The Science of Stephen King

While walking on the sidewalk in New York, Steve saw a man dressed in a business suit approaching him and seemingly engaged in conversation with himself. Since people talking to themselves on a public street would usually be among those whose “reality” was a bit different than the norm, Steve became a bit apprehensive. He realized as the man got closer, however, that he was talking on a cell phone using a headset. It was the incongruity of a person who may not be in touch with reality, but dressed in a business suit that sparked the idea for Cell.”1

The telephone was invented in 1875 and patented by Alexander Graham Bell.

Cell phones in the novel Cell are the devices that incite violence among people. How long have phones been around? The telephone was the result of the work of many people and is most often attributed to Alexander Graham Bell, who patented the device in 1875. The road to the modern telephone, though, has a long and complicated history. It began in 1667 when Robert Hooke invented a string telephone that conveyed sounds over an extended wire by mechanical vibrations.2 This is similar to a tin can phone that many children played with in generations past. Ironically, Robert Hooke also coined the term “cell” in relation to microscopy! (Not in relation to the telephone.) In 1861, Philipp Reis constructed the first telephone that transmitted speech. Using his knowledge of physics and electricity, he constructed a device that was able to send messages up to a distance of a little over three hundred feet. The invention didn’t gain much interest in his home country of Germany, though, and he didn’t gain recognition for his contributions to the technology until after his death. It wasn’t until 1927 that the first transatlantic phone call took place. The call was placed from New York in the United States to London in the United Kingdom. Listening to the audio, you can hear clicks and static with more than a few “hello’s” spoken to gauge if the listener is present on the other end. A short speech is made proclaiming business can now happen between the two places almost instantly. How far we’ve come in less than one hundred years!

In 1973, ten years before a cell phone was first released onto the market, the first cell phone call was made by Motorola researcher and executive Martin Cooper.3

“The Pulse” is sent out across cell phones in the novel and turns people into mindless killers. Could sound be used as a weapon? Sound waves, when used with high power, are able to unsettle or destroy the eardrums of the intended target. Even less powerful waves have the effect of causing nausea in humans and can cause discomfort. A long-range acoustic device can send messages over longer distances that a normal loudspeaker wouldn’t be capable of. This device has also been used to deter crowds, rioters, and criminals over the past decade. Noise is even more powerful than that, though. Studies have shown that exposure to high intensity ultrasound at frequencies from 700 kHz to 3.6 MHz can cause lung and intestinal damage in mice.4 Sonic weapons aren’t a new invention, though. It is rumored that in World War II, Adolf Hitler’s chief architect, Albert Speer, set up a lab in order to explore his theories of sonic warfare. He created an “acoustic cannon” that worked by igniting a mixture of methane and oxygen in a resonant chamber. In theory, it could create a series of over one thousand explosions per second. This, in turn, could kill someone standing within a one-hundred-yard radius in as little as thirty seconds. This weapon was never actually used, but the consequences of its possible existence are terrifying.

In World War II, during the German siege of the Soviet city of Stalingrad in 1942, Soviet troops kept German forces awake at night by playing Argentine tangos through loudspeakers.5

One thing unique to “The Pulse” victims is that they foam at the mouth. We most often associate this phenomenon with a dog suffering the effects of rabies but is it possible in humans? It is, although it is rare. The most common causes of foaming at the mouth are a drug overdose, seizure, or rabies. Foam is produced when saliva mixes with air or other gases. Because it is so rare, it’s recommended that you seek medical attention immediately if you experience it.