Study Suggests Spins of 'Brain Water' Could Mean Our Minds Use Quantum Computation - ScienceAlert

In the ongoing enactment to recognize the afloat imaginable of quantum computing, scientists could possibly effort peering into our ain brains to spot what's possible: A caller survey suggests that the encephalon really has a batch successful communal with a quantum computer.

The findings could thatch america a batch astir the functions of neurons arsenic good arsenic the fundamentals of quantum mechanics. The probe mightiness explain, for example, wherefore our brains are inactive capable to outperform supercomputers connected definite tasks, specified arsenic making decisions oregon learning caller information.

As with overmuch quantum computing research, the survey looks astatine the thought of entanglement – 2 abstracted particles being successful states that are linked together

"We adapted an idea, developed for experiments to beryllium the beingness of quantum gravity, whereby you instrumentality known quantum systems, which interact with an chartless system," says physicist Christian Kerskens from the University of Dublin.

"If the known systems entangle, past the chartless indispensable beryllium a quantum system, too. It circumvents the difficulties to find measuring devices for thing we cognize thing about."

In different words, the entanglement oregon narration betwixt the known systems tin lone hap if the mediating strategy successful the mediate – the chartless strategy – operates connected a quantum level, too. While the chartless strategy can't beryllium studied directly, its effects tin beryllium observed, as with quantum gravity.

For the purposes of this research, the proton spins of 'brain water' (the fluid that builds up successful the brain) enactment arsenic the known system, with customized magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans utilized to non-invasively measurement the proton activity. The rotation of a particle, which determines its magnetic and electrical properties, is simply a quantum-mechanical property.

Through this technique, the researchers were capable to spot signals resembling heartbeat-evoked potentials, which are a benignant of electroencephalography (EEG) signal. These signals aren't usually detectable via MRI, and the reasoning is that they showed up due to the fact that the atomic proton spins successful the encephalon were entangled.

The observations recorded by the squad necessitate verification via confirmation via aboriginal studies crossed aggregate technological fields, but the aboriginal results look promising for non-classical, quantum happenings successful the quality encephalon erstwhile it's active.

"If entanglement is the lone imaginable mentation present past that would mean that encephalon processes indispensable person interacted with the atomic spins, mediating the entanglement betwixt the atomic spins," says Kerskens.

"As a result, we tin deduce that those encephalon functions indispensable beryllium quantum."

The encephalon functions that lit up the MRI readings were besides associated with short-term representation and conscious awareness, and that suggests the quantum processes – if that's so what they are – play a important relation successful cognition and consciousness, suggests Kerskens.

What researchers request to bash adjacent is to larn much astir this chartless quantum strategy successful the encephalon – and past we mightiness afloat recognize the workings of the quantum computer that we're carrying astir successful our heads.

"Our experiments, performed lone 50 meters distant from the lecture theatre wherever Schrödinger presented his celebrated thoughts astir life, whitethorn shed airy connected the mysteries of biology, and connected consciousness which scientifically is adjacent harder to grasp," says Kerskens.

The probe has been published successful the Journal of Physics Communications.