Havana Syndrome: Did a Secret Weapon Fry Diplomats' Brains?

Science Vs

Spotify Studios

Education, Science, Health & Fitness

4.4 • 12.4K Ratings

🗓️ 22 April 2021

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Back in 2016, U.S. Embassy workers in Cuba were struck by a mysterious noise, followed by symptoms like headaches, dizziness and memory problems. This sent the U.S. scrambling to try to find the culprit. Could it have been an ear-piercing sonic weapon? Or something even sneakier — a device that could beam microwaves into your brain?? We speak to journalist Tim Golden, Prof. Douglas Smith, Prof. Fernando Montealegre-Zapata, Dr. Mitchell Joseph Valdés-Sosa, Prof. Chris Collins, and Prof. Alan Carson. Our instagram is: science_vs Check out the transcript here: https://bit.ly/2Pf3jan Apply to the Science Vs internship! https://jobs.lever.co/spotify/4fd5b230-4bf5-463e-ac64-e13f369f1b1e This episode was produced by Nick DelRose and Wendy Zukerman, with help from Meryl Horn, Rose Rimler, Michelle Dang and Taylor White. We’re edited by Blythe Terrell. Fact checking by Eva Dasher. Mix and sound design by Bumi Hidaka. Music written by Bumi Hidaka, Peter Leonard, Marcus Bagala, Emma Munger and Bobby Lord. Translation help by Kristin Torres. A huge thanks to the researchers who helped us out for this episode -- we spoke to around two dozen experts to get their thoughts on many different parts of this -- from the brain studies to the possibility of microwave weapons. Many of them just wanted to talk on background - but thank you so much for your time. And special thanks to Ayo Oti, Navani Otero, Andrea B. Scott, the Zukerman family and Joseph Lavelle Wilson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, I'm Wendy Zuckerman and you're listening to Science Versus from Gimlin.
0:06.0	This is the show that pits facts against futuristic weapons.
0:15.0	Today, we're cracking open the case of a mysterious illness.
0:19.0	It hit US government officials in Havana, Cuba several years ago.
0:23.0	And since then, things have gotten weirder and weirder.
0:29.0	Victims have reported damage to their hearing, vision, balance and memory.
0:34.0	The cause unknown is not going to end.
0:37.0	We're going to see more of these kinds of attacks in the future and we need to be prepared for them.
0:41.0	There could be folks out there that know what happened.
0:44.0	This is so shocking and disturbing.
0:48.0	Let's set the scene. It's 2016.
0:51.0	Government officials from the US are working in Cuba.
0:54.0	Before they even get there, they're warned that it's going to be a little hostile.
0:59.0	They're told, you know, you don't have any privacy.
1:02.0	You're going to be listened to. Your phones are going to be tapped.
1:05.0	You're going to be followed on the street.
1:09.0	This is Tim Golden, Editor-it-Large for ProPublica.
1:13.0	Tim and a colleague tried to work out how this mystery started.
1:17.0	Initially, it was all very murky and it was unclear what was going on.
1:23.0	They dug into this, talking to more than three dozen officials
1:26.0	and pouring through confidential government documents.
1:29.0	And Tim told us that patient zero was a young CIA officer
	...

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