Actually we do and we know that they do not affect our bodies.

I have some of that healthy radioactive toothpaste from the 60s laying around that you might be interested in.

So, right now I don't chastise anyone if they are concerned. I'm not a heavy cell phone user, but a family member is--and when she was concerned, I didn't feel like a alarmist when I agreed she should use get used to using the speaker.

As to living near a step down pot transformer; it would be in the back of my mind when buying a house. Yes--I know what the research showed, but the only two PG&E workers, I knew, died of leukemia.

I know one Doctor(Dr. Dustin Ballard, Marinij.com), who reluctantly told his readers that even though the the studies show no link between cell phone use and cancer; he had two patients, whom were heavy cell phone uses, develope brain cancer. He's not a quack, but just wanted to pass along the information. He implicitly stated, 'I'm not saying cell phone use causes cancer!'

PG&E used to have a one page warning about EMF's. They used phrases like the government does--like "most likely", 'and all research points to their safety, but if one is concerned buy a gaussmeter.' I currently, can't find the PG&E page, but it there.

So when I read National Institue of health webpages, and they still use "like", "haven't been conclusively proven", "more research is needed."; I don't feel comfortable telling people their concerns are not valid. As to a guass meter, I use my portable radio, and check for static.(No--I'm not running around and checking every possible emf, but I am checking the ones near my head when sleeping.

(Way off topic, but if you have a mechanical watch that's not keeping time run it through a demagnetizer before shipping it off for en expensive Service.)

http://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/agents/emf/

"A huge amount of study into whether these microwaves cause cancer indicates that they probably do not, and the World Health Organization classifies them in the 'Needs more study' category along with coffee and pickled vegetables."

I also I assume the minimum threshold is set fairly high given the shape and location of the antenna. Arduinos and USB links, especially from laptops, are rather noisy themselves.

And then after that, a further level of differentiation would be to take the phone out of airplane mode, but remove the SIM card.

I feel like those different states would be worth comparing...

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Edit: Thanks for changing the HN title.

Cue shocked reaction that our smartphones continue to process data, update apps, background process things, and collect garbage when the screen is off. This title is so link-baity that it makes me want to not click the link.

What did he think? That his phone magically wakes up when somebody calls him?

I got a nice EMC probe for my oscilloscope (so that I could look at the effectiveness of my bluetooth antenna trace) and it provides a nice way to scan a phone for all of the various RF frequencies its putting out. One thing I thought was interesting is that when you put your phone in a shielded box (so that you're only seeing the phone's radiated signals) it bumps up the xmit power in the GSM bands trying to talk to a cell tower it can't reach. Seems a little mini StingRay on your dresser to reassure your phone that cell service is nearby would help its battery life :-)

With that out of the way, neat project!

Love it. Nice work!

then i wondered how hot that world would be

our electronics pump out a lot of heat, and there are more electronics today then yesterday and this trend will seemingly continue ad infinitum

i wondered if some of the planetary warming could be from all of the cycles