What sunspots are whispering about covid-19?
Mariam M. Morchiladze, Tamila K. Silagadze, Zurab K. Silagadze
aa r X i v : . [ phy s i c s . g e n - ph ] J a n What sunspots are whispering about covid-19?
Mariam M. Morchiladze a , Tamila K. Silagadze a , Zurab K. Silagadze b a Tbilisi State Medical University, Tbilisi, Georgia b Novosibirsk State University and Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics, 630 090,Novosibirsk, Russia.
Abstract
Several studies point to the antimicrobial effects of ELF electromagnetic fields.Such fields have accompanied life from the very beginning, and it is possiblethat they played a significant role in its emergence and evolution. However, theliterature on the biological effects of ELF electromagnetic fields is controversial,and we still lack an understanding of the complex mechanisms that make sucheffects, observed in many experiments, possible. The Covid-19 pandemic hasshown how fragile we are in the face of powerful processes operating in the bio-sphere. We believe that understanding the role of ELF electromagnetic fields inregulating the biosphere is important in our fight against Covid-19, and researchin this direction should be intensified.
Keywords:
Covid-19 pandemic; Biological effects of ELF electromagneticfields; Schumann resonances.
1. Introduction
The covid-2019 pandemic is an extraordinary event in the history of ourcivilization. Billions of people have never been restricted in their homes before.Self-isolation is conducive to esoteric reflection, and we begun to ruminate aboutGaia.
Email addresses:
[email protected] (Mariam M. Morchiladze), [email protected] (Tamila K. Silagadze), [email protected] (ZurabK. Silagadze)
Preprint submitted to Elsevier January 12, 2021 ife on earth, once arisen, never completely disappeared, although it sur-vived at least five major extinctions. Isn’t that a small (or big) miracle?Gaia hypothesis suggests that Nature’s mercy is neither an accident nora benevolent deity’s work, but instead is the inevitable result of interactionsbetween organisms and their environment [1]. In poetic terms, the Earth withits ecosystem is a gigantic organism that harmonizes itself with the help of manyinvisible feedbacks.Unfortunately, human activity causes environmental degradation, which inits destructive effect on the ecosystem rapidly approaches the level of the aster-oid impact that end the dinosaur era.We better stop the destabilization of Gaia, because otherwise either we suc-ceed in this reckless enterprise and destroy the ecosystem and our own existence,or Gaia recognizes our malicious character and invisible feedbacks eliminate us,as a destabilizing element. However, in order to harmonize with Gaia, we mustimprove our understanding of these invisible feedbacks.
2. Solar activity and pandemics
At first glance (and at the second too) there can be no connection be-tween pandemics and solar activity. However, this is exactly what AlexanderChizhevsky discovered [2] many years ago.Independently, Hope-Simpson observed the same correlation between in-fluenza pandemics and sunspot maximums [3]. Hoyle and Wickramasingheconfirmed these findings [4] indicating that the two phenomena have kept instep over some 17 solar cycles.Interestingly, the previous two Corona virus epidemics, the severe acuterespiratory syndrome SARS-CoV and the Middle-East respiratory syndromeMERS-CoV both occurred at double peaks in the sunspot cycle [5].A more general result states that most pandemics in the past occurred nearthe sunspot extrema (maxima or minima) [6, 7]. In a sense, the present covid-19pandemic was predicted based on this idea [8, 9].2f course, such an outlandish idea should be taken with a grain of salt, andnot everybody believes in it [10]. However, we think this strange idea cannot bedismissed easily. The correlation in the data is so obvious that different peoplehave noticed it. We already mentioned Chizhevsky and Hope-Simpson. It seemsthat the first person who linked the sunspot cycle to the malaria epidemics, asearly as in 1881, was C. Meldrum [11]. In 1936, Gill noted that the associationof malaria epidemics with the epochs of maximum and minimum of sunspots isextremely close [11].Solar activity can affect biological organisms in various ways. Of particularinterest is the influence mediated by geomagnetic and extra-low frequency (ELF)electromagnetic fields [12, 13].The Schumann resonance with base frequency of about 8 Hz is a global elec-tromagnetic resonance excited by natural lightning activity within the Earth-ionosphere waveguide [14]. Life evolved on Earth under the constant presence ofSchumann resonances, and thus, we cannot exclude that ELF electromagneticfields played a role in biological evolution.Human activity has become a source of widespread electromagnetic pollu-tion, which raises concerns about the possible dangerous health effects [15].Although studies on the possible biological effects of ELF and other artificialelectromagnetic fields remain largely controversial, there is a growing evidencethat ELF fields cause numerous types of changes in cells [16, 17, 18].
3. Biological effects of ELF electromagnetic fields
Modern life is not conceived without electricity with its power lines andappliances, without telecommunication devices. A byproduct of this technicalrevolution is an ever-growing number of sources of artificial electromagneticfields, both in ELF and radio frequency range, and this circumstance, as alreadymentioned, elicits public health concerns [15].The scope of interactions of electromagnetic fields (EMF) with living matteris rich and diverse, requiring simultaneously an unbiased, open-minded, care-3ul and cautious approach when studying the influence of EMF on biologicalprocesses.Despite a large body of literature devoted to biological effects of ELF mag-netic fields (in contrast to ELF electric fields, magnetic fields easily can pene-trate biological tissues), no coherent picture has emerged so far regarding theplausibility of such effects, or regarding the interaction mechanisms.Epidemiological studies that have focused on the potential health hazards ofEMFs are largely controversial. About half of the studies found such effects, butthe other half failed to find them [19]. The reason for these conflicting resultsis unclear.Nonetheless, ample and compelling evidence had been accumulated indicat-ing that ELF electromagnetic fields has important effects on cell functioning[20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26]. The nature of these effects is not entirely clear. Theproblem is that such effects are observed for very weak magnetic fields, so weakthat any such effect is expected to be masked by thermal noise [27].Perhaps, the extreme sensitivity of living organisms to weak electromagneticfields is not completely unexpected from the point of view of evolutionary biol-ogy, since life arose and evolved on Earth with the constant presence of naturalELF electromagnetic fields, especially Schumann resonances [28, 29].Remarkably, there is a striking similarity between natural ELF signals andhuman brain electroencephalograms [30]. Amazingly, many species exhibit, ir-respective of the size and complexity of their brain, essentially similar low-frequency electrical activity [31], and it is possible that the dominant frequen-cies of brain waves may be an evolutionary result of the presence and influenceof the resonant ELF electromagnetic background of Schumann [32].An interesting hypothesis is that ELF background fields played an impor-tant role in the evolution of biological systems and are used by them as a meansof stochastic synchronization for various biorhythms [29]. The Schumann res-onance frequencies are mainly controlled by the Earth’s radius, which has re-mained constant over billions of years. Therefore, these frequencies can playa special role for the regulatory pathways of living organisms, the Schumann4esonances providing a synchronization reference signal, a Zeitgeber (time giver)[33].This hypothesis, while attractive, has a serious drawback: it remains a mys-tery how living cells can detect a Schumann resonance signal that is so weak(the magnetic component is only several pT ) compared to the ubiquitous ther-mal noise. The clue maybe is provided by spatially and temporally coherentinteractions of Schumann resonances with a large ensemble of components ofthe system [34]. For example, the human body contains about 10 cells and10 cortical neurons.If the ELF electromagnetic fields, and in particular the Schumann reso-nances, really play a regulatory role in biological processes, then the effect ofsolar activity on living organisms will not look so mysterious, since solar activitychanges the geomagnetic field and can lead to geomagnetic storms, as well asto changes in the parameters of the ionosphere, and, consequently, to a changein the parameters of Schumann resonances and ELF radiation background.There are some indications that abrupt changes in geomagnetic and solaractivity, as well as geomagnetic storms, can act as stressors that alter the reg-ulatory processes of organisms, blood pressure, immune, neurological, cardiacand some other important life-supporting processes in living organisms [35].There are studies that indicate that geomagnetic disturbances can exacerbateexisting diseases, can lead to cardiac arrhythmias, cardiovascular disease, a sig-nificant increase in hospitalization rates for mental disorders, depression, suicideattempts, homicide and traffic accidents (see [35] and references therein).There are several hypotheses that could explain this strange connection be-tween solar activity and geomagnetic disturbances and mental health. Accord-ing to the visceral theory of sleep [36], the same cortical neurons that processexteroceptive information in the waking state switch to processing informationfrom various internal organs during sleep. At the same time, a violation ofthe switching process, when visceral information is mistakenly interpreted bythe brain as exteroceptive, can manifest itself as a mental disorder [37]. Ifthese hypotheses are correct, and if geomagnetic disturbances can influence the5rain’s switching mechanisms, then the unexpected link between solar activityand mental disorders could be explained.
4. Concluding remarks
Scientific progress has greatly expanded the ability of humankind to causelarge-scale changes in the environment. Unfortunately, we do not always un-derstand the subtle feedback loops that operate in the biosphere to predict allconsequences of such changes. An amusing example of the unexpected outcomeof a large-scale human intervention in nature is provided in [38].For unknown reasons, fish in the Gulf of Mexico position themselves overburied oil pipelines off the shore of Texas, orienting themselves directly abovethe buried pipeline at a height of 1-3 meters above the seabed and perpendicularto the axis of the pipeline. Presumably they are responding to some electromag-netic stimuli, such as remnant magnetism in pipeline sections, voltage gradientinduced by corrosion protection devices, or transient signals induced into thepipeline by remote lightnings or solar wind induced magnetic storms [38].The research of biological effects was intensified at about 1967 as part ofan evaluation of the environmental impact of a proposed ELF military antenna(Project Sanguine) [39]. Unfortunately, the presence of military and commercialcomponents in this research makes it politically very sensitive [28]. Nonetheless,in light of the results so far available, it would be too irresponsible to dismisssuch effects as being implausible [34].On the practical side, if ELF fields cause biological effects, whatever theunknown mechanism of this interaction, we can try to use these effects in ourfight against SARS-CoV-2 and similar infections. It is known that bioelectricsignals generated by the metabolic activity of cells are in an ELF range, thereforeby interfering with these signals by external low intensity ELF electromagneticfields we can suppress microbial or bacterial activities [40, 41, 42].We believe that under the burden of the Covid-19 pandemic, research inthis direction should be intensified. Studies of the antimicrobial effects of ELF6lectromagnetic fields are not expected to be too expensive. If successful, itpromises a non-invasive, inexpensive, safe and fast technique to fight infections[41, 42].Is Covid-19 pandemic related to the deepest sunspot minimum for a centurywe are experiencing now? During sunspot minimum solar magnetic field getsweaker and, as a result, galactic cosmic rays flux entering the earth increases.There are some indications that an increase in the flux of cosmic rays can leadto an increase in lightning activity on earth [43, 44] and thus change the naturalELF electromagnetic background. As noted in [28], changing the electromag-netic background poses a twofold challenge to us: weakening the immune systemdue to constant stress and more severe illnesses, since electromagnetic fields canstimulate bacterial growth and increase their resistance to antibiotics.Increased cosmic rays can lead also to appearance of novel virion strainsdue to induced mutation and genetic recombination events [9, 56], especially ifviruses spread even beyond the tropopause (new bacteria have been found inthe stratosphere and even on the exterior of the International Space Station,orbiting at a altitude of 400 km) [56].Interestingly, the idea that the flux of galactic cosmic rays can affect the ELFelectromagnetic background can be tested using the Forbush effect [45]. Duringsolar flares, the flux of galactic cosmic rays decreases rapidly (over a day orless) due to modification of the near-Earth interplanetary magnetic field. Thisso-called Forbush decrease is transient and is followed by a gradual recoveryover several days [46, 47, 48].Based on the measurements in the Kola peninsula, it was demonstratedthat in all ten events of significant Forbush-decreases, the intensity of the ELF-atmospherics decreased (down to their complete disappearance) [45]. It washypothesized that this phenomenon is caused by a decrease in the intensityof discharges of a special type (sprites and jets) as a result of a decrease inatmospheric ionization at altitudes of 10-30 km during the Forbush decrease inthe flux of galactic cosmic rays [45].Cosmic ray forcing of the climate acts simultaneously and with the same7ign throughout the entire globe and operates on all time scales from daysto hundreds of millions of years [49]. For this reason, even a relatively smallforcing can lead to a large climatic response over time [49]. To unravel theanthropogenic contribution to the current climate change and assess its danger,which is now the subject of much public concern and controversy, we need tounderstand physical mechanisms underlying the influence of solar and cosmicray variability on climate and their impact on the biosphere.It has recently been shown that bats, like many other animals with highlydeveloped magnetosensory skills, use magnetic field for orientation and can senseeven very weak magnetic fields [50, 51, 52]. Perhaps, this magnetoreceptionis influenced by ELF electromagnetic background [53, 54]. Another source ofpossible influence is the change in cloudiness due to the increased flux of galacticcosmic rays, as bats have been shown to calibrate their magnetic compasses withsunset cues [55].So, one can imagine the following scenario . Changes in the ELF elec-tromagnetic background, caused by the increased flux of cosmic rays due tounusually deep sunspot minimum, can cause abnormal movements of the popu-lation of bats and affect the time of their arrival and departure. Delayed arrivalor departure and longer travel times can increase the population of bats in someareas, thereby increasing competition for limited food supplies, and can also in-crease the likelihood of interspecies transmission of the virus. Besides, increasedlevel of irradiation increases genetic recombination rates, as was demonstratedin laboratories during the 1950s and 1960s [6]. Finally, under the influence ofthese circumstances, the new coronavirus successfully recombined and causedthe Covid-19 pandemic.We end this article with a funny observation from [56]. The Italian wordinfluencia means influence, meaning the influence of the stars in the case ofinfluenza illness. This etiology reflects the belief of our ancestors that events inthe sky and events on Earth are interconnected. It may well be that they were Suggested by an anonymous reviewer
Acknowledgments
The authors thank Olga Chashchina and an anonymous reviewer for criticalcomments that helped to improve the manuscript.
Conflict of interest statement
The author declares that the research was conducted in the absence of anycommercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potentialconflict of interest.
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