The Brain Emits Biophotons

Exploring ultraweak photon emissions as optical markers of brain activity

Brains are highly metabolic organs that emit ultraweak photon emissions (UPEs), which predict oxidative stress, aging, and neurodegeneration. UPEs are triggered by neurotransmitters and biophysical stimuli, but they are also generated by cells at rest and can be passively recorded using modern photodetectors in dark environments. UPEs play a role in cell-to-cell communication, and neural cells might even have waveguiding properties that support optical channels. However, it remains uncertain whether passive light emissions can be used to infer brain states as electric and magnetic fields do for encephalography. The study presents evidence that brain UPEs differ from background light in spectral and entropic properties, respond dynamically to tasks and stimulation, and correlate moderately with brain rhythms. We discuss these findings in the context of other neuroimaging methods, the potential of new measurement parameters, the limitations of light-based readouts, and the possibility of developing a platform to readout functional brain states: photoencephalography.

Dr. Nicolas Rouleau is a neuroscientist, bioengineer, and Assistant Professor of Health Sciences at Wilfrid Laurier University. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Tufts University and Affiliate Scientist at the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts. Dr. Rouleau was the last PhD student of Michael Persinger of Laurentian University, whose work on the electromagnetic bases of consciousness inspired Rouleau to pursue his dissertation on the material-like properties of brain tissues, including their capacity to filter electromagnetic fields. In 2017, he joined the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University as a Postdoctoral Researcher and was a founding member of David Kaplan's Initiative for Neural Science, Disease, & Engineering at Tufts, focusing on minimal cognitive responses in bioengineered brain models.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/JF_9uNUQOZc



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Neuroscience Of Sleep And Dreams

Image
Dr. Rahul Jandial spends a great deal of time delving into the human brain—both literally, as a neurosurgeon, and figuratively, as a researcher, professor and author of the international bestseller 'Life Lessons From a Brain Surgeon' and the memoir, 'Life on a Knife’s Edge'. In his engaging and information-packed new book, 'This Is Why You Dream: What Your Sleeping Brain Reveals About Your Waking Life', Jandial enthusiastically explores the slumberous state, offering tips to help readers use dreams to reach their full potential around the clock. “By interpreting your dreams,” he asserts, “you can make sense of your experience and explore your emotional life in new and profound ways.” Understanding the sleeping brain’s whimsy isn’t as simple as consulting a dream dictionary—which, by the way, Jandial does not recommend. That’s because dream dictionaries 'cleverly offer a mix of vagueness and specificity that make it easy to shape your personal circumstances t...
Read more

The Psychology Of Lucid Dreaming

Image
If you don't know what lucid dreaming means, basically it is when you become aware that you're dreaming. Sometimes during a lucid dream, the dreamer has the ability to manipulate their dream to achieve a desired outcome. Have you ever woken from a bad dream and wanted to 'go back in' and fix it? Perhaps change the outcome for a happy ending? Or have you woken from a very pleasant dream and tried to get back to sleep to continue the story or dream experience? That's lucid dreaming. And you might be interested to know that Albert Einstein, Charles Dickens, Thomas Edison, Stephen King, Nikola Tesla and Salvador Dali are - or were - lucid dreamers. In 'Lucid Dreaming Made Easy - A Beginner's Guide to Waking Up in Your Dreams', Charlie introduces the reader to several techniques to start lucid dreaming and the book kicks off from there. I thought I was an experienced and capable lucid dreamer, but it turns out I'm still a beginner. Apparently there's ...
Read more

Photons and Consciousness

Image
The role of biophotons in the brain is a growing area of research in neurobiology – and where there are photons there might be quantum mechanics. The light of the mind is blue, wrote the poet Sylvia Plath ('The Moon and the Yew Tree' 1961). But it seems it may actually be red. That’s because recent research suggests a link between intelligence and the frequency of biophotons in animals’ brains. In 2016 Zhuo Wang and colleagues at the South-Central University for Nationalities in China studied brain slices from various animals (bullfrog, mouse, chicken, pig, monkey and human) that had been excited by glutamate, an excitatory neurotransmitter. They found that increasing intelligence was associated with a shift in the biophoton’s frequency towards the red end of the spectrum. Admittedly, it is unclear what the measure of intelligence actually is, and the study has drawn criticism for its lack of an explanatory mechanism; correlation, as the mantra goes, does not mean causation. Ho...
Read more