Studying biomedical issues of high-frequency radiation

STORIES about potential health risks from (and occasionally about medical applications of) electromagnetic (EM) fields can be found everywhere from technical journals to supermarket tabloids. In the 1970s and 1980s, microwave radar and communication antennas received a lot of alarming press and more recently, the EM fields from cellular telephones have come under heavy scrutiny. This primer is intended to provide a basic framework for tackling bioelectromagnetic issues. It is by no means an all-encompassing study of the biomedical effects of EM radiation, but is meant to include only those ideas which may one day be useful for performing quick calculations of EM radiation and safety. The interested reader can, of course, consult the references for additional details or data as there is no shortage of specialized material (see, for example, references 2 and 3).