Human high intelligence is involved in spectral redshift
of biophotonic activities in the brain
Zhuo Wanga,b, Niting Wanga,b, Zehua Lia,b, Fangyan Xiaoa,c, and Jiapei Daia,b,c,1
a
Wuhan Institute for Neuroscience and Neuroengineering, South-Central University for Nationalities, Wuhan 430074, China; bDepartment of Neurobiology,
The College of Life Sciences, South-Central University for Nationalities, Wuhan 430074, China; and cChinese Brain Bank Center, Wuhan 430074, China
Edited by Michael A. Persinger, Laurentian University, Canada, and accepted by Editorial Board Member Marlene Behrmann May 20, 2016 (received for review
March 24, 2016)
Human beings hold higher intelligence than other animals on
Earth; however, it is still unclear which brain properties might
explain the underlying mechanisms. The brain is a major energy-
consuming organ compared with other organs. Neural signal
communications and information processing in neural circuits play
an important role in the realization of various neural functions,
whereas improvement in cognitive function is driven by the need
for more effective communication that requires less energy.
Combining the ultraweak biophoton imaging system (UBIS) with
the biophoton spectral analysis device (BSAD), we found that
glutamate-induced biophotonic activities and transmission in the
brain, which has recently been demonstrated as a novel neural
signal communication mechanism, present a spectral redshift from
animals (in order of bullfrog, mouse, chicken, pig, and monkey) to
humans, even up to a near-infrared wavelength (∼865 nm) in the
human brain. This brain property may be a key biophysical basis for
explaining high intelligence in humans because biophoton spectral
redshift could be a more economical and effective measure of bio-
photonic signal communications and information processing in the
human brain.
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intelligence ultraweak photon emissions | biophoton imaging |
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glutamate brain slices
D espite remarkable advances in our understanding of brain
functions, it is still unclear why human beings hold higher
intelligence than other animals on Earth and which brain properties
might explain the differences (1). Early studies have proposed that
brain size and the degree of encephalization [encephalization
quotient (EQ)] might be related to the evolution of animal in-
telligence, including that of human beings (2–4), but, so far, the
relationship between relative brain size and intelligence is in-
conclusive, and EQ is also not the best predictor of intelligence
(1, 5–7). Communications and information-processing capacity
between neurons in neural circuits play an important role in the
realization of various neural functions, such as sensorimotor
control, learning and memory, consciousness, and cognition. The
neural network studies have indicated that neural signal trans-
mission and encoding is in a nonlinear network mechanism (8–
10), in which biophotons, also called ultraweak photon emission
(UPE), may be involved (11). A recent study has demonstrated
that glutamate, the most abundant neurotransmitter in the brain,
could induce biophotonic activities and transmission in neural
circuits (12), suggesting that biophotons may play a key role in
neural information processing and encoding and may be involved
in quantum brain mechanism (11, 13–16); however, the impor-
tance of biophotons in relation to animal intelligence is not clear,
in particular human high intelligence, such as problem-solving
and analytical abilities. We hypothesized that the spectral red-
shift of biophotonic activities and transmission in the brain may
play a key role. Here, we have provided experimental evidence
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that glutamate-induced biophotonic activities and transmission
in brain slices present a spectral redshift feature from animals
(bullfrog, mouse, chicken, pig, and monkey) to humans, which
www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1604855113
may be a key biophysical basis for explaining why human beings
hold higher intelligence than that of other animals.
Results
Biophoton Spectral Imaging, Calibration, and Reference. Because of
the ultraweak intensity feature of biophotons, it is usually diffi-
cult to analyze biophoton spectral characteristics spatiotempo-
rally, particularly in brain tissues. This paper introduces a method
to resolve this problem, allowing analysis of the spectral charac-
teristics of glutamate-induced biophotonic activities and trans-
mission by combining the recently developed ultraweak biophoton
imaging system (UBIS) (12) with a new biophoton spectral anal-
EVOLUTION
ysis device (BSAD).
The BSAD consists of a slit and a transmission grating and is
placed just above the sample during biophoton imaging such that
the biophoton spectral images can be obtained with UBIS when
biophotons pass a slit and then a grating (Fig. 1). First, it is
necessary to determine the special spectral images for calibration
and reference, and such images were captured with UBIS by
applying various known-wavelength laser and light-emitting di-
ode (LED) light sources for imaging. Under conditions of nor-
mal and ultraweak intensity laser and LED imaging, we obtained
two types of photon spectral images: normal photon intensity
spectral images (Fig. 2 A and B, Top) and ultraweak photon
intensity spectral images (Fig. 2 A and B, Bottom). A light-
reducing device was used to produce the ultraweak intensity
photons from various laser and LED light sources, and the
photon intensities were reduced to these levels (100–400 photons
Significance
It is still unclear why human beings hold higher intelligence
than other animals on Earth and which brain properties might
explain the differences. The recent studies have demonstrated
that biophotons may play a key role in neural information
processing and encoding and that biophotons may be involved
in quantum brain mechanism; however, the importance of
biophotons in relation to animal intelligence, including that of
human beings, is not clear. Here, we have provided experi-
mental evidence that glutamate-induced biophotonic activities
and transmission in brain slices present a spectral redshift
feature from animals (bullfrog, mouse, chicken, pig, and mon-
key) to humans, which may be a key biophysical basis for
explaining why human beings hold higher intelligence than
that of other animals.
Author contributions: J.D. designed research; Z.W., N.W., F.X., and J.D. performed re-
search; Z.W. and J.D. analyzed data; Z.L. contributed new reagents/analytic tools; and
J.D. wrote the paper.
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
This article is a PNAS Direct Submission. M.A.P. is a Guest Editor invited by the Editorial
Board.
Freely available online through the PNAS open access option.
1
To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: jdai@mail.scuec.edu.cn.
This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.
1073/pnas.1604855113/-/DCSupplemental.
PNAS | August 2, 2016 | vol. 113 | no. 31 | 8753–8758

Fig. 1. Schematic drawing of the UBIS and BSAD. UBIS was described in
detail in a previous report (12). BSAD consists of a slit (1 mm wide and 1 cm
long) and a transmission grating (1,200 per millimeter) and is placed just
above the sample during biophoton imaging. The right plane is an enlarged
drawing of the BSAD in the left plane. The brain slice is incubated in a
chamber containing perfusion solution (also see SI Methods).
per square centimeter per second), similar to those of glutamate-
induced biophotonic emissions in mouse brain slices (12).
A spectral image presents three clear bands (one zero-order
fringe and two first-grade fringes) under the imaging condition of
the present study based on the principle of grating imaging (Fig.
2 A and B). We analyzed the distribution of gray values (GVs) of
zero-order and first-grade fringes in various laser spectral gray
images (SI Methods) and defined the relative central distance
(△Lc) and minimum (△Lmin) and maximum (△Lmax) edge dis-
tances from one of the two first-grade fringes to the center of the
zero-order fringe (Fig. 2C and Fig. S1). We found that the laser
wavelength (λ) is highly correlated to the △Lc, △Lmin, and
△Lmax under conditions of normal and ultraweak light-intensity
imaging (Fig. 2 D and E and Table S1). Therefore, a sample
wavelength range can be calculated according to the △Lc,
△Lmin, and △Lmax values of the sample and the following three
linear regression equations (SI Methods):
λave = 8.167ΔLc − 15. 47, [1]
λmin = 7.42ΔLmin + 151.8, [2]
λmax = 9.79ΔLmax − 296.6, [3]
where λave, λmin, and λmax are the average, minimum, and max-
imum wavelength, respectively, under the conditions of ultra-
weak photon intensity.
We have verified the reliability using data from various LED
spectral images (Fig. 2B), and the results show that the calculated
wavelength ranges (λave, λmin, and λmax) of four LED light sources
according to the regression equations above and the measured
values of △Lc, △Lmin, and △Lmax under the conditions of ultraweak
light intensities are approximately equal to or within the known-
wavelength ranges (Fig. 2F) measured by a spectrometer (Fig. S2).
Then, we tested the emission spectra from a small piece of
green leaves of sweet-scented osmanthus tree under the excita-
tion condition of ambient light before imaging and found that
they are 797 nm (λmin), 850 nm (λave), and 927 nm (λmax) (Fig. 2
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G and H), indicating that the detected spectra belong to the
range of the phosphorescence and fluorescence emission spectra
attributable to photosynthesis (17, 18).
8754 | www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1604855113
Glutamate-Induced Biophotonic Activities and Spectral Redshift from
Animals to Humans. Biophotonic emissions in mouse brain slice
present four typical periods or stages (initiation, maintenance,
washing, and reapplication, respectively) after the application of
50 mM glutamate, and the origin of these stages is mainly at-
tributable to the biophotonic activities and transmission along
axons (12), suggesting that the analysis of the spectral charac-
teristics of these biophotons may provide a new way to explore
their importance in neural functions. In addition, the reasons for
the application of such a concentration of glutamate to activate
and maintain the biophotonic activities and transmission along
neuronal axons or in neural circuits in mouse brain slices have
been emphatically discussed in a previous study (12). In the
present study, we investigated the spectral characteristics of
glutamate-induced biophotonic emissions in bullfrog, mouse,
chicken, pig, rhesus monkey, and human brain slices. The prepa-
rations of sagittal brain slices from bullfrogs, mice, and chickens and
the particular brain slices from six different brain regions (five
cortical areas and the hippocampus) in pigs, rhesus monkeys, and
humans are detailed in Fig. 3 A–C and SI Methods. Seven
postmortem human brains obtained from the Chinese Brain
Bank Center (CBBC) were used for this study (Table S2). The
recovery of neural cells from postmortem brain materials with
suitable in vitro treatment is a key method to achieve glutamate-
induced biophotonic emissions in human and pig brain slices,
which is described specifically in SI Methods. Four typical stages
of biophotonic emissions after the application of 50 mM gluta-
mate to a mouse brain slice, a postmortem pig hippocampus
slice, and a human motor cortical slice present a similar pattern,
as shown in Fig. 3D. Biophoton spectral images were obtained by
imaging biophotonic emissions across the maintenance, washing,
and reapplication periods (Fig. 3D and SI Methods), and the
first-grade fringe presents a trend away from the zero-order and
becomes broader from bullfrog to human (in the order of bull-
frog, mouse, chicken, pig, monkey, and human; Fig. 3E). A
spectral redshift trend was significantly obvious for λave and λmax
from animals to humans (Fig. 3 F–I), and the λmax is even up to a
near-infrared wavelength (∼865 nm) in humans (Table 1). The
individual differences of spectral values within the same species
are very small, with nearly identical values in five bullfrogs,
chickens, and mice. In addition, there were no significant dif-
ferences in λave, λmin, or λmax between the different brain areas in
the pig and human (Fig. 3 J and K and Table S3), with the ex-
ception of λmin between the certain areas (frontal cortex vs.
motor cortex or temporal cortex, and motor cortex vs. hippo-
campus) in the human brain (Table S3). Although statistical
analysis could not be carried out for the monkey because only
three brains were tested due to strict restrictions of the number
of rhesus monkeys for experimental research, the values of λave,
λmin, or λmax obtained from different brain regions in three
monkeys were nearly identical, suggesting that the conclusion
from the pig might apply to the monkey.
Discussion
In the present study, the special prepared brain slices were
allowed to analyze the spectra of glutamate-induced biophotons,
which has been proven to be the active biophotons (12), but not
the background biophotons that are generally believed to be a
result of oxidative metabolism and oxidative stress (19–21) be-
cause the increase of biophotonic emissions by the application of
glutamate is not correlated to the change in aerobic metabolism
because the initiation and maintenance of glutamate-induced
biophotonic emissions cannot completely blocked by cytochrome
c oxidase inhibitor but could be significantly decreased by the
application of protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) inhibitor (okadaic
acid potassium salt), which can induce the hyperphosphorylation
of microtubule-associated protein tau and interferer with the
function of microtubules (22).
Wang et al.
 EVOLUTION
Fig. 2. Photon spectral images for calibration and reliability confirmation. (A and B) Photon spectral images were obtained from three wavelength lasers
(405 nm, 532 nm, and 650 nm) (A) and four wavelength LED lights (blue, green, yellow, and red) (B) under conditions of normal intensities (up planes) and
ultraweak intensities (down planes) (also see the detailed explanation in SI Methods), showing one zero-order fringe and two first-grade fringes. The two
first-grade fringes present a trend away from the zero-order fringe from short to long wavelengths (blue to red). (C) Schematic drawing of a spectral image to
analyze the relative central distance (△Lc), minimum (△Lmin), and maximum (△Lmax) edge distances from the first-grade fringe (digit 1) to the center of the
zero-order fringe (digit 0) with an image analysis software (also see Fig. S1A ). (D and E) There are linear relations between the wavelengths and △Lc, △Lmin,
or △Lmax in three lasers under the conditions of normal (D) and ultraweak (E) intensities. The linear regression coefficients (R2) are 0.9999, 0.9989, and 0.9978
for △Lc, △Lmin, and △Lmax, respectively, in D, and 0.9999, 0.9996, and 0.9990, respectively, in E; P = 0.005–0.042 (also see Table S1). (F) The relations between
the calculated wavelengths (λave, λmin, and λmax) of four LED light sources (bigger color symbols) based on the spectral images under the conditions of
ultraweak light intensities and the known pick and wavelength ranges [smaller black symbols; 451 nm (410–492 nm; blue), 518 nm (450–586 nm; green), 590 nm
(555–625 nm; yellow), and 632 nm (595–669 nm; red)] measured with a spectrometer (also see Fig. S2). The calculated λave is almost same as the known pick
wavelength of each LED light. (G) Representative biophoton spectral image obtained from a tree leaf (sweet-scented osmanthus tree), showing the clear
zero-order fringe and two first-grade fringes (60-s imaging time). (H) The calculated wavelengths (λave, λmin, and λmax) from five leaves of this type of tree
according to regression Eqs. 1–3.

The tendency of the spectral redshift of glutamate-induced emit what types of spectral biophotons or whether a neuron or
biophotonic emissions in this study is in the order of frog, mouse, type of neurons emit different spectral biophotons, we indeed
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chicken, pig, monkey, and human, which is almost consistent observed the evolutionary conservation in glutamate-induced
with the phylogenetic tree. Although the present imaging tech- biophotonic emissions in the near-blue spectra (λmin) from
nique could not distinguish and determine what types of neurons chicken to pig to monkey to human (Fig. 3 F and H).

Wang et al. PNAS | August 2, 2016 | vol. 113 | no. 31 | 8755

 Fig. 3. Spectral redshift of glutamate-induced biophotonic emissions in brain slices presents an evolutional trend from animals to human. (A) Schematic drawing of the
preparation of a particular sagittal brain slice (∼2 mm thickness) from a hemisphere of the mouse brain, which is identical in bullfrog and chicken brains. (B) The detailed
regions of brain gyri dissected from primary occipital, motor, and sensory cortexes, the medial frontal cortex, and superior temporal cortex in a representative monkey
brain (arrows), which are also similar in pig and human brains. (C) The preparation of a cortical slice (∼3 mm thickness) from a block of cortical gyrus of pig, monkey, and
human; the dotted line indicates the cut position. This cortical slice contains all of the cortical layers and could ensure that the cut ends of the projection fibers originating
from cortical neurons are directed toward the lens of the UBIS during imaging. (D) The representative dynamic change of biophotonic activities was demonstrated by
relative GVs (RGVs) after the application of 50 mM glutamate in a mouse brain slice (blue curved line), a pig hippocampus slice (Pig-Hi) (green curved line), and a human
motor cortical slice (human-Mc) [red curved line; CBBC no. 20160107; Table S2], presenting the four typical stages (initiation, maintenance, washing, and reapplication).
These two human and pig brain slices were stored in modified ACSF (M-ACSF) at 0–4 °C for 12 and 24 h, respectively, before imaging. Real-time imaging is 120 min for
regular biophoton images (an image every 1 min without BSAD) and 100 min for biophoton spectral images (an image every 25 min with BSAD) through the periods of
maintenance (0–170 min), washing (171–195 min), and reapplication (196–220 min). The arrows indicate the start and stop time points for capturing biophoton
spectral images. (E) Representative biophoton spectral images in animal and human brain slices. The first-order fringes present a trend away from the zero-order
fringes in the order of bullfrog, mouse, chicken, pig, monkey, and human, indicating a spectral redshift from animals to humans. (F) Change trends of glutamate-
induced biophoton spectral ranges (λave, λmin, or λmax) in the bullfrog, mouse, chicken, pig, monkey, and human. (G–I) Comparison of the spectral differences in λave
(F = 399; P < 0.0001) (G), λmin (F = 82; P < 0.0001) (H), or λmax (F = 569; P < 0.0001) (I) in the bullfrog, mouse, chicken, pig, monkey, and human. (J and K) Comparison of
the spectral differences in λave, λmin, or λmax in different brain regions in the pig (J) and human (K). Data show the means ± SEM. The number of brain slices in F–I:
bullfrog (n = 5), mouse (n = 5), chicken (n = 5), pig (n = 34), monkey (n = 11), and human (n = 31). The number of brain slices in different brain regions (N): 6, 6, 5, 7, 4,
and 6 for frontal cortex (Fc), motor cortex (Mc), sensory cortex (Sc), primary occipital cortex (Oc), temporal cortex (Tc), and hippocampus (Hi), respectively, in the pig and
6, 5, 4, 6, 3, and 7 for Fc, Mc, Sc, Oc, Tc, and Hi, respectively, in the human. Asterisks indicate a significant difference between the neighboring two groups in G–I: *P <
0.01; **P < 0.001; ***P < 0.0001. Asterisks indicate a significant difference in different areas in J: Fc vs. Mc (**); Fc vs. Tc (*); Mc vs. Hi (*). *P < 0.05. **P < 0.01.

There is no universally accepted definition of animal intelligence problem-solving and language abilities rather than the specialized
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and no procedure to measure and compare the differences in dif- behaviors, to survive in their natural and social environments, hu-
ferent species; however, using mental and behavioral flexibility as a man beings are assumed to be more intelligent than monkeys and
criterion for intelligence, it is generally accepted that, at least in that intelligence is decreasingly ordered as monkey > pig > (chicken

8756 | www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1604855113 Wang et al.

 Table 1. Spectra in various species
Species (N) λave, nm
Bullfrog (5) 600.3 ± 0.82
Mouse (5) 646.9 ± 1.53***
Chicken (5) 667.3 ± 2.00***
Pig (34) 682.3 ± 0.68***
Monkey (11) 696.9 ± 0.85***
Human (31) 714.6 ± 1.59***
F value; P value F = 399; P < 0.0001
λave, λmin, and λmax are the average, minimum, and maximum wavelength, respectively; N, the number of
brain slices. Asterisks indicate a significant difference between the neighboring two groups: *P < 0.01; **P <
0.001; ***P < 0.0001.
and mouse) > bullfrog. Such a trend is consistent with our finding of
a spectral redshift. Interestingly, we found that the chicken exhibits
more redshift than the mouse, raising the question whether chickens
hold higher cognitive abilities than those of mice. It has been sug-
gested that birds might have evolved from a certain type of dinosaur
(23) and that dinosaurs, which dominated on Earth for a long time,
should hold certain advanced cognitive abilities over other animals.
Based on this theory, it may be true that poultry have higher cog-
nitive abilities than rodents, at least in language abilities, because
certain birds, such as parrots, are able to imitate human words.
The neocortex in the brain is organized into columnar mod-
ules, which seem to be units of information processing (24),
analogous to chips in a computer. The work of the brain involves
neural information processing that is mainly transmitted along
axons and dendrites, which are analogous to optic fibers. The
neural information-processing capacity is an expensive adapta-
tion for the economy of brain, and the improvement of cognitive
functions such as language is driven by the need for more ef-
fective communication that requires less energy (25). We found
obvious spectral redshift of glutamate-induced biophotonic
emissions in the human brain cortex and hippocampus. Based on
recent knowledge of the level of intelligence, which is related
anatomically to the number of cortical neurons and physiologi-
cally to the speed of conductivity of neural pathways, the spectral
redshift means that the human brain may use lower energy
biophotons (longer spectra) to carry out neural signal commu-
nications between neurons to be more effective and economical.
It should be emphasized that despite the use of entangled
photons has realized quantum teleportation (transmission) (26),
however, it is still not clear how the brain carry out neural in-
formation transfer, coding and storage via biophotons. Recent
experimental results have shown that biophotons may transmit
along neural fibers and in neural circuits (12), and theoretical
analyses have proposed that it is possible to realize the intensity
and spectral coding and quantum computation via microtubules
based on the physical features of biophotons (27, 28). In addi-
tion, although the biophotonic intensity is very weak, this may
not affect them as a quantum information carrier because,
according to the assumption and current experiential findings
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Spectra
λmin, nm λmax, nm
522.1 ± 0.74 691.2 ± 0.98
591.1 ± 2.78*** 711.8 ± 0.0**
607.4 ± 2.97* 739.2 ± 1.96***
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F = 82; P < 0.0001 F = 569; P < 0.0001
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EVOLUTION
advanced cognitive functions, such as language, planning, prob-
lem-solving, and analytical abilities.
Overall, if biophotonic activities and transmission dominate
the information neural processing and encoding mechanism in
the brain, then biophoton spectral redshift could improve and
strengthen cognitive abilities, which may not only provide an
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could hold such a high degree in our intelligence but also provide
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Methods
This study was carried out under strict accordance with the recommendations
in the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals of the NIH (29). The
protocol was approved by the Committee on the Ethics of Animal Experiments
of South-Central University for Nationalities. Detailed information regarding
materials and methods is described in SI Methods. Human brain materials were
obtained from the CBBC by autopsy through the human body donation pro-
gram, which is organized and implemented by the Wuhan Red Cross Society.
According to the protocol of CBBC and the human body donation program,
specific permission for brain autopsy and use of the brain material and medical
records for research purposes were obtained either from the donors them-
selves or from relatives, and also approved by the Biomedical Research Ethics
Committee of South-Central University for Nationalities. When a body donor
was deceased, the donation program office at Wuhan Red Cross Society was
first informed by either from doctors or from relatives usually by telephone.
Then donation program coordinators would arrange the transport of donated
body to an approved autopsy center, where the brain was carefully removed
according to a standard procedure and collected by CBBC.
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