[Unfounded speculation follows]
Since many biological molecules are polar, they will tend to align with an electromagnetic field. That could affect reaction rates in a cell, possibly in a way that changes metabolism. Also, chemical bonds are more or less springy, so if the cell phone frequencies happen to synchronize with a molecule’s resonant frequency, it might build up enough energy over time to break the bond, even though the radiation isn’t enough to do so immediately.
[/speculation]
I have no idea if the fields are strong enough or the frequencies are anything close to matching. I wouldn’t even know what to search for. Can anybody shed any light on the mechanisms I propose?
rjk, the mechanisms you’re describing are basically how microwave ovens heat up food. Cell phone radiation could, in principle, cook you (though the intensity from a phone is too low). The thing is, we long ago evolved very good defenses against being cooked: Enough heat to damage you will also cause you pain, causing you to reflexively get away from the source of the heat. So as long as you don’t feel your cell phone burning your ear, you’re fine.
I’ve heard people worrying about their phone cooking them like a microwave too; hey, those things get hot! Just to be sure I checked. I recall hearing that cell phones max out around 3 or 4 watts (when you’re on-line with them and they’re working hard to find a signal), and my microwave oven puts out 1200. Hmmm . . . not too worried.
If you look at the group cell phones are in, IARC Group 2B, it has all kinds of random things. All the news reports mention gasoline and engine exhaust, but it also has:
Coffee
Pickled vegetables
Talc-based body powders
ELF magnetic fields
Sounds unlikely. I don’t know what the resonant frequency of all your head’s molecules are, but from what I’ve read, any resonance of a water molecule is an extremely high frequency. Microwaves are millions of times too slow to cause any resonance in a water molecule. I would think that other molecules may have a lower resonance than water, but a factor of millions of times lower wouldn’t seem possible, especially if those molecules are crowded by other molecules all around them.