But to Gary Johnson, an engineer with the Electric Power Research Institute, it is one big electric appliance. Well, it really is a house. But to Gary Johnson, an engineer with the Electric Power Research Institute, it is one big electric appliance. And down in the basement, Johnson has the big, fat, black electric plug to prove it. One set of wires is enough for most abodes, but this brown, clapboard house is in reality a laboratory for testing electromagnetic fields.
Electromagnetic waves course through the universe.
They are, with gravity and nuclear energy, among the basic forces of nature. Even Earth generates its own electromagnetic field. But so do television sets, microwave ovens, alarm clocks, personal computers and electric power lines, and there is growing evidence that their low-level fields may affect human health. Some epidemiological studies have shown a possible relationship between exposure to electromagnetic waves from high-tension wires and leukemia in children. Others have found evidence of unusually frequent tumors in telephone-line workers.