Evidence of Quantum Entanglement in the Human Brain?
According to researchers at the Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, they may have observed entanglement mediated by mental processes connected to awareness.
“We adapted an idea, developed for experiments to prove the existence of quantum gravity, whereby you take known quantum systems, which interact with an unknown system,” stated the study’s lead author Dr. Christian Kerskens, head physicist at the Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience.
“The unknown must also be a quantum system if the known systems entangle.”
It avoids the challenges of locating measurement tools for an unknown quantity.
Dr. Kerskens and his associate, Dr. David López Pérez, employed proton spins of ‘brain water’ as the known system in their tests.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can be used to determine the proton spins since brain water naturally accumulates in our brains as a fluid.
The authors discovered MRI signals that resemble cardiac evoked potentials, a type of EEG signals, by employing a particular MRI design to look for entangled spins.
According to Dr. Kerskens, “EEGs measure electrical brain currents, which some people may be familiar with from personal experience or just from watching hospital dramas on television.”
“Electrophysiological potentials, like heartbeat evoked potentials, are normally not detectable with MRI, and the scientists believe they could only observe them because the nuclear proton spins in the brain were entangled.”
If entanglement is the only explanation, then brain functions must have interacted with nuclear spins to mediate the entanglement between them, the scientist continued.
We can infer that such brain activities must be quantum as a result.
It is likely that those quantum processes are a significant component of our cognitive and conscious brain functions because these brain functions were also connected with short-term memory performance and conscious awareness.
When it comes to making decisions, dealing with unforeseen circumstances, or learning new information, humans still outperform supercomputers, according to Dr. Kerskens.
Our tests, conducted just 50 metres from the lecture hall where Erwin Schrödinger famously expressed his theories about life, “may shed light on the mysteries of biology and on consciousness, which is even harder to understand from a scientific standpoint.”
The team’s findings, which were published in the Journal of Physics Communications, will improve our general comprehension of how the brain functions and perhaps how it can be preserved or even repaired.
They might potentially work to develop even more sophisticated quantum computers by discovering novel technologies.
Sources:
Journal of Physics Communications
Experimental indications of non-classical brain functions
More Blog Posts:
Quantum Physics In Everyday Life
Introduction to Quantum Mechanics
The Dawn of Room-Temperature Superconductivity
10 Mind-Bending Concepts of Quantum Mechanics
Quantum Algorithms
Crypto 101: A Beginners Guide
Top 10 Quantum Companies
Web3 Basics
Top 10 Quantum Books
CBDC’s, Digital Currencies, & The End Of Freedom As We Know It
10 Alternative Books To Read In 2023
