Earth's geomagnetic field: Rouleau excerpt #13

If consciousness persists after we die, where might it be found? Recall that the transmissive model of consciousness is consistent with survival precisely because, even when the brain is alive, the source of consciousness exists independent of it. Therefore, the question should be re-formulated: Where can consciousness be represented other than the brain? Where is consciousness stored?

 

The issue of where a person’s consciousness goes when they die has always been of interest to the human species as evidenced by our complex rituals associated with death as well as the rich cultural narratives that accompany them. Whether the beliefs were originally constructed to address grief, increase group cohesion, or identify the veridical position of a person in space-time after their body decomposes, the proposed solutions have typically shared thematic elements. In our modern era, the idea of “returning to the void” is becoming an increasingly popular belief, where in death, consciousness exists in the same space it existed before life: nowhere at all. This view is logical if one assumes, as most do today, a productive dependence of brain function. Because if consciousness is generated by the brain, and it did not exist before the brain developed, then it will not exist after it decomposes. In other words, productive models of consciousness will leave you stranded at the gates of Heaven – or Hell.

 

Other well-subscribed beliefs about a “life after life” are consistent with the transmissive dependence of brain function. For example, a mechanism for “reincarnation” might involve the return of consciousness to a reborn version of oneself or the transfer of consciousness into a new body. Concepts of “ascension” and “descension” place consciousness in non-living realms, where rewards and punishments may be issued.

 

There are also notions of a “persistent” consciousness that may linger among the living as an independent apparition263 or exist in unity with the consciousness of others. It is, however, difficult to discern which model, if any, reflects reality. Many have reported experiencing glimpses of an afterlife, apparently confirming or disconfirming one or more of these popular beliefs. Because afterlife beliefs are common and often conflicting, confirming any one of them will depend upon which eye-witness reports are prioritized. However, for reasons that I have outlined in a previous section, I do not think near-death and other experiences commonly cited in survival research should be regarded as the best available scientific evidence as they cannot be independently verified or replicated. Even if near-death experiences are informed by genuine glimpses of an afterlife, the burden of repeatability – for which exceptions should not be granted in science – may be too extreme by dint of the transient nature of the phenomenon.

 

Again, this is not to say the experiences are fabrications or even confabulations. As a method, science admits a weakness when it attempts to grapple with the private contents of experience. Rather than rejecting experiences outright, I claim that we cannot base an empirical case for the survival of consciousness following death on these types of experiences alone due to an intrinsic limitation of the scientific method. Nevertheless, themes of survival consistent across cultural narratives and eye-witness testimonies have inspired the formation of hypotheses toward more scientific approaches that are grounded in objective measurement.

 

In the late 1800s, the notable philosopher and mystic H.P. Blavatsky borrowed from Vedantic and Buddhistic thought to formulate her own narrative concerning, among other things, the location of consciousness outside the body. Indeed, her theosophy of Akasha – a term derived from the Sanskrit word for “space” or “sky” – places all intent, consciousness, memory, thought, and will in a pervasive and ethereal plane. Indeed, the Akashic record was also thought to be the place from which radiates “the First Logos”, where logos refers, in context, to sound or speech.

 

Blavatsky’s idea is essentially a reformed version of the Hindu concept of Akasha as the eternal and imperceptible substrate of the Universe – a sound or musical vibration from which all else emerges. Artistic representations of it are found in classical Indian music as the meditative drone of a single repeating note played by instruments like the tanpura or shruti box over which all other notes are played. Interestingly, one of the most ancient Indian stringed instruments – the veena – began as a harp-like device called Akasa, which consisted of strings tied to the tops of trees that vibrated with the wind – thus channeling what was assumed to be the musical substrate of the Universe.

 

Inspired by Blavatsky’s original interpretation of Akasha as an external but accessible record of all minds, the philosopher Ervin László identified analogous concepts in quantum mechanics that he claimed could accommodate evolutionary and cosmological processes as well as consciousness in the “Akashic Field” or “A-Field”. A recent paper even discussed the possibility of extracting information from the Akashic records for military intelligence purposes. These ideas parallel William James’ view of consciousness as being transmitted from one “infinite Thought”, existing “behind the scenes, coeval in the world”, which he reasoned avoided “multiplying [the] miracle” of de novo consciousness production within billions of brains across the planet and over time.

 

But is there a scientific basis for the storage of memory and consciousness in space? Or perhaps, given the electromagnetic nature of the brain, one might ask: Is it possible to store memory and consciousness in an electromagnetic field? The survival of consciousness after death requires a space within which it can exist independent of the brain. Here, I will demonstrate that the evidence indicates it is stored all around us in our shared electromagnetic environment.

 

In a previous section, I demonstrated that the brain is fundamentally an electromagnetic organ. While I did discuss the effects of artificial EMFs on brain function, I did not touch on the effects of their natural or environmental equivalents. This section is reserved for a detailed exploration of natural EMFs, their effects on human cognition and behaviour, and the possibility that they can store and transmit information to and from brains – thus permitting its survival beyond brain death.

 

The primary reason why environmental EMFs demand our special attention is the following: If brain function is at least partially dependent on the reception of transmitted EMF signals, there must be at least one source in Nature that functions as the transmitter or zeitgeber. Whether transmissive brain function was selected or an incidental adaptation, the environmental source of the cue should be physical and therefore subject to measurement.

The most conspicuous and pervasive source of natural EMFs across the planet is the Earth itself. Its geomagnetic field, which extends through the planet and out in all directions well-beyond the atmosphere, is generated by rotating molten iron within its core. The strength of the Earth’s magnetic field is approximately 50 μT, which is about the same intensity as a hair dryer and other household appliances. Its electric field is equivalent to about 100 volts per meter and is maintained by thunderstorms that constantly deposit negative charge on the planet.

 The Sun’s extended magnetic field – the interplanetary magnetic field – interacts with Earth’s in several ways. When it carries plasma toward the Earth’s magnetic field, the net result is an aurora – a light show caused by charged particles moving along flux lines that ultimately excite particles in our atmosphere. Another category of interaction is called the geomagnetic storm, which is caused by a compression and energization of the geomagnetic field by a colliding coronal mass ejection from the Sun. Incidentally, the frequency of coronal mass ejections is cyclical and tracks solar activity over periods of 11 and 22 years as indicated by sunspot numbers. The net result of the collision is an increase in geomagnetic field strength coupled with increased geomagnetic current. A sufficiently intense storm has the capacity to wipe out satellites and other electronic devices but there are also marked biological effects.

 

There is overwhelming evidence that biological organisms detect and respond to Earth’s magnetic field and its storms. The highly-cited works of Joseph L. Kirschvink demonstrate that magnetoreception – the ability to detect and respond to magnetic fields – is not uncommon among biological organisms. Indeed, bats, honeybees, pigeons, species of bacteria, and fish, as well as humans and many other animals display capacities to orient and navigate using the geomagnetic field as a reference point. Kirschvink has proposed biogenic magnetite as the primary receptor and transducing element for magnetoreception.

 

These biologically precipitated particles of iron oxide can even be “magnetized”. That is, the polar structure of the material can be re-aligned to become a permanent magnet. Magnetite is also ferrimagnetic – which is to say it displays a property called magnetic hysteresis. This unique property allows the magnetic behaviour of the material to change as a function of the history of its magnetization, holding a memory of its previous states. Incidentally, iron bars with similar properties can be induced to display conditioned responses that are operationally indistinct from animal forms of learning. Therefore, as a material, magnetite is able to store and re-express electromagnetic information as magnetic “states” or “memories”.

 

Magnetite deposits were initially found to be homogenously distributed throughout the brain. However, experimental magnetizations of these particles by exposures to high-intensity fields from an MRI scanner recently enabled researchers to use a MEG-based localization technique to identify increased concentrations of magnetite within the limbic regions. In particular, there were high concentrations of magnetite found within the hippocampal bodies, deep within the temporal lobes. Incidentally, while the hippocampus is an important organ for memory encoding and retrieval, it is also associated with spatial orientation and navigation. If magnetite participates in human magnetoreception, it may be a fundamentally passive process. Unlike heme iron in the oxygen-transporting metalloprotein hemoglobin, magnetite is not clearly coupled to any protein that opens an ion channel or performs some other active function at the level of the cell. Magnetite may instead interact with brain and environmental EMFs at a material level, though the precise mechanism remains unknown.

 

As reviewed in Persinger’s 1974 book “ELF and VLF Electromagnetic Field Effects”, as well as Dubrov and Brown’s 1978 book “The Geomagnetic Field and Life: Geomagnetobiology”, there is considerable evidence that the Earth’s magnetic field influences living systems including the human brain. In the early part of the 20th century, it was reported that psychiatric hospital admissions tracked geomagnetic activity, which was independently confirmed decades later. The same effect would later be observed in epileptic patients as the frequency of their convulsions – usually within the temporal lobes – correlated with geomagnetic activity. On the bases of these and other observations, it was predicted that EEG rhythms and geomagnetic activity would also likely correlate. Since the 1960s, the effects of geomagnetic activity on synchronous brain activity as inferred by EEG have been independently replicated by several research groups.

 

In 2007, Babayev and Allahverdiyeva quantitatively demonstrated that right hemispheric theta (4–7 Hz) and alpha (8–13 Hz) EEG power correlated with geomagnetic activity. The changes were observed within the temporal-limbic regions and typically marked by negative emotional responses, which is unsurprising given the correlation between geomagnetic activity and population-level aggression or war. The right hemispheric theta-alpha effect was quickly replicated by Mulligan, Hunter, and Persinger in 2010 with data from quiet periods of geomagnetic activity. The same authors later established a causal role by experimentally simulating geomagnetic storm conditions. One of the most recent examples of brain-based interactions with simulated geomagnetic field changes was reported by Kirschvink’s group. Indeed, with Wang and colleagues, Kirschvink reported a desynchronization of alpha rhythms (8–13 Hz) which was associated with the static component of the Earth’s magnetic field and was orientation-dependent. In addition to EEG changes and the well-documented suppressions of the hormone melatonin, geomagnetic field fluctuations have always been associated with reliable reports of post-mortem apparitions (i.e., ghosts), and other intense paranormal experiences.

 

All states of consciousness are apparently affected by geomagnetic activity; however, influences on sleep states are notable. Incidences of vivid and bizarre dreams, as well as sleep paralysis are associated with geomagnetic activity. The duration of rapid eye movement (REM) was also affected by the position of the human head relative to the Earth’s magnetic poles, where the latency for East-West orientation was significantly shorter relative to North-South. Recently, a similar experiment demonstrated that low-frequency EEG rhythms – alpha in particular – were significantly affected by sleep orientation. In 1996, Stanley Krippner and Michael Persinger demonstrated that performance on a remote viewing task involving the identification of target pictures by dream content alone was enhanced by reduced geomagnetic activity. Incidentally, prophetic or precognitive dream events are widely reported and have been linked to geomagnetic activity as well.

 

There is clearly a connection between the Earth’s magnetic field, brain activity, cognition, and behavior. The mechanisms that relate them have not been fully elucidated; however, repeating patterns in the data have revealed a likely unifying candidate. Recall that the literature consistently reported that synchronous neural activity with frequencies ranging from 4 Hz to 14 Hz (theta and alpha rhythms) are affected by natural and artificial EMFs. If the geomagnetic field oscillates with a similar frequency, resonance with the brain may be possible. Resonance is a physical phenomenon associated with waves where the frequency of an applied force can become amplified by a paired frequency or wavelength-matched structure.

 

A tuning fork, for example, will resonate with particular frequencies of vibrating air but not others. Likewise, antennae will only receive particular frequencies of electromagnetic radiation. In both examples, as the frequency of the signal becomes less like the ideal receptive frequency of the system, resonance potential decreases. Fortunately, the oscillations of Earth’s magnetic field, which are driven by a resonance phenomenon involving lightning strikes, have been under investigation for nearly a century.

 

There are, on average, approximately 39 to 49 lightning flashes that occur between the Earth’s ionosphere and ground surface every second. Lightning strikes interfere with each other, perturbing the geomagnetic field with a predictable oscillation pattern. The Earth-ionosphere cavity is effectively a resonance chamber for lightning that generates a perturbation of the geomagnetic field with a frequency mode of 7.83 Hz, which is called the Schumann resonance for its discoverer W. O. Schumann. With his colleague H.L. König, Schumann measured a peak frequency of approximately 8 Hz with harmonics which have since been confirmed at 14, 20, 26, and 33 Hz.

 

König and colleagues later noted the peculiar overlap of brain EEG rhythms and Earth-ionospheric resonances – an observation that has received significant quantitative support in recent decades. In particular, Kevin Saroka’s research has empirically demonstrated the existence of a real-time coherence between Schumann resonance and the frequency spectra of human EEG rhythms. That is, the synchronized activity of brain cells and geomagnetic oscillations driven by lightning occur simultaneously – presumably across all 7.9 billion human brains. Whether or not they can be causally disentangled is unknown; however, the possibility that they are fundamentally one unified process is promising for the continuity of consciousness following brain death. Because if brain activity is the transmitted product of Schumann-type signals, survival is likely.

 

Interestingly, Persinger noted several other conspicuous overlapping features between lightning and the brain that point to a scale-invariant relationship. For example, both action potentials from neurons and lightning strikes share pulse patterns, refractory periods, current densities, and energy densities. Together, these studies support the conclusion that the electromagnetic patterns of the Earth and the brain are not only similar across several parameters, but they are also functionally synchronized in time.

 

 

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/.

Brains receive EMF signals: Rouleau excerpt #12

Rouleau writes: The next major findings in support of transmissive function involved the direct and systematic application of alternating current and time-varying EMFs to fixed, post-mortem human brain tissues. We wanted to know how human brain tissues, chemically preserved in such a way as to retain fine-scale structures, could filter direct and induced electrical currents. That is, as the electric current passed through brain tissue, how would the cellular architecture change the signal? If the filtration properties of the post-mortem tissues could amplify certain artificially generated signal frequencies over others within relevant brain regions, the possibility of natural transmissive function with environmental signals would become more likely.

For example, the possibility of the brain amplifying an extracerebral EMF signal and it subsequently interacting with the endogenous electric fields of ephaptic couplings was an exciting prospect. In the first study, electric current was injected directly into brain tissue with different waveforms and frequency modulations. Simultaneously, voltage outputs were recorded from adjacent tissues. The results indicated that signals with “spike” waveforms tended to increase the amount of low frequency (theta) voltage oscillations in the right hemisphere of post-mortem brains relative to “square” and “sine” waves. This effect was highly specific to the parahippocampal cortex. The neighboring area of the hippocampus showed a similar responsiveness to spike currents in the right hemisphere relative to the left; however, high frequency (gamma) oscillations – which is a common neural correlate of consciousness (NCC) – were enhanced instead.

Arrow indicates right parahippocampal cortex.

In a follow-up study, we wondered how induced currents from applied EMFs might affect post- mortem brain oscillations. However, we first explored how perturbations of the Earth’s natural magnetic field affected daily recordings of voltage oscillations within the post-mortem tissues. Specifically, we wondered if days with increased “geomagnetic activity” or “storms”, which are caused by solar perturbations of the Earth’s magnetic field, would affect post-mortem voltage fluctuations within the parahippocampal regions. Even if the electrical recordings from the post-mortem tissues were mostly noise, storm-dependent frequency shifts within particular parts of the fixed human brain would clearly indicate a material-like receptive feature. To our astonishment, the right parahippocampal cortex displayed more low-to-mid frequency (theta-alpha) oscillations on days of greater geomagnetic activity (storms) relative to quieter days. The left parahippocampal tissues were not similarly affected.

Using artificially generated EMFs, we exposed full post-mortem human brains to different signals within a large coil while simultaneously measuring voltage fluctuations across multiple tissue sites. Consistently, theta (4Hz–7.5Hz) and alpha (7.5Hz–14Hz) frequency oscillations within right hemispheric structures – particularly frontal and temporal areas – were affected by the applied EMFs.

In several related studies, we reported that post-mortem oscillations could be induced to change by chemical stimulation and that they even emitted stimulation-dependent photons. We also demonstrated that post-mortem rat brain oscillations could be used to predict whether or not they had experienced seizure activity while alive – which revealed that damaged brain tissues changed the way oscillations were expressed, like bending a tuning fork and changing its capacity to resonate with particular frequencies of vibrating air.

Together, our results indicated that post-mortem brains were selectively responsive to natural and artificial electromagnetic signals, that the effects were primarily localized to the temporal lobes, that certain waveforms amplified activity more than others, and that theta and alpha frequency oscillations were primarily affected. We agreed that the empirical evidence suggested brains possessed a “passive” functional capacity distinct from its “active” neurophysiological processes. And we reasoned that this passive feature of the brain was consistent with the idea that some residual functional capacities may persist shortly after brain death and the cessation of endogenous activity but before the microstructural features of the organ could decompose. Further, there was a strong case to be made on the basis of the experimental data that the parahippocampal cortex represented a particularly sensitive area akin to an EMF-receptive sub-organ of the brain.

This empirical project, which does not rely upon subjective experiences or the intrinsic fallibility and unverifiability of eye-witness testimony, remains the only objective experimental assessment of William James’ hypothesis and constitutes one of the best pieces of evidence for the continuation of consciousness after permanent bodily death.

Of course, without a tool to measure the content of experience directly, it is impossible to assess conscious percepts in post-mortem or living brains. Nevertheless, the identification of neural correlates of consciousness embedded within the voltage fluctuations of post-mortem brain tissues is one step toward an objective assessment of the survival hypothesis.

We will proceed with the substantiated assumption that brains can passively receive electromagnetic signals – particularly within the temporal lobes where theta rhythms are prominent. It should be noted that cortical gray matter exhibits a material-like resonant frequency of 7 Hz given intrinsic permeability and permittivity properties of the tissues. Indeed, Nunez provided the original quantitative solution for the fundamental resonant frequency of the entire cerebrum, which was within the same range based upon spatial brain parameters. Therefore, the theta band may be intimately linked to the material structure of the brain itself.

Of course, it is undoubtedly true that EMFs can interact with active neurophysiology and there are known productive mechanisms of theta pace-making. However, even the brain’s major theta-rhythm-producing cells are located within the temporal lobes’ hippocampal bodies, parahippocampal cortices, and neighboring entorhinal cortices – the same regions that appeared to be particularly sensitive to passive EMF amplification in post-mortem tissues.

Because our results were observed in chemically fixed brain specimens, they could not have generated action potentials or any known endogenous signals. The precise mechanisms underlying transmissive brain functions and the full implications of their effects on consciousness are not yet known and additional research efforts will be needed to elucidate them. In the concluding paragraphs of my doctoral dissertation, I wrote the following statement on the prospect of future works that might build upon our groundbreaking advances toward a scientific study of passive brain functions and the prospect of immortality:

It is predicted that this type of research, which is likely avoided for many dozens of reasons, will become increasingly unavoidable. . . . Faced with the looming prospect of human immortality . . . it is incumbent upon us as a species to challenge the taboos which cast the longest shadows and to transcend our more undesirable primate impulses. A new enlightenment, marked by a genuine study of death, religious experiences, and all “untouchable” things should be pursued without prejudice. . . . Though some will rest on their accolades or dismiss challenges of scientific dogma as denialism, the battle of ideas marches forward unimpeded and without regard for the individual desires of scientists.

In the next section, I will describe the likely environmental sources of electromagnetic brain transmissions, the evidence for natural EMF-brain interactions in living humans, and the potential to store the electromagnetic information of memories and experiences outside of the brain. We will explore the possibility that consciousness, thought, and memory are all around us – in life and in death.

 

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/.

EMF-brain interactions: Rouleau excerpt #11

Rouileau writes: When I joined Dr. Michael A. Persinger’s laboratory in 2012, I spent a few years developing several ideas and techniques, including EEG, before coming upon William James’ hypothesis of transmissive brain function. Dr. Persinger was a clinical neuropsychologist, scientist, and the head of an interdisciplinary neuroscience laboratory – the Neuroscience Research Group (NRG) – where creativity and the desire to challenge assumptions were the price of admission. Beyond the “God Helmet”, Persinger and his rotating team of NRG members were responsible for some extraordinary discoveries in both mainstream and marginalized scientific circles over the last 40 years. Indeed, his work on the biological effects of low-intensity EMF exposures, epilepsy, traumatic brain injury, and consciousness are well-noted.

However, Persinger also explored the empirical bases of psi phenomena including remote viewing, poltergeist and haunt events, alien abduction and mystical experiences, as well as mind-matter interactions. As I was involved in the NRG’s previous investigations concerning the effects of the Earth’s magnetic field on cognition and behaviour, I was inspired to ask the question of whether electromagnetic forces and their interactions with the brain could satisfy the conditions of James’ hypothesis of transmission. Upon further examination of the problem, it became clear that testing the hypothesis would require a complete re-framing of our traditional approach to neuroscience research.

To make any progress at all, we needed to conceptualize consciousness as a physical entity located at least partially outside of the brain. Only then did it become reasonable to consider the possibility of measuring correlates of consciousness as a function of EMF-brain interactions. Just as dissecting radios in search of music would fail to grapple with the underlying mechanism, so too would a study of transmissive consciousness that treated the brain as its generator.

Over the next 3 years, Persinger and I designed and executed dozens of experiments with chemically fixed, post-mortem human brains, searching for extracerebral signs of consciousness. We hypothesized that brains could passively receive and process electromagnetic information. Because reception would be dependent upon the antenna-like, material structures of the brains rather than their active neurophysiology, life would not be a requisite condition for transmissive function.

We predicted that by measuring human brains that were chemically fixed shortly after clinical death, it would be possible to detect signals that could be filtered by the brain to express consciousness. Because any brain activity associated with action potentials would be eliminated by fixation, we hypothesized that what dynamics remained would constitute evidence for transmission, and therefore, the survival of at least one type of brain function following death. Our model of brain function would accommodate both active (productive) and passive (transmissive) functional dependencies.

The following are some of the types of questions we asked when designing our experiments in search of EMF-brain transmissions: How do the properties of applied electromagnetic fields change when they interact with post-mortem human brain tissues? Can putative transmissive functions be shielded by EMF-blocking materials? Do the frequencies of EMFs shift upon interacting with brain tissues to align with known neural correlates of consciousness? Are EMF-brain interactions similar in living and post-mortem brains? Do brain regions “filter” electromagnetic radiation differently? As far as we were aware, these questions had never been asked before and the potential rewards were worth the time and effort.

In 2017, I published my doctoral dissertation entitled “Structures and Functions of the Post-Mortem Brain: An Experimental Evaluation of the Residual Properties of Fixed Neural Tissues”, which is a collection of 7 peer-reviewed scientific journal articles that constitute the first empirical assessments of William James’ transmissive hypothesis. In this section, I will describe some of our main results and their implications relative to the survival of human consciousness following bodily death. In each of the studies, we used post-mortem human brain tissues (originally donated for research and teaching purposes) and a common measurement technique based upon EEG. Needle electrodes were embedded into the cerebral cortices of fixed, post-mortem human brains to record low-amplitude microvolt fluctuations.

Whereas all conductive substrates, brain or not, can express electrical noise as slight voltage fluctuations, organized patterns among the noise reflective of living-like brain signatures would not emerge in all substrates. This would be analogous to detecting highly organized voices as whispers among a much louder cacophony of environmental sounds. We hypothesized that the preserved structure of the brain could operate like a biological antenna, receiving electromagnetic transmissions as subtle but detectable induced currents that would be uniquely filtered by the probed tissue region.

We found promising results. Despite significant levels of electrical noise associated with the measurement of voltage fluctuations within post-mortem tissues, reliable oscillatory patterns were apparent. That is, the electrical “fingerprint” of each cortical region was unique, not uniform. Gross electrical geometries could be discerned across the brain and certain regions amplified natural or artificially applied EMFs and direct current more than others. Therefore, whatever we were measuring was not random, and the material properties of the brain were modulating the electrical noise in ways that other materials would not.

Here, I will discuss the specifics of our major findings that demonstrate transmissive brain function, and therefore the survival of consciousness, is possible beyond a reasonable doubt.

Our initial discovery was derived from comparisons of living and post-mortem human brain measurements. First, we measured the brain activity of living human subjects using EEG while they wore EMF-shielding caps over their heads. We wanted to know if brain activity would change as a function of environmental EMFs – which are about 50 million times less intense than those associated with MRI scanners – and if we could inhibit the effects with shielding. The experiment had two measurement phases: 1) with the shield, and 2) without the shield. Therefore, each individual was subjected to EEG measurements with and without the EMF-shielding cap (i.e., within-subject design); however, the order was counterbalanced such that some participants wore it during the first phase and others wore it during the second phase.

Just as a full-body Faraday cage made of copper can significantly attenuate the strength of EMFs, we reasoned that a similarly grounded, copper-lined cap covering the skull could partially block impinging EMFs on the brain. We experimentally demonstrated that when living subjects wore a copper-insulated covering over their heads, the amplitudes of their brainwaves were markedly suppressed relative to when they were not wearing it; however, these suppressions were non-uniform.

Specifically, low frequency (theta, 4–7 Hz) brain activity became less synchronous over the right temporal lobes of participants when they wore the EMF-shielding cap relative to when they did not. We source-localized the EEG signals, which were originally obtained over the surface of the scalp, to the parahippocampal region using a technique called standardized low-resolution electromagnetic tomography (sLORETA). That is, the actual source of the EEG differences at the surface were due to changes in the deeper parahippocampal region near the base of the inner surface of the skull.

It should be noted that the material structure of the parahippocampal region is unique because it is the architectural transition point between the 6-layered “neocortex” and the 3-layered “archicortex”. It is also the place in the brain where experience and memory functionally converge as the structure of the neocortex shape-shifts into the hippocampus. Our results demonstrated that shielding the brain from environmental EMFs affected the temporal lobes asymmetrically, which suggested that the brain may be non-uniformly susceptible to EMF-based transmission. If similar asymmetries could be found in post-mortem tissues, then we could confirm a passive EMF-brain interaction that is expressed in both living and post-mortem brains.

To that end, we measured the electrical noise within left and right parahippocampal regions of 3 separate post-mortem human brain specimens. Notably, we observed more theta-band oscillations in the right parahippocampal regions relative to the left. The effect was also specific to the “grey matter” or cell-containing regions and not the adjacent “white matter” or fiber-containing regions, which indicated the complex microstructure of the tissue was a relevant receptive factor.

In summary, we found that EMF-brain interactions are detectable in living and post-mortem brains, can be attenuated by EMF-shielding, affect brain regions asymmetrically with a deep temporal lobe focus, and affect some brain oscillation frequencies (i.e., theta) but not others.

 

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/.

Transmissive consciousness: Rouleau excerpt #10

This is Nicolas Rouleau’s electromagnetic, transmissive model of consciousness that survives brain death. He explains: Infrared (IR), ultraviolet (UV), and visual light (VL), as well as electromagnetic fields (EMF) interact with brains to transmit consciousness that can be inferred by measuring the neural correlates of consciousness (NCCs). The electromagnetic energies that transmit consciousness are physically independent of the brain and EM-based signals are readily emitted by the brain. Because EM-based inputs and outputs are independent extensions of brain information, consciousness likely survives brain death.

Having described the mechanisms underlying the electromagnetic transmission of information within the living brain, the following question becomes relevant: How does death impact the brain’s ability to interact with electromagnetic energy? As previously discussed, when the brain dies and decays, the cellular membranes that sustained its electromagnetic functions lose their structural integrity and their ability to generate action potentials. Without these features, it is generally assumed that the productive functional dependence of the brain is no longer possible. Given enough time, a decaying brain will decompose and then disintegrate entirely – leaving no trace of function, including consciousness, behind. To prevent decay and decomposition, brains can be placed in preservatives like formaldehyde that maintain both their gross and fine structures – a process called chemical fixation. While there are many ways to “fix” brain tissues, the net result is the same: cells are forced into complete stasis.

That is, the positions of cells are held constant and all of their activities that are dependent upon the passage of time stand still. In effect, the brain becomes a three-dimensional “snapshot” of itself that is structurally stable but functionally inert. Or, rather, functionally inert from the perspective of productive functional dependence. Just as a tuning fork holds a definite shape that is receptive to transmissions of a specific frequency of vibrating air, perhaps the fixed structures of the brain are similarly receptive to transmissions of electromagnetic oscillations.

While the preservation of brains is by no means a recent development, the technique presents contemporary scientists with a unique opportunity to test the transmission theory of consciousness directly by experimentation. Analogous to the practical significance of genetic knockout models, the chemical fixation process eliminates the possibility of productive function. 

But what about transmissive function? If brains can, even in death, filter EMFs such that they become – as William James put it – “sifted and limited” to express electromagnetic signatures of consciousness, then survival can be empirically tested. I, therefore, designed several experiments to test the transmission hypothesis using post-mortem human brain tissues and the results compelled me to re-evaluate all of my assumptions about brain death.

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.

Our electromagnetic brains: Rouleau excerpt #9

Rouleau writes: Despite the darkened environment of the skull, the cerebral cortex, hypothalamus, and striatum express photoreceptors that are particularly sensitive to blue and ultraviolet light. The pineal organ, which is a well-known circadian regulator and René Descartes’ hypothesized seat of the soul, also contains photoreceptors.

Unlike the photoreceptors of our retinas, which allow us to detect photons with wavelengths corresponding to visible light, these deep-brain photoreceptors, which also detect visible light, are not linked to vision at all. Their widespread existence throughout the brain suggests these recondite photoreceptors are functionally relevant; however, investigations to address their roles are ongoing.

While light can penetrate the skull, it is unclear whether these deep-brain photoreceptors primarily detect light from within or outside the brain under normal circumstances. Together, these findings indicate that human brains are equipped with the capacity to emit and detect electromagnetic radiation in the form of visible or near-visible photons.

Though it should be clear by now that the brain emits and is receptive to electromagnetic radiation, the extent to which electromagnetic signaling is integral to brain activity has not yet been fully elucidated. As discussed in a previous section, synaptic transmission involves an electromagnetic discharge called the action potential that triggers the release of neurotransmitters. This is often referred to as electrochemical signaling, and therefore, is only partially electromagnetic.

However, there are at least two additional neuronal signaling modalities that are both purely electromagnetic. The first is electrotonic signaling, which involves direct connections between cells called gap junctions. With electronic signaling, the membranes of two or more cells form electrical bridges between their inner compartments and become functionally integrated. The third and most recently identified signaling modality is called “ephaptic coupling” and is the definitive neural signaling modality that demonstrates a direct brain dependence upon EMFs as a source of useful signaling information.

While synaptic transmission and electrotonic signaling involve interfaces that are directly connective or “wired”, ephaptic coupling is truly “wireless”; it occurs when cells detect and respond to electric fields emitted by adjacent cells. Because ephaptic coupling is non-directional, any neuron that fires an action potential can stimulate surrounding cells including itself by the reciprocal flow of electric field activations.

Therefore, ephaptic couplings supply the brain with many more wireless connections than wired connections, including looped circuits that are necessary for a process called reentry: a bidirectional exchange of information that may be a requirement for consciousness. As with other modalities, ephaptic coupling can be excitatory or inhibitory, with known functional roles within olfactory regions, the cerebellum, and the memory-encoding hippocampus, where slow and periodic activity self-propagates across the tissue like waves, constructively interfering with a veritable ocean of electric fields. Fundamentally, a neuron stimulated by its neighbor via ephaptic coupling cannot be said to have produced its own activity. Rather, all neurons are connected to each other by a Jamesian transmission of electromagnetic radiation.

The discovery of ephaptic coupling demonstrated that the microscopic environment of the brain is teeming with electromagnetic information, and in recent years researchers have turned to this exciting new modality as a means of furthering models of brain dynamics that are compatible with consciousness. Among them, Anastassiou and Koch presented a compelling review that endogenous electric fields at the cellular and network levels may provide vital feedback mechanisms facilitated by ephaptic couplings that are intrinsic to cognitive processes. Some scientists have suggested that ephaptic coupling may extend a capacity for consciousness to single cells as well as other animals and plants. Still others have implicated the often-neglected glial cells as contributors to ephaptic coupling by calcium-current-induced magnetic fields, which would indicate that nearly all brain cells contribute to the organ’s macro-scale EMF patterns.

This runs contrary to modern assumptions about how the brain works but opens up new and exciting possibilities, particularly for transmissive function. There is likely much to learn about ephaptic coupling but one thing is clear: it demonstrates that EMFs within the brain are not mere biproducts or meaningless noise – they contribute to signaling dynamics by transmission and, ultimately, form mental states. What if all the longstanding doctrines and dogmas that position neurotransmitters and other chemical intermediates as the chief determinants of brain functions such as consciousness are more epiphenomenal than causal? As we lift the veil that once obscured the brain’s transmissive functional dependence, its fundamental electromagnetic nature becomes clear.

While brain-based emissions of electromagnetic radiation are abundant, the functional relevance of EMF-brain interactions on consciousness can only be fully appreciated with an examination of the effects of experimentally applied and artificially generated EMFs on brain function. The most common experiences associated with applied EMF-brain exposures are the reports of “phosphenes” or perceived flashes of white light in the visual fields among patients subjected to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The magnets that generate the high-intensity, time-varying magnetic fields of the MRI activate nerve bundles within and along the visual pathway by Faraday’s law of induction, driving the flow of electric current and ultimately producing simple visual hallucinations.

Other established biological effects of MRI exposure are metallic taste, dizziness, nausea, and headaches, which suggest activations of the insular and temporal cortices. The same principles have been applied to engineer clinical devices and techniques, such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), to treat neurological disorders. TMS is a technique by which high-intensity EMFs are applied over the surface of the scalp, stimulating brain tissue in efforts to treat depression, anxiety, post- traumatic stress, as well as to facilitate recovery from traumatic brain injuries. TMS can also be used to reliably activate the primary motor cortex, which allows experimenters to control the movements of their subjects. In one notable experiment, scientists induced participants to move their left or right hands by secretly stimulating right or left motor areas respectively.

Remarkably, when participants – who were not aware if, when, or where they were stimulated – were asked to provide a rationale for why they moved their right or left hand they frequently reported that it was their choice – that they “wanted” and “intended” to move. Indeed, the experiment showed that applied EMFs associated with TMS can be used to control behavior and generate illusions of free will.

Whereas MRI scanners and TMS devices typically emit high-intensity EMFs (> 1 Tesla), decades of research have demonstrated that much weaker intensity fields can also affect conscious experience. As evidenced by my former mentor Dr. Michael Persinger’s pioneering work with complex, low-intensity (microTesla) EMFs, some of the most personally meaningful and life-changing human experiences can be reproduced in the laboratory by appropriate stimulations of the brain. With his co-inventor, Stanley Koren, Persinger created a helmet embedded with EMF-generating solenoids that could stimulate the temporal lobes of experimental subjects with field intensities within range of the brain’s own EMFs and environmental sources.

Instead of simple EMF patterns such as sine or square waves normally associated with TMS, Persinger converted EEG recordings from patients in meditative and trance-like states who reported “experiencing God” into complex, digitized patterns that could be applied through the helmet as EMFs. In other words, he isolated the electromagnetic brain patterns of some people in an altered state of consciousness, transformed them into signals, and applied them to separate brains as information-rich signals.

If, as Persinger hypothesized, EMF patterns carried information relevant to conscious experience, the applied patterns would be expected to produce genuine cognitive effects including transmitted subjective experiences. Indeed, hundreds of participants over several decades have reported out-of-body experiences and the feeling of a “sensed presence” when exposed to the helmet and some even claimed to have encountered a higher power or deity, inevitably inspiring the device’s more popular name: the “God Helmet”.

These studies, and those listed throughout this section, clearly demonstrate that the brain is an electromagnetic organ. But what about consciousness? That too, it would seem, is fundamentally electromagnetic as it can be extracted from one brain and re-applied to another as an information-rich EMF pattern with experience-inducing consequences.

 

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/.

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/.

Electromagnetic force: Rouleau excerpt #7

Rouleau writes: While William James’ transmission hypothesis is appealing as a solution to the problem of survival, he did not offer a potential mechanism. Without a physical mechanism by which transmission can occur, the hypothesis cannot survive scientific scrutiny. It seems to me that there are at least two possible mechanisms by which transmission could occur in principle. The first and less likely possibility is that there exists a consciousness-specific signal or particle that interacts with the brain, imbuing it with a capacity for experience and awareness.

The famous neurophysiologist John C. Eccles – who shared the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine with Andrew Huxley and Alan Lloyd Hodgkin for their characterization of the neuronal action potential – proposed the existence of one such particle called the “psychon” that he claimed could solve the classic mind-brain problem. The idea involved a subatomic psychon interacting with a dendron, which is a receptive appendage of a neuron. Eccles posited that psychons would act on dendrons to imbue them with conscious experience and a reverse interaction would transfer perception and memory from the neuron to the particle. Psychons would also be able to interact with each other, creating a “psychon world” separate from the brain.

While his model is interesting, is consistent with William James’ transmission hypothesis, and is appealing as a solution to the survival problem, Eccles’ psychon has never been measured. The discovery of Eccles’ consciousness-specific particle would fundamentally disrupt our understanding of physics and elevate mental processes to the status of something like a fundamental force.

However, a more likely mechanism would involve a generic physical force that has already been identified and is well-known to interact with the brain. The candidate force should be pervasive over time and space with the capacity to transmit information over long distances. The electromagnetic force satisfies all of these criteria. Electromagnetic fields define the action potential, allow brain cells to communicate wirelessly, are used as biomarkers of brain disease, and even as clinically effective neuropsychiatric treatments when patterned appropriately. Experimental applications of electromagnetic fields to the brain can cause out-of-body experiences and the sensed presence including visitations and apparitions with reports of communion with a creator or God.

In the next section, I will discuss the most significant scientific evidence in support of the joint hypotheses that 1) the transmissive functional dependence of the brain is fundamentally electromagnetic and that 2) this satisfies the criteria for the survival of human consciousness following bodily death.

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/.