughout the 
			
			Auroral Ovals, 
			which circle both of Earth's polar regions and expand towards the 
			equator during intense magnetic storms.
 A 
			geomagnetic storm induced blackout was the case in 1989, after a 
			large Earth-directed solar flare occurred on Friday, 10 March, which 
			reached the Earth on Monday, 13 March 1989.
 
			  
			The most significant 
			damage occurred to Canada's Hydro-Québec power utility grid, which 
			crashed, 
				
				"when safety systems 
				sensed a power overload caused by the currents pulsing through 
				the ground." 10 
			These 'ground induced 
			currents' knocked out electricity for nine hours to as many as six 
			million people in northeastern Canada.  
			  
			We know for a fact that 
			extreme geomagnetic storms can induce ground currents that will 
			affect all of sorts of sensitive electronics.
 
			  
			  
			  
			Effects on the Human 
			Body
 There are a wide variety of effects that Space Weather exerts on the 
			electricity of the brain, heart and central nervous system inside of 
			our own bodies.
 
 Recent research suggests the solar wind actually modulates lightning 
			intensity here on Earth, and that an,
 
				
				"increase in Galactic 
				Cosmic Ray flux may directly trigger lightning through 'runaway 
				breakdown' of electrons, leading to breakdown (Roussel-Dupré et 
				al 2008)". 11 
				
				Scott et al. 2014 
			This is important given 
			that, according to NASA, at any moment, 
				
				"2,000 thunderstorms 
				roll over Earth, producing some 50 flashes of lightning every 
				second.    
				Each lightning burst 
				creates electromagnetic waves that begin to circle around Earth 
				captured between Earth's surface and a boundary about 60 miles 
				up…" 12 and lightning is associated with local 
				emission of photons. 
			The Schumann 
			Resonances (SR) 
			are a set of frequencies ranging from 3 Hz to 60 Hz, increasing in 
			6.5 Hz intervals, with the 'fundamental' frequency of the Schumann 
			Resonance standing at 7.83 Hz.  
			  
			The Schumann Resonances 
			are easily detectable on any planet on which lightning takes place, 
			and so far the SR signals have been detected on Venus, Mars, Titan, 
			Jupiter and Saturn.
 In the paper "Schumann Resonance Frequencies 
			found within 
			Quantitative Electroencephalographic Activity - Implications for 
			Earth-Brain Interactions," Dr. Michael Persinger discusses 
			the,
 
				
				"bulk velocity of 
				action potentials within the cerebral cortices, the approximate 
				standing wave or resonance for a 60 cm circumference skull would 
				be ~7.5 Hz.    
				This bulk velocity 
				would require ~20 to 25 milliseconds to traverse the cerebral 
				length and is equivalent to about 40 to 45 Hz". 13 
				
				Persinger 2014 
			This 40 to 45 Hz band is 
			the classic frequency associated with 'consciousness', as well as 
			other complex biological functions.
 It is apparent that disruptions in the Schumann Resonances via 
			external factors, such as natural variations in Space Weather 
			intensity, can have a profound impact on the physiological and 
			psychological health of an organism.
 
 The brain is a,
 
				
				"massive source of 
				extremely-low-frequency (ELF) signals that get transmitted 
				throughout the body via the nervous system, which is sensitive 
				to magnetic fields.    
				Brainwaves and 
				natural biorhythms can be affected by external factors". 14 
				
				Babayev & Allahverdiyeva 2007 
			The late Dr. Neil Cherry 
			wrote: 
				
				The first five 
				Schumann Resonances coincide with the frequency range of the 
				first four EEG bands.  
				  
				The primary EEG bands are:  
					
						
						
						Delta 0.5 to 4 
				Hz
						
						Theta 4-8 Hz
						
						Alpha 8-13 Hz 
						
						
						Beta 13 to 30 Hz 
						Malmivuo & 
				Plonsey 1995 
				Hence resonant 
				absorption and reaction is biophysically plausible…" 15 
				
				Cherry 2001 
			Dr. Cherry had collected 
			and conducted research showing that the effects to human health via 
			solar and geomagnetic activity (S-GMA) are biophysically possible 
			through 
			changes in Schumann Resonance intensity.  
			  
			The effects include, 
				
				
				Many occupational 
				studies have found that exposure to ELF fields between 16.7 Hz 
				and 50/60 Hz significantly reduces melatonin levels. 
				
				Cherry 2001 
			Melatonin is a potent 
			anti-oxidant with receptors in every major organ, and it is released 
			from 
			
			the pineal gland when the natural boundary of light is missing.
			16 
			  
			Melatonin production 
			peaks at night, around 4 am when the temperature is at its lowest 
			and the melatonin level is at its highest.
 The variable changes in Space Weather and solar wind parameters lead 
			to perturbations in the environmental electromagnetic fields, 
			certain frequencies of which can,
 
				
				"significantly alter 
				the cellular calcium ion fluxes and Electromagnetic Radiation (EMR) 
				waves in brain tissue". 17 
				
				Cherry 2001 
			The collected evidence 
			reveals that the effects can go from environmental ULF/ELF signals 
			to directly altering our cellular calcium ion homeostasis, which is 
			capable of altering primate and human EEG waves, thereby affecting 
			cell-to-cell communication and impacting reaction times.
 There is evidence that,
 
				
				"at days with high 
				neutron activity (CRA) there were more medical emergencies and 
				more deaths…  
				  
				A strong trend of Sudden Cardiac Death (SCD) 
				(mostly of fatal cardiac arrhythmia, fibrillation) occurred more 
				often on days of high CRA (neutron activity)".  
				
				Stoupel et al. 2014 
			During periods of low 
			Solar Activity and 'zero' geomagnetic activity, data showed that 
			those at risk were more likely to die of SCD; this illustrates the 
			inverse correlation between Solar Activity and Cosmic Ray Activity.
 On the other hand, in the scientific paper "Geomagnetic Storms Can 
			Trigger Stroke," the authors purpose was to present evidence for the 
			impact of geomagnetic activity on stroke occurrence, which has been 
			"limited and controversial."
 
			  
			They conclude that,
			 
				
				"Geomagnetic storms 
				are associated with increased risk of stroke and should be 
				considered along with other established risk factors". 18 
				
				Feigin et al. 2014 
			Perhaps it is the 
			balance, the middle ground, which is most prevalent compared to high 
			Solar Activity and CRA, which are short-term events and less 
			prevalent than active conditions.
 Previous research shows that geomagnetic variations of a solar 
			origin have been correlated with enhanced anxiety, sleep 
			disturbances, altered moods, and greater incidences of psychiatric 
			admissions (Persinger, 1987). 19
 
			  
			Babayev and 
			Allahverdiyeva's findings indicate,  
				
				"there were an 
				indisposition, weakness and presence of indistinct localized 
				headaches during the days with severe Geomagnetic Storms in 
				experiment participants."  
			They concluded that, 
				
				"geomagnetic 
				disturbances affect mainly the emotional and vegetative sphere 
				of human beings… changes in geomagnetic conditions mostly affect 
				the activity of the regulating systems of the right hemisphere 
				and the ability to adapt to changes in a physical environment." 
			There have been numerous 
			papers that explore even more connections between human health and 
			energy from space: 
				
					
					
					infant mortality
					
					suicide
					
					traffic accidents
					
					crime rates, 
					 
			...and numerous other 
			significant events and human conditions have been statistically 
			matched with fluxes in solar and cosmic energy.  
			  
			Although this field of 
			study is by no means new, it is just now becoming accepted, 
			understood, and investigated in a serious manner. 
			  
			  
			  
			  
			Footnotes 
				
					
					
					A.L. 
					Tchijevsky, 'Physical Factors of the Historical Process', 
					Translated edition published January 1971,
					
					
					www.cyclesresearchinstitute.org/cycles-history/chizhevsky1.pdf 
					
					Alexander 
					Chizhevsky, 
					
					http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Chizhevsky 
					
					M. 
					Mikulecky, 'Solar Activity, revolutions and cultural prime 
					in the history of mankind', Neuro Endocrinology Letters
					[2007, 28(6):749-756], 
					
					
					http://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/18063926
					
					ESA, 'The 
					Force That Protects Our Planet', European Space Agency.
					
					Tony 
					Phillips, 'Cosmic Rays Hit Space Age High', NASA Science 
					News, 29 September 2009, 
					
					
					http://science1.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2009/29sep_cosmicrays/
					
					Arnab Rai 
					Choudhuri, 'The irregularities of the sunspot cycle and 
					their theoretical modelling', arXiv.org, Solar and Stellar 
					Astrophysics, 12 December 2013, 
					
					http://arxiv.org/abs/1312.3408
					
					A.K. Singh, 
					Devendraa Siingh, R.P. Singh, 'Impact of galactic cosmic 
					rays on Earth's atmosphere and human health', 
					Atmospheric Environment (2011) 3806-3818, 
					
					
					www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1352231011004055
					
					Ibid
					
					Tony 
					Phillips, 'Who's Afraid of a Solar Flare?', NASA Science 
					News, 7 October 2005, 
					
					
					http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2005/07oct_afraid/
					
					Adam 
					Hadhazy, 'A Scary 13th: 20 Years Ago, Earth Was Blasted with 
					a Massive Plume of Solar Plasma', Scientific American, 
					13 March 2009, 
					
					
					www.scientificamerican.com/article/geomagnetic-storm-march-13-1989-extreme-space-weather/
					
					C.J. Scott, 
					R.G. Harrison, M.J. Owens, M. Lockwood & L. Barnard, 
					'Evidence for solar wind modulation of lightning', 
					Environmental Research Letters, Vol. 9, No. 5, 15 May 
					2014, 
					
					
					http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/9/5/055004
					
					Jim Wilson, 
					'Schumann Resonance', NASA, 
					
					
					www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/news/gallery/schumann-resonance.html
					
					Michael A. 
					Persinger, 'Schumann Resonance Frequencies Found Within 
					Quantitative Electroencephalographic Activity: Implications 
					for Earth-Brain Interactions', International Letters of 
					Chemistry, Physics and Astronomy (2014),
					
					www.ilcpa.pl/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/ILCPA-111-2014-24-32.pdf
					
					Elchin S. 
					Babayev & Aysel A. Allahverdiyeva, 'Effects of geomagnetic 
					activity variations on the physiological and psychological 
					state of functionally healthy humans: Some results of 
					Azerbaijani studies', Advances in Space Research 40 
					(2007), 1941-1951, 
					
					
					www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0273117707009404
					
					Neil 
					Cherry, 'Schumann Resonances, a plausible biophysical 
					mechanism for the human health effects of Solar/Geomagnetic 
					Activity', 8 September 2001, 
					
					
					www.salzburg.gv.at/cherry_schumann_resonances.pdf
					
					
					
					www.sleepdex.org/melatonin.htm
					
					Op. cit., 
					Neil Cherry
					
					V. L. 
					Feigin, et al. 'Geomagnetic Storms Can Trigger Stroke', 
					Stroke - American Heart Association, published online 22 
					April 2014, 
					
					
					http://stroke.ahajournals.org/content/early/2014/04/22/STROKEAHA.113.004577.short
					
					M.A. 
					Persinger, 'Geopsychology and geopsychopatology: mental 
					processes and disorders associated with geochemical and 
					geophysical factors', Experientia 43 (1), 92-104, 
					1987, 
					
					
					www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3792507 
			  
			 
			
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