“Injury to widespread brain networks” in victims of mystery attacks in Cuba

Doctors stumped by sonic experiences, doubt cause is viruses, delusions, or chemicals.

Read the whole story

 

[jamesonista]

A panel of Cuban scientists—who did not have access to affected individuals’ medical reports—concluded in December that MPI was the most likely cause of the diplomats' situation

Oh you don't say?

 

[fellow human]

the gubmint inventedva dumb gun, shoot you with it & you go dumb

I don't believe any of the victims were rendered unable to speak.

 

[Comanglia]

What I've always found creepy about this was that the symptoms pretty much exactly match what my dad experienced when he was having radiation therapy for brain cancer. Sometimes he'd hear things, other times he'd see weird colors, but every experience I've heard of reminded me of what he went through.

Hmmm interesting. When first hearing of this, I was thinking directed microwave beam but that sounds too James Bond. Or does it?

Nothing I've read makes me think that a microwave beam is the wrong answer. In fact, I keep coming back to it.

If that's the case wouldn't the afflicted feel a burning sensation as well? I guess it could of been a low wattage but then you wouldn't get as good penetration past the skull. Plus people wouldn't have been able to hear AND record it in an audible range. I might be being a bit nit picky about the definition of "microwave" here but this would certainly have to be a much lower frequency than what typical microwaves are.

 

[Deleted member 1]

Meh, what wrong with the roadsign on the picture? It looks like it has been edited

Don't stare at it too long. That sign is the attack vector. Let us know if you start hearing shrill sounds and forgetting things.

 

[Derecho Imminent]

the recording
https://nypost.com/2017/10/12/revealed- ... s-in-cuba/

if you cant hear it turn up your speakers

 

[Dr.Appleseed]

The affected diplomats lived in Cuba. So the most probable explanation is that they are cursed by Cuban black magic, like practicing curse with voodoo doll and pin. The culprits are well known as "Cuban Vodú", also known as "La Regla de Arará", to local people.

 

[firsttimecaller]

i'm open to the idea its not an attack but an affect of something the embassy might be using.

 

[Penforhire]

Reading these reports makes me think of a Cuban Dr Evil, cackling with glee at our guessing and rubbing his hands together.

 

[Zoolook]

If this is a weapon, it's not a very good one. The effects are realtively mild, and everyone seems to have been well aware they were under attack. Not sure what the use case for this thing would be.

People generally know when they're under attack from any weapon, so I am not sure what that has to do with its effectiveness. And indeed if it is a weapon, it must be very new and therefore very experimental. It may very well be that whoever was using it, didn't actually intend to cause any permanent harm at all - we simply don't know.

And that's what is scary here. It's not unreasonable to assume that whatever caused this, could do it again and could potentially cause even more severe damage to a larger group of people. Not knowing what it is or how it works, means we can't predict if or where it will happen again, and further would have no defense against it.

 

[DBell]

I did listen to the sound in Ars Technica article few months ago. It didn't do anything to me that I am aware of. I don't know about others. I don't know if that was the whole sound sequence or not.

Wait 203 days...

 

[anonArs]

We obviously don't know what is going on. However, an exotic weapon is plausible because it has happened before. Canadian helicopter attempted to stop a Russian ship off the coast of WA a few years back, and the ship fired a high powered laser which permanently damaged the pilots' eyesight.

https://www.cnn.com/US/9705/14/russia.l ... l?_s=PM:US

The article you link to says the damage was temporary and the people on board were expected to recover fully.

 

[Deleted member 1]

Fascinating. Not sure how you could create the right conditions in someone's head and not have bulky stuff in the same room, seems plausible to do no-contact vibration of the brain.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpNbyfxxkWE

 

[lewax00]

What I've always found creepy about this was that the symptoms pretty much exactly match what my dad experienced when he was having radiation therapy for brain cancer. Sometimes he'd hear things, other times he'd see weird colors, but every experience I've heard of reminded me of what he went through.

Except these people aren't "hearing things", they heard things. As in they don't keep hearing them anymore, and the sounds were recorded, so actually happened.

I heard that recording. It did not sound loud at all. Im calling bs on it being evidence of an attack.

So turn your volume up?

 

[dozTK421]

Cuba, of all places, is the place where an incident like this is first reported. That right there is great evidence that there is more going on in the building where these attacks were centered than is being let on. I mean, if something like this happened in a more developed metropolis, Moscow, New York, London, it might not seem so completely out of place. But it's Havana, former jewel of the Caribbean but lately held firm in the 1950s through sanctions. It's out of place. To think the Cubans would fire something like this off just because is silly. There is something being hidden. This isn't the kind of scenario where a first use of this type would occur just out of spite and political ideology.

Well, they had borrowed nuclear weapons once, and Che was an advocate of using them to respond to US threats…

 

[Dukov Nook]

Cuba, of all places, is the place where an incident like this is first reported. That right there is great evidence that there is more going on in the building where these attacks were centered than is being let on. I mean, if something like this happened in a more developed metropolis, Moscow, New York, London, it might not seem so completely out of place. But it's Havana, former jewel of the Caribbean but lately held firm in the 1950s through sanctions. It's out of place. To think the Cubans would fire something like this off just because is silly. There is something being hidden. This isn't the kind of scenario where a first use of this type would occur just out of spite and political ideology.

Well, they had borrowed nuclear weapons once, and Che was an advocate of using them to respond to US threats…

Over 50 years ago.

 

[CraigJ ✅]

Possibility that this is damage from some sort of microwave transmissions?

 

[l0rdneek0]

What I've always found creepy about this was that the symptoms pretty much exactly match what my dad experienced when he was having radiation therapy for brain cancer. Sometimes he'd hear things, other times he'd see weird colors, but every experience I've heard of reminded me of what he went through.

Except these people aren't "hearing things", they heard things. As in they don't keep hearing them anymore, and the sounds were recorded, so actually happened.

Ditto this. I ran the recorded signal through a FFT. It had a series of discreet tones rather than noise. This is a common signalling scheme it you want cheap and dirty comms without clock recovery. I didn't seen any modulation, but the sample could have been too short. So the signal could just trigger an event. If your target is RF shielded, hit it with something else. Sound for example.

Where can you get the recording and what was the date/time of the recording? I wonder if anyone caught it on sdr

 

[Atrioss]

*aliens guy*

*aliens guy in a smoke-filled room with a joint hanging from his mouth*

 

[Router66]

"However, the individuals reported no physical head trauma, and conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed no clear structural injuries. All brain imaging showed normal or nonspecific issues that may be explained by age or preexisting issues, despite earlier reports."

Wait a sec. Detectable damage to white matter was supposed to be the smoking gun. If this is not the case anymore and their MRI's are clean, what other hard evidence is there?

 

[chriskrum]

Keep in mind that just because these attacks occurred in Cuba against U.S. personnel that doesn't mean that it was perpetrated by the Cuban government--just that the Cuban government was unable to protect the embassy from whatever the weapon is.

In fact, the State Departments own actions suggest that they don't believe Cuba was responsible.

 

[Derecho Imminent]

What I've always found creepy about this was that the symptoms pretty much exactly match what my dad experienced when he was having radiation therapy for brain cancer. Sometimes he'd hear things, other times he'd see weird colors, but every experience I've heard of reminded me of what he went through.

Except these people aren't "hearing things", they heard things. As in they don't keep hearing them anymore, and the sounds were recorded, so actually happened.

I heard that recording. It did not sound loud at all. Im calling bs on it being evidence of an attack.

So turn your volume up?

Yes I did. At max volume it sounds like an annoying buzz. Not loud. Did you even listen to it before snark?

 

[lewax00]

What I've always found creepy about this was that the symptoms pretty much exactly match what my dad experienced when he was having radiation therapy for brain cancer. Sometimes he'd hear things, other times he'd see weird colors, but every experience I've heard of reminded me of what he went through.

Except these people aren't "hearing things", they heard things. As in they don't keep hearing them anymore, and the sounds were recorded, so actually happened.

I heard that recording. It did not sound loud at all. Im calling bs on it being evidence of an attack.

So turn your volume up?

Yes I did. At max volume it sounds like an annoying buzz. Not loud. Did you even listen to it before snark?

Ok, let me spell it out: saying the recording isn't very loud is a nonsense argument, because it can vary wildly from reality. There are too many factors involved: the capabilities and settings of the recording device, the position of the recording device relative the source of the noise, the settings and capabilities of the playback device, and position of the listener relative to the playback device, and so on...anyone can make it loud or quiet without actually changing the data.

It's like complaining that a case of beer wasn't cold at the supermarket because you store it in your pantry at home.

 

[grrrr]

I have been to Havana and have seen the American Embassy there. It is on the Malecon (seaside) there is a lot of free space around it and it seems well guarded. I wonder if the diplomats stay in there or if there are only offices? If they stay in the Embassy an attack of any kind seems very unlikely to me.

 

[CraigJ ✅]

I have been to Havana and have seen the American Embassy there. It is on the Malecon (seaside) there is a lot of free space around it and it seems well guarded. I wonder if the diplomats stay in there or if there are only offices? If they stay in the Embassy an attack of any kind seems very unlikely to me.

I think it's been reported that they stay in the Hotel Capri in Havana.

https://meincmagazine.com/science/2017/09 ... cientists/

 

[Veritas super omens]

I think it was RF damage caused by excessive cell phone use. Cell phones are going to KILL US ALL. /s

 

[Chuy Ch]

Herpes

 

[NervousEnergy]

Wouldn't microwave, ultrasound, or radiation attacks all leave injuries observable on an MRI? Or not?

 

[azazel1024]

What I've always found creepy about this was that the symptoms pretty much exactly match what my dad experienced when he was having radiation therapy for brain cancer. Sometimes he'd hear things, other times he'd see weird colors, but every experience I've heard of reminded me of what he went through.

That is one of the thing I've been wondering too is if it was a targeted radiation attack. Infrasound seems to be the only other plausible explanation, but that seems harder to square.

But either seems like it would take a fair amount of infrastructure to pull off and not easy to hide (and at least the radiation attack also seems unlikely to be accomplished through walls and at large distance).

 

[Atrioss]

"Whatever you do, don't take the brown acid."

 

[Golgo1]

What I've always found creepy about this was that the symptoms pretty much exactly match what my dad experienced when he was having radiation therapy for brain cancer. Sometimes he'd hear things, other times he'd see weird colors, but every experience I've heard of reminded me of what he went through.

Except these people aren't "hearing things", they heard things. As in they don't keep hearing them anymore, and the sounds were recorded, so actually happened.

I heard that recording. It did not sound loud at all. Im calling bs on it being evidence of an attack.

So turn your volume up?

Yes I did. At max volume it sounds like an annoying buzz. Not loud. Did you even listen to it before snark?

Ok, let me spell it out: saying the recording isn't very loud is a nonsense argument, because it can vary wildly from reality. There are too many factors involved: the capabilities and settings of the recording device, the position of the recording device relative the source of the noise, the settings and capabilities of the playback device, and position of the listener relative to the playback device, and so on...anyone can make it loud or quiet without actually changing the data.

It's like complaining that a case of beer wasn't cold at the supermarket because you store it in your pantry at home.

More like saying that you were watching real footage of an eclipse on National Geographic.

Didn't even hurt a bit watching it on TV, so staring at the real eclipse should pose no threat at all. What's all the fuss about?

 

[jonfr]

I did listen to the sound in Ars Technica article few months ago. It didn't do anything to me that I am aware of. I don't know about others. I don't know if that was the whole sound sequence or not.

Wait 203 days...

I don't think I have to. The issue seems to be that repeated exposure results in damage and at far greater volume that any speaker connected to a computer can make.

 

[Dilbert]

We obviously don't know what is going on. However, an exotic weapon is plausible because it has happened before. Canadian helicopter attempted to stop a Russian ship off the coast of WA a few years back, and the ship fired a high powered laser which permanently damaged the pilots' eyesight.

https://www.cnn.com/US/9705/14/russia.l ... l?_s=PM:US

The article you link to says the damage was temporary and the people on board were expected to recover fully.

The pilot ended up suing due to permanent eye damage. And lost the lawsuit. Apparently he suffered life long sensitivity to light and lost his night vision, and consequently his flight status. You can google for all this.

Same thing happened to me when a piece of mylar I was working with on a sunny day folded just right to make a reflecting lens. Gave me solar retinopathy. The worst of it (loss of night vision, headaches, and sensitivity to light) took about a year to go away. i still have distorted vision and a blind spot in one eye. They appear permanent.

 

[AnOfferYouCantRefuse]

We developed directed sound devices in the late 90's, I saw a show about directed sound devices on discovery channel way back when they still covered science content, and the US military has been using them in active military combat zones for almost half a decade now (circa 2012 I believe) - this sounds like something based along similar lines as the LRAD https://gizmodo.com/what-is-the-lrad-so ... on-5860592

 

[Oldmanalex]

So, the more we know, the less it makes any sense at all. Now we have no sign of brain injuries by MRI, but deficits in several kinds of neurological testing, but because we have no baselines, we do not know for certain that the deficits tested are post-"attack". We also have the politics of the situation, whereby the incidents are good for the Trumpies, bad for the Cubans, and possibly good for an unknown third party.

 

[grrrr]

I have been to Havana and have seen the American Embassy there. It is on the Malecon (seaside) there is a lot of free space around it and it seems well guarded. I wonder if the diplomats stay in there or if there are only offices? If they stay in the Embassy an attack of any kind seems very unlikely to me.

I think it's been reported that they stay in the Hotel Capri in Havana.

https://meincmagazine.com/science/2017/09 ... cientists/

So we can be sure that it was not due to living conditions or 'Situation' That is a pretty luxurious hotel.

 

[Derecho Imminent]

What I've always found creepy about this was that the symptoms pretty much exactly match what my dad experienced when he was having radiation therapy for brain cancer. Sometimes he'd hear things, other times he'd see weird colors, but every experience I've heard of reminded me of what he went through.

Except these people aren't "hearing things", they heard things. As in they don't keep hearing them anymore, and the sounds were recorded, so actually happened.

I heard that recording. It did not sound loud at all. Im calling bs on it being evidence of an attack.

So turn your volume up?

Yes I did. At max volume it sounds like an annoying buzz. Not loud. Did you even listen to it before snark?

Ok, let me spell it out: saying the recording isn't very loud is a nonsense argument, because it can vary wildly from reality.

Presumably the person recording it was hearing it and wanted a good recording so would have recorded it in the same circumstance as he was hearing it. He would want it to be representative. Thats why he recorded it.
----------------------------------------------
Besides which, they are reporting repeated attacks. So then, why havent better recordings been made? The gear to record microwaves, infrasonics, and ultrasonics is ridiculously easy to come by. If they are interested in figuring it out then why have they not done this?

 

[libertarianbro]

Here is the Lieutenant's testimony without having to visit either of those
sites.

https://hrvg.org/projects/kapitan-man/testimony.htm

 

[gerryq]

What about microwave pulses? They can cause sounds in peoples' heads due to sudden expansion of heated tissues, and presumably they could cause or be associated with other sounds too.

 

[gerryq]

What I've always found creepy about this was that the symptoms pretty much exactly match what my dad experienced when he was having radiation therapy for brain cancer. Sometimes he'd hear things, other times he'd see weird colors, but every experience I've heard of reminded me of what he went through.

Hmmm interesting. When first hearing of this, I was thinking directed microwave beam but that sounds too James Bond. Or does it?

Nothing I've read makes me think that a microwave beam is the wrong answer. In fact, I keep coming back to it.

Well, I guess I was far from the first here with this idea...