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    Forums    MythBusters    Ideas: Military/Weapons    RF DESTROYS Y CHROMOSOME?

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Junior Member
Registered: 11-02-09
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Do radio frequencies generated by signal generators (used in electronics and electronics testing) destroy the Y chromosome in sperm? A myth we hear all the time in the electronic calibration field is if males working around radio frequencies, and therefore exposed to RF for an extended amount of time will not be able to have boys if and when they conceive. In my own experience, men who worked in that environment have only had girls, while men who worked in other areas that aren't exposed to RF have had both boys and girls. Is this simply coincidence? Is there any way this can be tested? I'm dying to know. Thank you Mythbusters!
Senior Member
Registered: 12-16-08
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Well, the highest radio frequency is UHF, which has a wavelength of about 10 centimeters. A Y-chromosome is... quite a bit smaller. Maybe if you were generating X-rays instead.

Special forces soldiers also seem to mysteriously have predominately daughters. Just one of those mysteries, I guess.
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    Forums    MythBusters    Ideas: Military/Weapons    RF DESTROYS Y CHROMOSOME?

 
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