28/09/2024
An August 2024 study in the journal Physics Review E proposes that a fatty material called myelin, which sheaths the brain cell’s axon, provides the ideal environment for this entanglement. Since the brain appears to be capable of performing quantum operations to facilitate our thoughts, some scientists surmise that this process gives rise to our consciousness.
TWO EARLIER LANDMARK STUDIES also support a quantum perspective on consciousness. Both involved experiments shining light particles into microtubules and observing that the signal did not degrade. In fact, according to these studies, the experiments demonstrated that quantum states in microtubule signaling can and probably do exist.
One of the studies, an experiment by physicist and oncology professor Jack Tuszyński, Ph.D., used ultraviolet photons to create quantum reactions for up to five nanoseconds. This quantum coherence lasted thousands of times longer than researchers expected in a microtubule. Similarly, at the University of Central Florida, researchers shined visible light into one end of microtubules and measured how long the microtubules took to emit that light. They observed re-emission of this light over hundreds of milliseconds to seconds—more than enough time for the brain to perform all of its functions.
This observation provides concrete evidence that neurons are able to work at speeds that allow quantum operations. It brings us another step closer to understanding exactly how our brains—and perhaps our very consciousness—are linked to a quantum universe.
