After reading yet another study on mobile phone radiation (this one showing it did not cause cancer), I began to think about it more closely. Most people would hear radiation and think of the same stuff that comes from fission reactors, but being a NS reader (and science student) I know it is just electromagnetic radiation in the microwave region.

Considering this is the next level up from radio waves, which I think we may safely assume are not harmful, how much more energetic are microwaves than radio waves? And since microwaves are less energetic than visible light, how could they possibly harm us?

Can a microclimate really allow a person to survive like Ann Burden did in the book of Z for Zachariah written by Robert C. O'Brien? She lived in a valley which she thinks was the only area which avoided the radiation.  Exactly how the valley escaped contamination is unclear, though Ann at one point recounts people saying that the valley "has its own weather." I was just wondering (considering the valley has a microclimate) if it would actually be possible for an instance like this to occur? Could radiation just completely miss a valley like this?

I get migraines that are located in that brain hemisphere and I wondered if there was any connection between this, emotion and also cell phone creating the same effect, if held up against the side of the head long enough.

How does the quantity of the heat transferred relate to the frequency / intensity of the wave?

Basically, would it be possible to base some electrical or other type of machinery or technology on the transfer of different types of energy through a vacuum such as heat through radiation or light?

Is there any technology which uses this at the moment, but with an actual vacuum as compared to fibre optics or something?

Surely to the extent where you wouldn't necessarily have to pump the gas out to create a vacuum surely this would be cheaper than using actual materials?

Anyway just a thought, any answers would be appreciated.

We were in physics a few days ago and we were studying radioactivity, our teacher mentioned that even bananas contain radioactive elements. So I was wondering, how many bananas do you theoretically have to eat to get radiation poisoning?

I have a Laser Detector for my Rotating Building Site Level. In a room with an Energy Saving bulb, if I only turn the detector on , it ‘Beeps’, advising it has received a signal. This doesn’t happen in a room fitted with an old fashioned tungsten bulb. Does an Energy Saving bulb give off Laser Light?

I understand that on earth we feel the heat of the Sun because it radiates light to earth which then gets trapped within our atmosphere and gives out heat.  Space, being a vaccum, would contain no heat as there is no matter to conduct the heat of the Sun, so how close could you get to the sun before you would feel any heat from it?  Also would the sun not be able to radiate heat in the form of light to human skin in the same way as it radiates heat to the earth?

Many Thanks

James Stretton (Colchester)