You can fool some of the people all the time, and those are the ones you have to concentrate on.

— George W. Bush at a D.C. Gridiron dinner in 2001

Down the rabbit hole

You never know when an Internet search will lead you down an entirely different path. And so I found a press release for a device called a MegaChi Pendant. It typically sells for more than US $200.

These gimmicks are showing up all over. There is a similar device called a QLink has slightly different, but equally bogus, claims. Same with the BioPro.

It is completely immoral to exploit peoples’ anxieties, especially when the causes of these concerns are entirely fabricated … Those of us who have the ability to recognise mumbo jumbo when we see it need to speak out and set an example to others who just don’t know who to believe.

— Caroline Grainger, chemist

What makes this pendant so special is that it emits a miraculous set of frequencies (Schumann Resonance, Harmonic Resonance, and White Light Energy) with the alleged power to deflect "all forms of negativity" (including people’s negative feelings about someone willing to believe such excrementizing), electromagnetic fields, and extra low frequency electromagnetic waves!

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
— Carl Sagan

According to one marketer of this device,

NASA implemented the Schumann Resonance frequency, 7.83 Hertz, in the space shuttles to help keep the Astronauts healthier, happier and protected from EMF’s during their time in space. … The Schumann Resonance frequency, is the same as the earths [sic] magnetosphere. 

Frauds use your scientific ignorance to exploit you. This marketing is a good example.

There are several inaccuracies in this claim:

• Nasa never “implemented” the "Schumann Resonance frequency" in the shuttles. You may be appalled when you learn the likely source of the Schumann-shuttle connection. (That’s saved for the end of the article.)

Schumann resonances are like honking your car horn in a tunnel.

• An extremely low frequency (ELF) electromagnetic wave, such as 7.83 Hertz (1 Hertz = 1 vibration per second), is not going to have much effect on an electromagnetic field (EMF).

The most powerful EMF affecting the space shuttles emanates from the planet they left — why would they need to be shielded from their home? Especially when the shuttle’s low Earth orbit protects astronauts from radiation and charge accumulation.

Earth’s EMF measures 30,000 to 60,000 nanotesla on the ground. The second most powerful EMF, the interplanetary magnetic field, is measured at 2 to 5 nanoteslas at the distance of Earth’s orbit. (Here is information on how spacecraft measure magnetic fields.)

Based on the marketers’ claims, you have to wonder how life has survived for millions of years.

• According to Nasa, exposure to ionizing radiation is the real danger and requires constant monitoring.

Astronauts also need protection from space junk as much as they need protection from space weather.

• Noise and vibration are always a consideration on space missions. Nasa is trying to remove such sources or dampen them.

The goal is to avoid introducing ELF in the range that MegaChi thinks was installed on the space shuttles.

• Taxpayers don’t care whether astronauts are happy, and they don’t want their tax dollars to pay for shuttle payloads that promise such results.

Thankfully, astronauts consider the privilege of being part of a mission as a highlight of their lives. And they swallow thermometers so ground crews can monitor their health.

MegaChi marketing wants to convince you that people who passed the Nasa flight physical and are doing what they love are somehow unhappy and ill, despite a great amount of evidence to the contrary.

All life on Earth has bathed in electromagnetic waves of all frequencies since life began. The “artificial” waves used in electronic devices were selected precisely because they do not interact with our bodies. (Consider the superstitious beliefs concerning microwaves.)

Michael Bluck, an engineer at Imperial College interviewed for The Guardian (18 Jan 2007), advises that if you want to stop the EM waves, you can scatter them by covering yourself with a fine mesh of metal or a material that allows you to absorb them — but the EM energy will convert to heat and cook your skin.

Bluck offers this advice if you want to avoid being ripped off by frauds selling worthless pendants, and want to avoid allegedly harmful electromagnetic frequences:

Live as far away from the producers of EM waves as possible and live with the consequences of having no friends and no life.

No lightning onboard, thank you very much

How did the marketers of the MegaChi manage to "implement" the association between "Schumann Resonance frequency" and space shuttles? According to the person who wrote the marketing quoted earlier,

I have no clue how they did it or where it was implemented, just the information that is readily available to anyone on the internet was used here.

Nasa documents everything, and their sites have a tremendous amount of information on shuttle flights and equipment (for example, the chronology of wake-up calls or what equipment is considered surplus).

Based on the availability of information, an Internet search should find

• The name of the company that manufactured and installed the "Schumann Resonance frequency" equipment, and when.

Nasa outsources most equipment for the shuttles. You would be able to find online a press release announcing the awarding of the contract to produce and install the equipment — especially if the equipment is as miraculous as they claim. Here is a typical one.

• Names of people, such as a company spokesperson and a Nasa spokesperson. (Refer to the typical press release for an example.)
• Details about the equipment.
• Which shuttle was retrofitted first.
• Which mission was the first to use it.
• How and when it is used.

Nasa sites do not mention this equipment. There are no press releases on the Internet from Nasa or any companies. All of the search results take you to sites trying to sell you junk. They use similar vague language. Ask them about the Schumann-shuttle connection and nobody knows anything, they just repeated what they pulled from someone else’s site. "Sounds great! Let’s use it!"

Hard facts, velvet lies

The most likely source of the information is Nasa. However, the "Schumann Resonance frequency" was not "implemented" in the space shuttles. It was measured during mission STS-107 as part of a scientific experiment called MEIDEX (the Mediterranean Israeli Dust Experiment). The experiment collected electromagnetic data in extra low frequency (ELF) and very low frequency (VLF) ranges. MEIDEX recorded Schumann resonances.

STS-107 is the only shuttle mission that had involvement with any "Schumann resonance frequency."

The people who claim "Schumann Resonance frequency" was "implemented" on the space shuttles to keep crews happy and safe seem unaware that STS-107 disintegrated on reentry February 1, 2003.  

Epilogue

In the months after this article was published, the marketers of these bogus devices began removing any references to Schumann Resonances, Nasa, and the Space Shuttle. Perhaps as more people explore the bizarre claims of the manufacturers and marketers, they may disappear entirely.

There is no conclusive evidence that the levels of electromagnetic radiation from electrical gadgets (so-called ‘artificial’ EMF) cause adverse health effects. However, the word radiation carries negative connotations in the media and consequently in most people’s minds. This allows the unscrupulous development of products that claim to protect against EMF, with little or no scientific evidence to support their claims.

— Kehinde Ross, biologist