Trending Now - Light Particles in Brain Tissue May Influence Consciousness
WHO:
Pavel Pospíšil and Ankush Prasad from Palacký University in the Czech Republic authored a review article.
Roger Penrose, a physicist, hypothesized about consciousness having an undiscovered quantum element in 1989.
Stephen Hawking criticized the combination of consciousness and quantum field theory.
WHAT:
The article discusses the hypothesis that light particles, or biophotons, may influence consciousness.
Biophotons are theorized to mediate ultrafast interactions between neurons at the speed of light.
Experimental studies show that polarization-entangled photon pairs can retain quantum correlations after passing through brain tissue up to 400 micrometers thick.
The authors call for future research to identify conditions under which biophoton emission could influence neural activity.
WHERE:
The research is associated with Palacký University in the Czech Republic.
WHEN:
The review article was published in the journal Biophysics and Molecular Biology in 2026.
Roger Penrose's hypothesis about consciousness was made in 1989.
WHY:
The research aims to address the "hard problem" of consciousness, which involves understanding subjective conscious experience.
HOW:
The authors suggest using photomultiplier tubes, charge-coupled device cameras, and advanced computational modeling to test their hypotheses.
(UPDATED March 22, 2026 01:41 UTC)
A new review article from Pavel Pospíšil and Ankush Prasad at Palacký University in the Czech Republic explores the intriguing idea that light particles, or biophotons, might play a role in influencing consciousness. The authors discuss how biophotons could mediate rapid interactions between neurons and highlight experimental findings showing that polarization-entangled photon pairs maintain quantum correlations even after passing through brain tissue. They call for further research to determine the conditions under which biophoton emissions could affect neural activity, aiming to shed light on the complex "hard problem" of consciousness.