Q: A friend tells me that when he returns home after working on live 400-kilovolt electric cab les, he interferes with his TV set. His colleagues suffer similar problems and all must stay out of the room until, later in the evening, the effect wears off. Why does this happen?
A: This is either a tall story or an effect previously unknown to science. It is similar to the claims of people who work on transmitting antennae, especially microwave dishes, who say that they cannot use a camera without fogging the film for several hours afterwards because they are 鈥渞adioactive鈥�. It makes for interesting conversation in the pub.
A: Workers in industries that have attracted public concern about health effects naturally have worries, but they may not admit this even to themselves. When the friend and his fellow workers believe that exposure to high voltage has somehow changed their bodies, they may be expressing hidden anxieties. This is quite common in workers in the nuclear industry.
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You could discover whether the effect was real or imagined, although this would need a controlled method of observation. A neutral observer should watch a TV and record when there seemed to be interference. Hidden from the observer by a screen, one of the cable workers would enter or leave the room. It is also important for the observer not to know whether the cable worker had been at work recently. If a good statistical analysis showed an effect the matter should be pursued because you will have made an amazing discovery.