WEB-026Original text reviewed
Microbial membrane permeability after high-intensity 18 GHz exposure
The reported finding
Exposure increased membrane permeability and nanosphere uptake; most cells remained viable. Matched conventional heating did not reproduce the permeability finding.
Reading it carefully
High-intensity mechanistic experiment, not satellite-received exposure. Local thermal contributions remain a consideration. Correct lead author is Nguyen, not Shamis.
Inside the study
Technology connection
Microwave laboratory research at an adjacent or overlapping frequency; not a Starlink or satellite-system exposure.
Publication type
Original journal research
Exposure conditions
18 GHz; repeated short exposures, approximately 3–5 kW/kg SAR per dose; temperature profiles around 33–40°C; matched bulk-heating comparisons.
Design & controls
Bacteria and yeast; fluorescent markers/nanospheres, microscopy, viability and growth assays.
Statistics
See reported finding and original tables; effect sizes not independently recalculated.
Related research & shared cohorts
The protection question raised
Which exposure conditions and biological models reproduce this response, and what would establish its relevance to health?
Source verification
Original methods/results sections reviewed; no independent raw-data or supplement audit.
Where to find the result
Original results/methods sections
Editorial notices
Linked notice fields in retrieved Europe PMC/PubMed records checked 21 October 2026; no correction or retraction surfaced there. Publisher-history and forward-citation screening are not exhaustive.
Funding
Australian Centre for Electromagnetic Bioeffects Research Marie Curie Actions EU FP7 Initial Training Network SNAL 608184 This work was partly supported by the Australian Centre for Electromagnetic Bioeffects Research (ACEBR, http://acebr.uow.edu.au/index.html T.H.P.N., Ro.J.C., E.P.I.), a National Health & Medical Research Council Centre of Research Excellence (NHMRC). VB and EI acknowledge funding from Marie Curie Actions under EU FP7 Initial Training Network SNAL 608184 ( http://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/110943_en.html T.H.P.N., V.B. E.P.I.). This work was also supported by the National Health & Medical Research Council Centre of Research Excellence. The authors have no financial or personal relationship with other people or organisations that could inappropriately influence this work. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Conflicts of interest
Disclosure statement not extracted in this source check; see the original publication.
Original publication
The Hong Phong Nguyen; Vy T H Pham; Song Ha Nguyen; Vladimir Baulin; Rodney J Croft; Brian Phillips; Russell J Crawford; Elena P Ivanova. The Bioeffects Resulting from Prokaryotic Cells and Yeast Being Exposed to an 18 GHz Electromagnetic Field. PloS one. 2016. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0158135.