Recent findings advance the field of quantum biology...


Elsevier: Discovery of Quantum Vibrations in “Microtubules” Inside Brain Neurons Corroborates Controversial 20-Year-Old Theory of Consciousness

The theory, called "orchestrated objective reduction" ('Orch OR'), was first put forward in the mid-1990s by eminent mathematical physicist Sir Roger Penrose... and prominent anesthesiologist Stuart Hameroff, M.D... They suggested that quantum vibrational computations in microtubules were "orchestrated" ("Orch") by synaptic inputs and memory stored in microtubules, and terminated by Penrose "objective reduction" ('OR'), hence "Orch OR." Microtubules are major components of the cell structural skeleton.

Orch OR was harshly criticized from its inception, as the brain was considered too "warm, wet, and noisy" for seemingly delicate quantum processes. However, evidence has now shown warm quantum coherence in plant photosynthesis, bird brain navigation, our sense of smell, and brain microtubules. The recent discovery of warm temperature quantum vibrations in microtubules inside brain neurons by the research group led by Anirban Bandyopadhyay, PhD, at the National Institute of Material Sciences in Tsukuba, Japan (and now at MIT), corroborates the pair's theory and suggests that EEG rhythms also derive from deeper level microtubule vibrations. In addition, work from the laboratory of Roderick G. Eckenhoff, MD, at the University of Pennsylvania, suggests that anesthesia, which selectively erases consciousness while sparing non-conscious brain activities, acts via microtubules in brain neurons... 

An important new facet of the theory is introduced. Microtubule quantum vibrations (e.g. in megahertz) appear to interfere and produce much slower EEG "beat frequencies."...


See also...

Biosens Bioelectron. 2013 Sep 15:  Atomic water channel controlling remarkable properties of a single brain microtubule: correlating single protein to its supramolecular assembly

Sahu S, Ghosh S, Ghosh B, Aswani K, Hirata K, Fujita D, Bandyopadhyay A

Abstract   
Microtubule nanotubes are found in every living eukaryotic cells; these are formed by reversible polymerization of the tubulin protein, and their hollow fibers are filled with uniquely arranged water molecules. Here we measure single tubulin molecule and single brain-neuron extracted microtubule nanowire with and without water channel inside to unravel their unique electronic and optical properties for the first time. We demonstrate that the energy levels of a single tubulin protein and single microtubule made of 40,000 tubulin dimers are identical unlike conventional materials. Moreover, the transmitted ac power and the transient fluorescence decay (single photon count) are independent of the microtubule length. Even more remarkable is the fact that the microtubule nanowire is more conducting than a single protein molecule that constitutes the nanowire. Microtubule's vibrational peaks condense to a single mode that controls the emergence of size independent electronic/optical properties, and automated noise alleviation, which disappear when the atomic water core is released from the inner cylinder. We have carried out several tricky state-of-the-art experiments and identified the electromagnetic resonance peaks of single microtubule reliably. The resonant vibrations established that the condensation of energy levels and periodic oscillation of unique energy fringes on the microtubule surface, emerge as the atomic water core resonantly integrates all proteins around it such that the nanotube irrespective of its size functions like a single protein molecule. Thus, a monomolecular water channel residing inside the protein-cylinder displays an unprecedented control in governing the tantalizing electronic and optical properties of microtubule.

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UCL News: Quantum mechanics explains efficiency of photosynthesis

Nature Communications 5, 09 January 2014: Non-classicality of the molecular vibrations assisting exciton energy transfer at room temperature     

Edward J. O’Reilly & Alexandra Olaya-Castro

...we have provided theoretical evidence that vibration-assisted exciton transport in prototype dimers, representative of interband-like transitions in a variety of photosythetic light-harvesting antennae, can exploit non-trivial quantum phenomena that cannot be reproduced by any classical counterpart, namely, non-classical fluctuations of collective pigment motions. Given that a variety of transport and sensing phenomena in biomolecules are known to involve non-equilibrium vibrational motion, our findings have broad implications for the field of quantum effects in biology as they suggest that investigating the non-classical nature of molecular fluctuations harnessed in these processes could be the key to reveal a role for truly non-trivial quantum features.

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