Shocking Experiment Shows Our Brains Use Quantum Computing

Scientists believe our brains could use quantum computing, having taken a concept developed to prove the existence of quantum gravity and adapted it to study the human brain and how it works. The discovery could shed light on consciousness, the workings of which remain scientifically difficult to understand and explain. Quantum brain processes could also explain why humans can still outperform supercomputers when faced with unforeseen circumstances, decisions, or learning something new.

After adapting an idea developed to prove the existence of quantum gravity to study the human brain and how it works, researchers at Trinity College Dublin believe human brains could use quantum computation.

The brain functions measured in the experiment were also correlated with the performance of short-term memory and conscious perception. This suggests that quantum processes are also part of cognitive and conscious brain functions.

If the team’s findings can be confirmed, which would likely require advanced multidisciplinary approaches, they would improve our overall understanding of how the brain works. The findings could possibly show how the brain can be preserved or even healed. They can also help uncover innovative technologies and build even more advanced quantum computers.

dr Christian Kerskens is co-author of the research article, published October 7 in the Journal of Physics Communication. He is also a senior physicist at Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience (TCIN). He said:

“We have adapted an idea developed for experiments to prove the existence of quantum gravity, taking known quantum systems interacting with an unknown system. If the known systems are entangled, the unknown must also be a quantum system. It circumvents the difficulty of finding gauges for something we don’t know about.

“For our experiments we used proton spins from ‘brain water’ as a known system. “Brain water” naturally builds up as fluid in our brains and the proton spins can be measured using MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging). Then, by using a special MRI design to search for entangled spins, we found MRI signals resembling heartbeat-evoked potentials, a form of EEG signals. EEGs measure electrical brain waves that some people may know from first-hand experience or simply from watching hospital dramas on TV.”

Electrophysiological potentials, such as those produced by the heartbeat, are not normally detectable with MRI, and the scientists believe they were only able to observe them because the nuclear proton spins were entangled in the brain.

dr Kerskens added:

“If entanglement is the only possible explanation here, then that would mean that brain processes must have interacted with the nuclear spins that mediated the entanglement between the nuclear spins. From this we can deduce that these brain functions must have quantum functions.

“Since these brain functions also correlated with short-term memory performance and conscious perception, it is likely that these quantum processes are an important part of our cognitive and conscious brain functions.

“Quantum brain processes could explain why we can still outperform supercomputers when faced with unforeseen circumstances, decisions, or learning something new. Our experiments, conducted just 50 meters from the auditorium where Schrödinger presented his famous thoughts on life, may shed light on the mysteries of biology and the scientifically even more elusive consciousness.”

Reference: “Experimental Evidence for Non-Classical Brain Functions” by Christian Matthias Kerskens and David López Pérez, October 7, 2022, Journal of Physics Communication.
DOI: 10.1088/2399-6528/ac94be

This research was supported by Science Foundation Ireland and TCIN.