Edgar
Discovery of quantum vibrations in microtubules inside brain
neurons corroborates controversial 20-year-old theory of
consciousness
January 16, 2014
*[+]* <http://www.kurzweilai.net/images/Microtubule.png>
/Structure of a microtubule. The ring shape depicts a microtubule
in cross-section, showing the 13 protofilaments surrounding a
hollow center. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)/
A review and update
<http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1571064513001188> of
a controversial 20-year-old theory of consciousness published in
Elsevier’s /Physics of Life Reviews/ (open access) claims that
consciousness derives from deeper-level, finer-scale activities
inside brain neurons.
The recent discovery of quantum vibrations in microtubules inside
brain neurons corroborates this theory, according to review
authors Stuart Hameroff and Sir Roger Penrose. They suggest that
EEG rhythms (brain waves) also derive from deeper level
microtubule vibrations, and that from a practical standpoint,
treating brain microtubule vibrations could benefit a host of
mental, neurological, and cognitive conditions.
Microtubules <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microtubule> are major
components of the structural skeleton of cells.
The theory, called “orchestrated objective reduction
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orchestrated_objective_reduction>”
(‘Orch OR’), was first put forward in the mid-1990s by eminent
mathematical physicist Sir Roger Penrose, FRS, Mathematical
Institute and Wadham College, University of Oxford, and prominent
anesthesiologist Stuart Hameroff, MD, Anesthesiology, Psychology
and Center for Consciousness Studies, The University of Arizona,
Tucson.
*[+]* <http://www.kurzweilai.net/images/Microtubule-automaton.png>
/Three time-steps (e.g. at 10 megahertz) of a microtubule
automaton. Tubulin subunit dipole states (yellow, blue) represent
information. (Left three) Spin currents interact and compute along
spiral lattice pathways. For example (upper, middle in each
microtubule) two upward traveling blue spin waves intersect,
generating a new vertical spin wave (a “glider gun” in cellular
automata). (Right three) A general microtubule automata process.
(Credit: P. Dustin, Microtubules, Springer-Verlag)/
They suggested that quantum vibrational computations in
microtubules were “orchestrated” (“Orch”) by synaptic inputs and
memory stored in microtubules, and terminated by Penrose
“objective reduction” (‘OR’), hence “Orch OR.”
*Warm quantum coherence*
Orch OR was harshly criticized from its inception, as the brain
was considered too “warm, wet, and noisy” for seemingly delicate
quantum processes. However, evidence has now shown warm quantum
coherence in plant photosynthesis, bird brain navigation, our
sense of smell, and brain microtubules.
The recent discovery of warm-temperature quantum vibrations in
microtubules inside brain neurons by the research group led by
Anirban Bandyopadhyay, PhD, at the National Institute of Material
Sciences in Tsukuba, Japan (and now at MIT), corroborates the
pair’s theory and suggests that EEG rhythms also derive from
deeper level microtubule vibrations.
In addition, work from the laboratory of Roderick G. Eckenhoff,
MD, at the University of Pennsylvania, suggests that anesthesia,
which selectively erases consciousness while sparing non-conscious
brain activities, acts via microtubules in brain neurons.
“The origin of consciousness reflects our place in the universe,
the nature of our existence. Did consciousness evolve from complex
computations among brain neurons, as most scientists assert? Or
has consciousness, in some sense, been here all along, as
spiritual approaches maintain?” ask Hameroff and Penrose in the
current review.
“This opens a potential Pandora’s Box, but our theory accommodates
both these views, suggesting consciousness derives from quantum
vibrations in microtubules (protein polymers inside brain
neurons), which govern neuronal and synaptic function, and also
connect brain processes to self-organizing processes in the fine
scale, ‘proto-conscious’ quantum structure of reality.”
After 20 years of skeptical criticism, “the evidence now clearly
supports Orch OR,” continue Hameroff and Penrose. “Our new paper
updates the evidence, clarifies Orch OR quantum bits, or “qubits,”
as helical pathways in microtubule lattices, rebuts critics, and
reviews 20 testable predictions of Orch OR published in 1998 — of
these, six are confirmed and none refuted.”
*Hidden origins of EEG*
An important new facet of the theory is introduced. Microtubule
quantum vibrations (e.g. in the megahertz frequency range) appear
to interfere and produce much slower EEG “beat frequencies.”
Despite a century of clinical use, the underlying origins of EEG
rhythms have remained a mystery. Clinical trials of brief brain
stimulation — aimed at microtubule resonances with megahertz
mechanical vibrations using transcranial ultrasound — have shown
reported improvements in mood, and may prove useful against
Alzheimer’s disease and brain injury in the future.
Lead author Stuart Hameroff concludes, “Orch OR is the most
rigorous, comprehensive and successfully-tested theory of
consciousness ever put forth. From a practical standpoint,
treating brain microtubule vibrations could benefit a host of
mental, neurological, and cognitive conditions.”
The review is accompanied by eight commentaries from outside
authorities, including an Australian group of Orch OR
arch-skeptics. To all, Hameroff and Penrose respond robustly.
Penrose, Hameroff and Bandyopadhyay will explore their theories
during a session on “Microtubules and the Big Consciousness
Debate” at the Brainstorm Sessions, a public three-day event at
the Brakke Grond in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, January 16-18,
2014
<http://www.brakkegrond.nl/programma/1253/Penrose_Bandyopadhyay_Hameroff/Lezing_Microtubuli_het_grote_debat_over_het_bewustzijn/#eng>.
They will engage skeptics in a debate on the nature of
consciousness, and Bandyopadhyay and his team will couple
microtubule vibrations from active neurons to play Indian musical
instruments. “Consciousness depends on anharmonic vibrations of
microtubules inside neurons, similar to certain kinds of Indian
music, but unlike Western music, which is harmonic,” Hameroff
explains.
/Full disclosure: I have collaborated with Jack Tuszynski, a
co-author with Hameroff, in developing patent applications related
to microtubules. — Amara D. Angelica/
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Abstract of Consciousness in the universe: A review of the ‘Orch
OR’ theory*
The nature of consciousness, the mechanism by which it occurs in
the brain, and its ultimate place in the universe are unknown. We
proposed in the mid 1990ʼs that consciousness depends on
biologically ‘orchestrated’ coherent quantum processes in
collections of microtubules within brain neurons, that these
quantum processes correlate with, and regulate, neuronal synaptic
and membrane activity, and that the continuous Schrödinger
evolution of each such process terminates in accordance with the
specific Diósi–Penrose (DP) scheme of ‘objective reduction’ (‘OR’)
of the quantum state. This orchestrated OR activity (‘Orch OR’) is
taken to result in moments of conscious awareness and/or choice.
The DP form of OR is related to the fundamentals of quantum
mechanics and space–time geometry, so Orch OR suggests that there
is a connection between the brainʼs biomolecular processes and the
basic structure of the universe. Here we review Orch OR in light
of criticisms and developments in quantum biology, neuroscience,
physics and cosmology. We also introduce a novel suggestion of
‘beat frequencies’ of faster microtubule vibrations as a possible
source of the observed electro-encephalographic (‘EEG’) correlates
of consciousness. We conclude that consciousness plays an
intrinsic role in the universe.
REFERENCES:
* Stuart Hameroff and Roger Penrose, Consciousness in the
universe: A review of the ‘Orch OR’ theory, Physics of Life
Reviews, Aug. 20, 2013
<http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1571064513001188>
RELATED:
* Discovery of Quantum Vibrations in “Microtubules” Inside Brain
Neurons Corroborates Controversial 20-Year-Old Theory of
Consciousness
<http://3blmedia.com/News/Health/Discovery-Quantum-Vibrations-Microtubules-Inside-Brain-Neurons-Corroborates>
*Topics:* Cognitive Science/Neuroscie
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