A recent breakthrough in science linked to the use of anesthesia on rats has led scientists to believe that tiny structures in the rodents’ brains may be responsible for consciousness. These structures, known as “microtubules,” operate at the quantum level, defying classical physics laws. Researchers speculate that similar quantum processes may also occur in the human brain.
At Welelli College in Massachusetts, researchers conducted experiments on rats using the inhalation anesthetic Izofluran to induce unconsciousness. One group of rats was also given drugs to stabilize their microtubules, while the other group was not. The results showed that the rats with stabilized microtubules remained conscious for a longer period compared to those without the drugs. The latter group also lost the “rectification reflex” faster, indicating a quicker return to a normal body position. These findings were published in the journal Eneuro in August 2024.
This study is significant as the source of consciousness has long been a mystery. The discovery supports the theory that quantum operations in the brain contribute to consciousness, a concept that has gained traction over the past three decades.
In the 1990s, Nobel laureate physicist Roger Penrose and anesthesiologist Stuart Hameroff proposed the idea that microtubules in neurons could conduct quantum processes leading to consciousness. In their 1996 work, they suggested that consciousness could be a quantum wave passing through the brain’s microtubules. This concept, known as the Orch OR theory, posits that microtubules perform quantum computations using a process called “objective reduction.”
In quantum physics, particles do not have defined locations as in classical physics; they exist as probabilities until measured or observed. Penrose hypothesized that the collapse of these quantum states in the brain’s particles might correspond to moments of conscious experience.
If the quantum theory of consciousness involving microtubules proves to be valid, it could revolutionize our understanding of consciousness and support the idea that consciousness could exist beyond the brain at the quantum level. This discovery suggests that human consciousness may interact with quantum particles outside