Can you survive without your devices? Dr. Robert Marks and Sarah Seguin talk about the dangers to our electrical infrastructure stemming from modern technology. They also discuss various ways people can protect themselves during an EMP attack or another similar event.

Show Notes

• 00:55 | Introduction
• 01:57 | Electromagnetic Capability
• 04:28 | Defining EMPs
• 05:35 | The Physics behind EMPs
• 08:00 | EMPs on the Personal Level
• 09:28 | Protecting Electronics
• 15:00 | EMPs and the Cloud
• 17:37 | 1989 Solar Storm
• 18:45 | HEMP Disruption
• 22:17 | The United States’ Vulnerability to EMPs
• 26:37 | Protection against EMPs
• 27:04 | The Physics of an EMP Attack
• 29:22 | Terrorism
• 31:27 | Infrastructure Improvements
• 34:49 | Can Microwaves Make Us Sick?
• 36:44 | Can Cell Phones Fry Your Brain?
• 41:35 | Can EMPs Affect Humans?
• 43:14 | EMPs and Warfare
• 49:09 | Swarms
• 56:00 | Frequencies and Crowd Control

Additional Resources

• The Hill “China’s surprise, years in the planning: An EMP attack” 
• Forbes: “China Has ‘First-Strike’ Capability To Melt U.S. Power Grid With Electromagnetic Pulse Weapon”
• The IEEE Electromagnetic Compatibility Society
• Buy an EMP
• Dr. Seguin’s software company ThirdIron.com
• “Using our first-order cost model, we estimate the “overnight cost” of EMP protecting critical elements of U.S. bulk electric system to be on the order of $255 billion”
• National Coordinating Center for Communications (NCC) Report (2019)
• Adam Hadhazy, “Scary 13th: 20 Years Ago, Earth Was Blasted with a Massive Plume of Solar Plasma” Scientific American, 2009
• Richard Hollingham, “The Cold War nuke that fried satellites” BBC, 2015
• Forbes article (The Pentagon Fears That Deadly Microwave Weapons Are Undetectable)
• Russia has developed an EMP weapon against a drone swarm.