fields

In recent years there has been consider- able interest in the effects of atmos- pheric electric and magnetic fields on living organisms, and in particular in their effect upon human health. For ,xample, experiments carried out in West Germany into the effects of electric fields on motoring fatigue seem to indicate that the presence of an electric field inside a motor vehicle can reduce driver error. The interior of a motor vehicle, because of its metal construction, is largely screened from external electric fields. Researchers from the West German Defence Ministry, the Max Planck Institute, and the Munich Institute for Biomedical Technology co-operated in developing a device to generate an electric field inside a car. It was found that, with the device operating, drivers made 8 to 10% less errors than normal. Furthermore, the more fatigued a driver was, the greater was the improvement in his performance when the device was switched on.