Biophotons carry information: Rouleau excerpt #8

Rouleau writes: Before I delineate the many reasons why the brain must be regarded as an electromagnetic organ that can functionally survive death, I will first provide a necessary but non-exhaustive definition and description of electromagnetism. There are four fundamental forces that establish the physical parameters of our Universe: the weak force, the strong force, gravity, and electromagnetism. If they were to suddenly change in amplitude or character, the laws that physicists use to describe Nature would need to be completely re-written. In fact, it is uncertain whether life could even exist given alternative cosmic circumstances.

The electromagnetic force is responsible for the attraction between protons and electrons, holding atoms together, and establishing the chemical bonds and intermolecular forces that are required for life. Protons express a positive charge, electrons express an equal but negative charge, and the two particles tend to exist in a state of balance or equilibrium when they form atoms. When a neutral atom loses an electron, thereby disturbing the balance and expressing a relative excess of protons, it becomes positively charged – also called a positive ion. 

Similarly, when a neutral atom loses a proton, it becomes a negative ion. When electrons flow through space, they generate electromagnetic fields (EMFs), which are distributed arrays of point charges in space-time that organize along invisible flux lines that are readily visualized in two dimensions with iron filings and bar magnets. When opposite charges are separated by a distance, they generate a property called polarity – which is the physical basis for both the bar magnet and the electrical properties of the cell membrane discussed in a previous section.

The quantum or irreducible unit of the EMF is the photon, which is the particle-wave we call light. Indeed, white light, radio waves, and all other forms of electromagnetic radiation are essentially the same photonic “stuff”. What gives them qualitatively different properties are their energy levels, which are proportional to the frequencies of their oscillations.

There are two related components to electromagnetic fields: the electric field, which is determined by the charge of the object or particle, and the magnetic field, which is determined by the motion of the charged object or particle. For example, the ions that align themselves across the cell’s membrane express intrinsic electric fields. When those ions move across the membrane from the outside to the inside of the cell through a channel, their moving charges generate magnetic fields. Suffice it to say that electromagnetism is a pervasive and integral force in the Universe – a necessary but by no means a special property of living organisms or the brain.

However, the scientific fields of bioelectricity and bioelectromagnetics have reliably demonstrated that cells and tissues are uniquely structured to receive and channel electromagnetic energy to signal or do work. This has been known since the time of Luigi Galvani (1737-1798), who demonstrated that static electricity could be used to activate the muscles of dead frogs, suggesting our bodies functioned by endogenous analogues or “animal electricity”. More than a means to move muscles, electromagnetism is intimately linked to brain function and, as I will soon become evident, is likely the fundament of consciousness.

Returning to the task of demonstrating that the brain is an electromagnetic organ, recall that neurons, of which we have tens of billions, are highly polar cells that individually discharge electromagnetic pulses of energy called action potentials dozens of times per second. Therefore, it would be unsurprising to detect electromagnetic emissions from brain tissues at different scales of measurement. Indeed, EEGs detect brain activity by measuring voltage fluctuations across the surface of the scalp that are caused by the dynamic electric fields of thousands of cortical neurons firing in synchrony. These complex electromagnetic brain patterns are not random. Rather, they are organized according to predictable patterns that have been described as electrical “microstates”. The duration, shape, and stability of microstates are predictive of age, cognition, and disease. Current investigations are linking the brain’s multi-regional electromagnetic states or “electomes”, with diagnostic applications in neuropsychiatry.

Magnetoencephalography (MEG), which is a newer technology that measures the brain’s weak magnetic fields using highly sensitive detectors, clearly demonstrates that the brain actively emits EMFs that are detectable outside the skull and information-rich. Like EEG, MEG is used as a diagnostic instrument because the specific properties of the brain’s magnetic field emissions reflect the synchronous neuronal activity of tens of thousands of cells. Interestingly, MEG has also been applied to study neurocognitive processes in developing fetuses and was recently used to identify the neural correlates of the earliest stages of human cognitive development. One exciting possibility is that MEG may one day be used to identify the precise transition from non-conscious matter to conscious matter in the brains of developing humans.

In addition to its electric and magnetic field emissions, the human brain has been repeatedly shown to emit visible, infrared, and ultraviolet light. Distinct from bioluminescence, light emitted by biological organisms or “biophotons” are caused by chemical reactions within cells associated with energy production and are functionally linked to microtubules – the skeleton-like structures that give cells shape and their capacity to move. While photons are emitted by other tissues and species some authors have hinted at the possible existence of optical signaling channels within the human brain that operate like fiber optic cables by transmitting photons for cell-to-cell communication. As has been predicted, it would be unsurprising if neurons did perform signaling using photons as information carriers since brain exposures to artificial sources of light are known to modify neural oscillations as well as facilitate the release of neurotransmitters like glutamate and dopamine. Infrared light, for example, can stop neurons from conducting current, meaning a superimposed optical brain network may exist independent of synaptic networks.

Given recent the recent discoveries that much more information can be encoded in light than previously assumed, the possibility of light-based brain function is an increasingly interesting frontier in neuroscience research. In addition to basic amplitude and frequency modulation, information can be encoded within the direction and spacing of rotating photons. Therefore, it is possible that brain biophoton emissions carry tremendous amounts of information when emitted.

Nicolas Rouleau, PhD, a neuroscientist and bioengineer, is an assistant professor at Algoma University in Canada. He received an award from the Bigelow Institute for Consciousness Studies "An Immortal Stream of Consciousness" in response to its search for "scientific evidence for the survival of consciousness after permanent bodily death." Footnotes and bibliography are omitted from these excerpts from his essay, but the full essay is available online at https://www.bigelowinstitute.org/index.php/contest-runners-up/.