Does WiFi Kill Your Plants? No, Of Course Not (Video)

In May 2013, a group of Danish students took the internet by storm with a project that "proved" WiFi signals could hinder or interrupt plant growth. The school project was magically transformed into a "study," picked up by mainstream media, and used as a reference by those offering solutions against "electrosmog." Andrew McNeil, an engineer and well-known DIY WiFi antenna maker on YouTube, decided to apply his knowledge of radio frequency and conduct his own experiment...

As wireless solutions become more common, we increasingly hear the term "electromagnetic hypersensitivity." Those who claim to suffer from this condition react to WiFi, Bluetooth, and mobile phone signals as if they were allergies (or something worse), regardless of whether intensity levels are far below the recommended maximum. Experts have repeatedly reported that electromagnetic hypersensitivity is pure pseudoscience and that its "side effects" are related to the nocebo effect. Still, there's always an article declaring WiFi a cause of cancer and a killer of plant life on Earth.

Andrew McNeil is probably one of the YouTubers you'll come across if you're planning a project based on WiFi or radio frequency in general. He's the one who tested the famous the famous "WiFi gun" by Kreosan, and now he's back to confirm or deny whether WiFi kills plants. But instead of using two or three routers (with all their variables and manufacturing differences), he prepared three 2.4 GHz transmitters. One of his plants (which appear to be watercress) was placed in a room away from the transmitters, while the other ended up being bombarded with different sections of the WiFi spectrum at an intensity of 300 milliwatts per transmitter.

And the answer is no. The WiFi didn't inhibit or block the plant's growth. In fact, I'd go as far as to say the plant drowned in WiFi grew a bit better. However, the sample size is still 1, so Andrew will repeat the experiment soon, and most likely he'll also increase the power.

Source: Hackaday