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The Sounds That Haunted U.S. Diplomats in Cuba? Lovelorn Crickets, Scientists Say
In November 2016, American diplomats in Cuba complained of persistent, high-pitched sounds followed by a range of symptoms, including headaches, nausea and hearing loss.
Exams of nearly two dozen of them eventually revealed signs of concussions or other brain injuries, and speculation about the cause turned to weapons that blast sound or microwaves. Amid an international uproar, a recording of the sinister droning was widely circulated in the news media.
On Friday, two scientists presented evidence that those sounds were not so mysterious after all. They were made by crickets, the researchers concluded.
That's not to say that the diplomats weren't attacked, the scientists added — only that the recording is not of a sonic weapon, as had been suggested.
Alexander Stubbs of the University of California, Berkeley, and Fernando Montealegre-Z of the University of Lincoln in England studied a recording of the sounds made by diplomats and published by The Associated Press. "There's plenty of debate in the medical community over what, if any, physical damage there is to these individuals," said Mr. Stubbs in a phone interview. "All I can say fairly definitively is that the A.P.-released recording is of a cricket, and we think we know what species it is."
Recording of "sonic attacks" on U.S. diplomats in Cuba spectrally matches the echoing call of a Caribbean cricket (open, DOI: 10.1101/510834) (DX)
Previously: US Embassy Employees in Cuba Possibly Subjected to 'Acoustic Attack'
A 'Sonic Attack' on Diplomats in Cuba? These Scientists Doubt It
Cuban Embassy Victims Experiencing Neurological Symptoms
Computer Scientists May Have Solved the Mystery Behind the 'Sonic Attacks' in Cuban Embassy
Sonic Attack? U.S. Issues Health Alert After Employee Experiences Brain Trauma in Guangzhou, China
Two US Diplomats Evacuated From China Amid 'Sonic Attack' Concerns
Latest Explanation for Cuban Embassy Symptoms: Microwave Weapons
(Score: 5, Interesting) by PartTimeZombie on Sunday January 06 2019, @08:32PM (5 children)
Probably because there is an adult somewhere in the US government that has decided that as Cuba has no possible reason to attack US diplomatic staff, in Cuba with some sort of "acoustic weapon" like a fictional super-villain, there is another, more sensible explanation.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday January 06 2019, @08:46PM (1 child)
After listening to the sound, I realized I've heard an industrial sound which sounds exactly like it: An old bench-top ultrasonic cleaning machine probably suffering noise leakage due to its age. I don't know the specific frequency used by the model but ultrasound is in the 20-400 KHz range.
Crickets my fucking ass.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 08 2019, @07:08PM
and we do know that people south of the north american border loves to clean.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 06 2019, @08:50PM
Oh yeah? I'm all ears. Just let me turn down the Cricket Variations of the 1812 Overture.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 07 2019, @05:25PM (1 child)
Probably because there is an adult somewhere in the US government that has decided that as Cuba has no possible reason to attack US diplomatic staff
It doesn't have to be Cuba, just because the attack took place there. I believe since then there have been other issues, for Americans in China as well as Cuba (https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/02/health/cuba-china-state-department-microwaves-sonic-attacks/index.html), Canadians (https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/cuba-sonic-sound-attacks-canadian-diplomats-1.4289996) and possibly others. This could be Russia/China/Some-other-Country/Some-NGO-Terrorist-Group/Kim Jong Un/whoever, and may not even be sonic (the article in the 2nd link indicates a microwave weapon is the suspected weapon of choice, with no idea who might be wielding it). Based on their other behaviors (posioning dissidents, murdering journalists, shooting down commercial passenger aircraft, annexing swaths of other countries, etc.) my money is on Russia, but really, it could be any group with the knowhow to build such a weapon, so I wouldn't rule out Kim Jong Un or someone else.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 07 2019, @05:31PM
correction: the 1st link above points to an article discussing such attacks in China as well as Cuba, and suggests a microwave weapon as the prime suspect.