Biophoton

Biophotonism has its roots in the German branches of the "New Age" movement of the 1970s. This movement has attracted various idealists who thought that there must be more to the biology of life than facts and reason. The movement has resulted in a large number of business companies in the health care sector, which provide highly advanced medicin, such as information-loaded water.

Biophoton is a term used by some to denote those photons that are emitted by biological probes as part of the general weak electromagnetic radiation of living biological cells. Further terms in science for this phenomenon are ultra-weak bioluminescence, dark luminescence, ultraweak chemiluminescence.

A typical magnitude of the effect is 100 photons in the visible range of wavelengths per 1 cm² of probe surface in 1 second. This is much less than in the openly visible and well-researched phenomenon of normal bioluminescence, but much more than in the thermal, or black body radiation, emitted by every matter.

This amount of light is comparable to that observed from a candle viewed at a distance of 10 kilometers. The detection of these photons was only possible after the development of sensitive photomultipliers in the 1950s through 1970s.

Whereas the existence of this radiation has no longer been disputed after the 1970s, its interpretation is still very much an open question.

Biophotons are quanta which are permanently emitted from biological systems „far away from thermal equilibrium“. At about 1923 the Russian embryologist Alexander Gurwitsch discovered an “ultraweak” photon emission from living tissues in the UV-range of the spectrum. He called them “mitogenetic rays” in order to express their stimulating effect on cell division rate. After further scientists had been able to confirm his discovery, the University professor who has studied in Germany and was a well known and reputed scientist failed in getting the Nobel prize by missing only one vote. However, upcoming biochemistry and the fact that cell growth can be generally stimulated by radiation and, even more effectively, by hormones, evoked slowly scepticism about Gurwitsch´s discovery which got then more and more subject of discrimination. During the second world war the mitogenetic radiation was forgotten, despite of that further Russian and Eastern European scientists continued to show evidence of a few emitted photons per second and per square centimeter from all living systems. After world war II from 1955 on also some Western scientists like Colli (Italy), Quickenden (Australia), Inaba (Japan) started to rediscover “mitogenetic radiation”, but called it now “dark luminescence”, “low level luminescence”, “ultraweak bioluminescence”, or “ultraweak chemiluminescence” The hypothesis of that time was the statement that this phenomenon originates from rather rare oxidation processes and radical reactions. Around 1970 the then assistant professor Fritz-Albert Popp at the University Marburg (Germany) suggested after studies on chemically inert carcinogenic compounds that electronic states around 380 nm are involved in the mechanism of carcinogenic reactivity. He and his group were searching for a corresponding radiation in living systems, and with their most sensitive photon counting system they were successful in (a) showing again evidence of ultraweak photon emission from living tissues, (b) revealing the spectral intensity over 200 to 800 nm, (c) showing significant correlations between biological and physiological functions and this “low level luminescence” and (d) showing evidence of non-thermal character and of coherence of this radiation. In order to point to the quantum nature of the phenomenon and at the same time to distinguish it from common bioluminescence, Popp called this radiation “biophotons”. This term has been overtaken by several scientific groups in Austria, Brazil, Chile, China, India, Italy, Japan, Poland, Russia, Switzerland, Southern Korea and USA. An international group of lifescientists of different disciplines was founded and established in an International Institute in Neuss (IIB,Germany). Around 1990 the IIB introduced the term “Biophotonics” for the science, research and applications of photons in their interactions within and on biological systems. This terms has been overtaken by the American National Science Foundation and established and developed in the mean time to one of the most forward looking fields of modern science and technology. Topics of research are besides of basic questions of biophysics and related subjects questions of basic regulation of biological functions, cell growth and differentiation, connections to delayed luminescence, coherence in biology and supermolecular processes in living tissues.

Some references: Ruth,B. and F.A.Popp: Experimentelle Untersuchungen zur ultraschwachen Photonenemission biologischer Systeme. Z.Naturforsch.31 Ruth, B. In: Electromagnetic Bio-Information (F.A.Popp, G.Becker, H.L.König and W.Peschka, eds.), Urban &Schwarzenberg, München-Wien-Baltimore 1979. This paper contains the historical background of biophotons. Popp, F.A.: Biophotonen. Ein neuer Weg zur Lösung des Krebsproblems. Schriftenreihe Krebsgeschehen, Vol.6, Verlag für Medizin, Dr.Ewald Fischer,Heidelberg 1976. Popp,F.A., Ruth,B., Bahr,W., Böhm,J., Grass,P., Grolig,G., Rattemeyer,M., Schmidt,H.G., and Wulle,P.:Emission of visible and ultraviolet radiation by active biological systems. Collective Phenomena (Gordon&Breach), Vol.3 (1981), pp.187–214. Rattemeyer, M., Popp,F.A., and Nagl,W.: Evidence of photon emission from DNA in living systems. Naturwissenschaften 68 (1981), 572–573. Popp,F.A., Gurwitsch,A.A., Inaba, H., Slawinski, J., Cilento G., van Wijk, R., Chwirot B., and Nagl,W.: Biophoton Emission (Multi-Author Review), Experientia 44 (1988), 543–600. Popp,F.A., Gu,Q., and Li, K.H.:Biophoton Emission: Experimentell Background and Theoretical Approaches. Modern Physics Letters B8 (1994), 1269–1296. Chang, J.J., Fisch, J., and Popp,F.A.:Biophotons. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht-Boston-London 1998. Bajpai, R.P., Popp,F.A., van Wijk, R., Niggli,H., Beloussov, L.V., Cohen,S., Jung, H.H., Sup-Soh, K., Lipkind, M., Voiekov, V.L., Slawinski, J., Aoshima, Y., Michiniewicz, Z., van Klitzing,L., Swain,J.:Biophotons (Multi-Author-Review). Indian Journal of Experimental Biology 41 (2003), Vol 5, 391–544. Popp,F.A., Yan,Yu: Delayed luminescence of biological systems in terms of coherent states. Physics Letters A 293 (2002), 93–97. Yan, Y., Popp,F.A., Sigrist,S., Schlesinger,D., Dolf,A., Yan,Z., Cohen,S., and Chotia, A.:Further analysis of delayed luminescence of plants, Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology 78 (2005),229–234. www.biophotonik.de www.lifescientists.de

The main view in science

Those adhering to scientific methods and discussions try to explain ultra-weak bioluminescence as follows. Concerning the normal and openly visible bioluminescence, many bacteria and other cells produce light by particular proteins (luciferase). However, due to the extremely small number of photons in ultra-weak bioluminescence (the numbers given above correspond to roughly a single photon per cell per month, assuming a typical cell diameter of 10 micrometers), the original theories have been that these photons are a random by-product of cellular metabolism.

Normal cell metabolism occurs in a chain of steps, with each step involving a small energy exchange. Due to a certain degree of randomness according to the laws of thermodynamics, it must then be expected that, very rarely, some irregular steps can occur. As a result of an accidental physicochemical energy imbalance, a photon could occasionally be emitted.

At present there is no adequately tested theory for the production of these extra photons, and the final answer may require new experimental methods. Further, a variety of modes of production may be involved. To give one example, a typical observation is that ultra-weak bioluminescence is more prevalent in damaged cells, presumably due to the increased number of free radicals in such cells.

In the absence of definite knowledge about the mechanisms that produce these photons, some of the groups around F.A. Popp in Neuss/Germany, who call them "biophotons", have speculated and showed some evidence that they may be involved in various cell functions such as mitosis, or even that they may be produced and detected by the DNA in the cell nucleus.

Hypothesised involvement in cellular communication

Some of this group have further speculated that these emissions may be part of a system of cell-to-cell communication, which may be of greater complexity than the modes of cell communication already known, such as chemical signaling. These ideas include the concept that they may be important for the development of larger structures, such as organs. There is currently no scientifically accepted evidence for such claims, but increasing experimental evidence by independent groups, i.e Albrecht Bühler of the North-West University in Chicago.

Connection to "non-scientific" medicine

Some have claimed that one might be able to associate "biophotons" with Qi, a mystical energy source within living beings posited by some Eastern and new-age religions. However, research has failed to show evidence for the existence of Qi, and it is generally regarded as a purely religious construct. Others have postulated that these emissions are related to consciousness. There are no generally-accepted data to support these hypotheses, and they are mostly held as pseudoscience, along with attempts to gather evidence to support them. Some use the claims of outsiders to slander "biophotons" and their serious background.

See also

• Biophotonics
• Pathological science
• Vitalism
• Prana

External links

• Marco Bischof's Bibliography on biophoton research and related subjects
• G.J. Hyland's Fundaments of Coherence in Biology
• Photonics TechnologyWorld, "Our Bodies, Our Photons". October 1998 Edition.
• Tilbury, Gregg, Percival, Matich: "Ultraweak Cheminluminescence from Human Blood Plasma"
• R. Vanwijk, "Bio-photons and Bio-communication". Journal of Scientific Exploration, ­Society for Scientific Exploration. (PDF)
• Delayed ultraweak bioluminescence

Further reading

• J.J.Chang and F.A.Popp: "Biological Organization: A Possible Mechanism based on the Coherence of Biophotons". In: Biophotons (J.J.Chang, J.Fisch and F.A.Popp, eds.), Kluwer Academic Publisher, Dordrecht-London 1998, pp. 217–227.
• A.G. Gurwitsch: "Über Ursachen der Zellteilung". Arch. Entw. Mech. Org. 51 (1922), 383–415.
• H.Fröhlich: "Long Range Coherence and Energy Storage in Biological Systems". Int. J. Quant. Chem. 2 (1968), 641–649.
• Radiofrequency and microwave radiation of biological origin – their possible role in biocommunication. Psychoenergetic Systems, Vol.3 (1979), pp.133–154.

F.A.Popp, Q.Gu, and K.H.Li: Biophoton emission: Experimental background and theoretical approaches. Modern Physics Letters B8:1269–1296.