The controversial idea that quantum effects in the brain can explain consciousness has passed a key test. Experiments show that anaesthetic drugs reduce how long tiny structures found in brain cells can sustain suspected quantum excitations. As anaesthetic switches consciousness on and off, the results may implicate these structures, called microtubules, as a nexus of our conscious experience. (View Highlight)
Microtubules are hollow tubes made up of the tubulin protein that form part of the “skeletons” of plant and animal cells. Tuszynski and his colleagues shone blue light on microtubules and tubulin proteins. Over several minutes, they watched as light was caught in an energy trap inside the molecules and then re-emitted in a process called delayed luminescence – which Tuszynski suspects has a quantum origin. (View Highlight)