By Courtney Hunt, MD and Kara Dunn
Abstract
The past decade has been one of fantastic scientific achievements. In 2016, researchers at Northwestern University identified the zinc spark that marks the successful merger of a sperm and egg, signifying the initiation of embryonic development. In addition, we have seen the discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012, the first recording of the “chirp” of two black holes merging in space in 2015, and the first visualization of a black hole in 2019. We propose that these discoveries are connected and will explain how human consciousness or quantum information enters the zygote at the moment of fertilization. We will demonstrate how the human body is an antenna for light, explain quantum cognition, and reverse engineer that back to the moment of fertilization. We will show that the zinc spark is the notification that the new human consciousness has connected to the biological vessel.
The human body has evolved within a very narrow portion of the electromagnetic field to receive information via electron excitation. Quantum mechanics is beginning to be acknowledged as the foundation of human biology. Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) allows us to convert photons into electricity that gives us both vision and instruction for our mitochondria via the suprachiasmatic nucleus. Current literature states that the mitochondria serve as sensors to the environment, storing quantum information that drives DNA expression and therefore physiological function. We have evolved sentience because of the mitochondria’s production of ATP. This allows us to have memory and therefore perceive our place in space time. Given human mitochondrial dependency on signaling from the electromagnetic field, we propose that the intertwining of consciousness and physiology with the quantum field can be traced back to conception. We will discuss the current scientific landscape of quantum consciousness and coherence in the brain, including the Orch OR model by Stuart Hameroff and Sir Roger Penrose and the quantum cognition research by Mark Fisher and his team at UCSB.
The golden ratio is a fundamental geometric pattern that appears ubiquitously throughout nature. It can be seen from the Planck scale all the way up to the macroscale, appearing in DNA, embryos and even black holes. When the first image of the black hole was released in 2019, it struck us how similar it appeared to the zinc spark that is formed at fertilization.
The discovery of the Higgs boson proves that the Higgs field exists and that this is this field that ties energy or light to mass. The first law of thermodynamics states that energy and information can never be created nor destroyed. Our consciousness must come from somewhere at the moment of fertilization. We propose that at the merger of the sperm and egg, their unique Higgs fields collide creating the new Higgs field of the zygote, and that the zinc atoms emitted in the zinc spark serve as the nanoantenna that ties the quantum code, energy, or consciousness to the mass of the zygote. We propose that the entanglement of the subatomic particles of the sperm and egg create microscopic black holes, trapping light in the mass of the zygote. This is the EPR or quantum entanglement scientists are looking for to explain consciousness or how the wave collapses into the mass of the human.
Golden Ratio
It is well-established that the golden ratio, Φ = ( √ 5 − 1)/2 = 1.618, appears throughout nature and is present from biology to cosmology. This implies that phenomena that occur on a microscopic or Planck scale are modeled after that on a macroscopic scale and vice versa. The golden ratio has been identified in multiple aspects of the physics of black holes. For example, the exact point where a black hole’s modified heat alters from positive to negative is described by phi, and the equation for the lower bound of black hole entropy cannot be explained without the golden ratio. Rotating black holes transition phases when the ratio of the square of its mass to the square of its angular momentum is equal to the golden ratio.1 The golden ratio is also utilized in embryometric analysis of blastocyst stage embryos in order to determine the most viable selection for elective single embryo transfer. Through embryometric analysis, it was identified that embryos with inner cell mass (ICM)-to-total blastocyst areas that most closely approached phi were the most viable offspring, indicating the importance of the golden ratio in embryonic development.2
Fusion of the Sperm and Egg
The exact timing of human fertilization is a special and sacred moment. Until recently, it has been very difficult to ethically study because most means of investigation cause disruption of the human egg or the process of fertilization itself. However, in 2016 researchers at Northwestern demonstrated that a zinc spark or halo forms when an egg is fertilized.3
We will begin by recounting the current literature on the physiological process of fertilization in order to provide the reader with a foundational understanding. The path to reproduction starts with oocytes made in the ovary during fetal development. It has long been thought that every oocyte that a woman will ever have is present at birth; however, data has recently been published that challenges that idea.4 During fetal oogenesis, meiosis I begins and oogonia are transformed into primary oocytes, where they are arrested at prophase I of the first meiotic division and stored in the primordial follicle until puberty. Once menarche begins, a monthly rise in gonadotropins causes the oocyte to develop into a fertilizable egg, one primary oocyte completes meiosis I the day before ovulation.5 The diploid cell divides unevenly into the secondary oocyte, which arrests at metaphase II until fertilization, and the first polar body, which typically degenerates.5,6 The first polar body contains excess chromosomes from the first meiotic division, but generally does not have the cytosolic contents necessary to be fertilized and develop into a fetus.5 During the 24 hours leading up to fertilization, the cell undergoes several physiological changes. There is an uptake of approximately 20 billion zinc atoms from 40 billion to 60 billion) into the oocyte, with cellular content of zinc increasing by nearly 50%.6 This rapid accrual of zinc is critical to fertilization and creation of the new zygote, as will later be expanded upon. The egg is released to travel down the tube to meet one of millions of sperm released into the vagina.
At the moment of fertilization, one sperm penetrates the corona radiata and makes contact with the zona pellucida (ZP). While the exact mechanism is not known, the current model explored in mice exhibits human sperm binding directly to the zona glycoprotein ZP3.7 This binding induces the acrosome reaction, in which an influx of calcium and cAMP within the sperm head triggers the release of enzymatic contents from the acrosome. After the acrosome reaction occurs, the sperm binds instead to the ZP2 receptor, which maintains the physical connection between the sperm and the egg. The released hydrolytic enzymes digest a narrow fragment of the ZP, paving the way for the sperm’s entrance into the perivitelline space and fusion with the oocyte’s plasma membrane.8
Within ten minutes of fusion between murine sperm and oocyte plasma membrane, a cortical reaction occurs in which approximately 4,000 cortical granules (secretory vesicles) are released, triggering hardening of the ZP and in turn preventing polyspermy. Additionally, the cortical granules contain ovastacin, a proteolytic protein that cleaves the N-terminus of ZP2, rendering it incapable of binding any other sperm.9,10 The cortical reaction is initiated by calcium release at fertilization, which is mediated by a GTP-binding protein that initiates the inositol phosphate (PIP2) cascade, generating second messengers inositol triphosphate (IP3) and diacylglycerol (DAG). IP3 induces the release of calcium stores from the endoplasmic reticulum, which then activate protein kinase C (PKC) and lead to cortical granule exocytosis into the perivitelline space to induce ZP hardening and thereby prevent polyspermy.10 This marks the beginning of many waves of increased cytosolic calcium concentration. It is well-established that calcium oscillations play a critical role in the subsequent steps of egg activation and zygote formation.11
Zinc Spark
As discovered and described by O’Halloran et al 2011, the fertilization-induced oscillations of calcium throughout the egg trigger a massive efflux of zinc-- a process termed the ‘zinc spark’. Demonstrated in mouse eggs, the meiotic progression from prophase I to metaphase II is accompanied by a rapid accrual of approximately 20 billion zinc atoms. Interestingly, this 50% increase in intracellular zinc is stored in cortical granules throughout the periphery of the egg but away from the maternal chromosomes. As a possible mechanism for prevention of premature fertilization, the machinery which transports zinc out of the egg is not fully developed until just before the zinc release.3
Upon merging of the sperm and egg, calcium is intracellularly released in sync resulting in massive, coordinated exocytosis of zinc. The size of calcium transients has been positively correlated with the magnitude of zinc release.3 This zinc spark is the hallmark of fertilization. Human eggs have long been evidenced to contain zinc transporters and enriched zinc vesicles, indicating that zinc plays a critical role in the transition from gamete to zygote. However, due to previous restrictions on experimentation with human eggs put in place for ethical reasons, it was not until recently that this efflux of zinc was experimentally observed in human eggs. Through egg activation via calcium-ionomycin, ionomycin, or human PLCζ cRNA injection, experimentation conducted by Duncan et al. 2016 mapped oocyte zinc fluctuations using selective fluorophore tagging.3 This experiment was conducted using 3D live-cell imaging, with a fluorescent green probe measuring zinc inside of the egg and a fluorescent red probe measuring zinc outside of the egg. These probes do not mix. Intracellular calcium levels were increased using a bolus of exogenous calcium and within ten minutes, billions of zinc atoms were exocytosed in a magnificent zinc spark, depicted by a yellow flash as the red and green intermixed and then a red spark or halo moving away from the cell. Embryologists use the strength of the zinc spark to determine which embryo to transfer back into the mother for in vitro fertilization.12 This zinc spark is the announcement that the egg has been fertilized. The calcium transients move across the cell at a whopping 250 mph, while the zinc wave progresses very slowly. Experimentation conducted by O’Halloran et al. has demonstrated that a portion of the zinc is released during the zinc spark and the rest of it is, to quote O’Halloran, ‘sent in as a resounding wave, setting up a harmonic in the cell [or] a chemical prelude to the complex developmental events that are going to have to proceed in a spatially defined manner from this one small sphere into a thousand galaxies of cells.’13
These synced calcium oscillations and massive coordinated exocytosis of zinc via cortical granules are in time with egg activation and the previously mentioned cortical reaction, which results in the hardening of the ZP and cleavage of ZP2, preventing polyspermy.14 Therefore, the zinc spark is integrated and supported by previously established knowledge that calcium transients dictate meiotic progression.
The abrupt decrease in intracellular zinc concentration modulates the advancement of the egg through meiosis, leading to zygotic development. A well-known mechanism of meiotic arrest acts via cytostatic factor (CSF) EMI2, which competitively inhibits anaphase-promoting complex/ cyclosome (APC/C), an E3 ubiquitin ligase, from facilitating progression through meiosis II. EMI2 is bound and activated by zinc atoms, thus the rapid reduction in zinc results in deactivation of EMI2, activating APC/C and thereby releasing the cell from metaphase II arrest. It was previously regarded that transient calcium levels themselves were responsible for release from meiotic arrest, however there has been recent experimentation with artificial zinc chelation in murine oocytes in the absence of calcium oscillations, in which successful fertilization and embryogenesis were obtained.15 These results suggest that it is the zinc spark itself that is responsible for the cell’s progression through meiosis and on to a successful zygote, similar to releasing the brakes on the egg’s development.
Resumption of Meiosis
Upon resumption of meiosis in the egg, half of the remaining sister chromatids are segregated into a second polar body and the female pronucleus is formed. This second polar body exists in the perivitelline space prior to its degeneration.9 The male and female pronuclei, which each contain haploid genomes, move toward each other and merge. Simultaneously, the sperm genome, which was tightly compacted in the sperm head, undergoes re-packaging from the protamines that it was originally wrapped around to nucleosomes that contain H3.3, a histone variant that is replaced with H3 during DNA replication.16 While both haploid pronuclei have formed, there are stark differences in DNA methylation patterns that must be resolved in order for the male and female genomes to fuse into one zygotic genome that can successfully replicate. Therefore, each parental genome must undergo global DNA demethylation in order to reprogram the epigenomes and form a totipotent zygote. However, this demethylation must not go to completion. Within the genome are several imprinted loci that are solely expressed by one of the parents and are protected against demethylation.15,16
Because memory is tied to DNA methylation patterns, the global demethylation of the newly formed zygote is proposed to erase any memory of the zygote’s past. Initially after the two haploid genomes merge, the zygotic genome is silenced.17 Cellular processes continue to be governed by maternal mRNAs while reprogramming occurs. After 42 hours, the zygote will have replicated into four cells, and at 72 hours, eight cells. In the morula stage (in which the embryo is composed of 16-20 cells) the embryo is transported through the fallopian tube and it reaches the uterus after approximately five days. After three weeks, the maternal-to-zygotic transition (MZT) begins, in which the beginning of degradation of maternal mRNA leads to activation of the newly formed zygotic genome during what is known as the mid-blastula transition.16 During this phase, the embryo undergoes mitosis with slowed replication during gap phases in order to allow the cells ample time to grow. After a number of cellular divisions, the embryo progresses to gastrulation. During this process, the cells migrate to the germ layers of the embryo
(endoderm, ectoderm, and mesoderm) and prepare for cellular differentiation. Up until 11 weeks of pregnancy, glands in the mother’s uterus supply the embryo with the energy and nutrients that it needs to grow. This continues until the fetus is too large to be supported by the uterine wall, at which point the blood and nutrients are supplied by the placenta.18
Quantum Mechanics and Biology
Quantum mechanics was previously disregarded in biology as phenomena including tunneling, entanglement, and coherence were viewed to occur only at extremely cold temperatures.
However, in recent years these mechanisms have been observed in key biological processes including bird migration,19–21 enzyme reactions,22,23 photosynthesis,24,25 olfaction,26,27 and proton tunnelling in DNA mutations.28,29 As will be subsequently expanded upon, quantum mechanics may also operate in cognition and consciousness, including the moment consciousness enters the zygote.
Quantum tunneling is the process where a quantum (subatomic) particle traverses a potential energy barrier that is higher than its own kinetic energy. While tunneling does not exist in classical physics, it is integral to quantum physics. Tunneling is possible because the precise location of a quantum particle at any given point in time exists as a wave-like probability, of which its likelihood of occupying a particular space can be predicted using the Schrödinger equation.30 The probability of quantum tunneling occurring is dependent on the energy and size of both the particle and the barrier, exemplifying why this process is deemed not possible in classical physics wherein the objects in question are far too large to tunnel. Quantum tunneling was originally thought to occur only at extremely cold temperatures and was widely disregarded in human biology; however, recent experimentation has demonstrated that quantum tunneling is in fact possible at physiological temperature. Electron and proton tunneling are observed to occur ubiquitously throughout biology, including involvement in energy transfer during photosynthesis.25,26,30 Additionally, electron tunneling has been proposed in olfaction through mediation by the olfactant.31,32 Judith Klinman et al has demonstrated that enzyme reactions are dependent on hydrogen tunneling through its activation barrier, enabling otherwise improbable reactions that are critical to sustaining life.22,23,33
Quantum entanglement, or as Einstein called it, ‘spooky action at a distance’, is defined as two particles being affected by the state of one another, instantaneously and irrespective of the distance between them. Similar to tunneling, entanglement is not possible in classical physics, while the laws of quantum physics deviate. Quantum entanglement is described by Bell’s theorem.34 Entanglement has been demonstrated in avian migration through the involvement of Earth’s electromagnetic field, and has been suggested in the electron clouds of nucleic acids which hold DNA together.29
Quantum coherence is founded on the idea that objects have wave-like properties. If the waves are split in two, then the two waves will coherently interfere with each other to form a single state that is the superposition of the two states. Quantum coherence is the foundation of quantum computing, which uses qubits as a superposition of the 0 and 1 states which is a speed up. This is different from quantum entanglement in that entanglement is the connection between particles. It has been shown that quantum entanglement and quantum coherence are operationally equivalent, as in two sides of the same coin.35
Quantum Cognition
While the ‘warm and wet’ environment of the neurological system was previously regarded as a hindrance to quantum phenomena, this parameter has been confounded, opening the gates to further exploration of quantum mechanics in consciousness and cognition. In recent years, it has been demonstrated that quantum processes including coherence and tunneling do, in fact, take place in the brain, mediating its proposed function as a quantum computer. While classical computing is founded upon binary bits, quantum computing is based upon quantum bits, or qubits. Binary information involves computation utilizing two discrete digits, 0 and 1, while qubits enable much greater possibilities of computational power via quantum phenomena including entanglement and superposition.36 There have been several proposed theories surrounding quantum cognition, including one developed by Penrose and Hameroff called the orchestrated objective reduction (Orch OR) model of consciousness, which involves quantum computations through entangled microtubules in the brain.37 Another theory that is becoming increasingly researched is the involvement of nuclear and electron spins in the mediation of consciousness. Hu et al 2004 suggested that consciousness could be mediated by inter- and intra-molecular nuclear spin coherence and entanglement in neural membranes and proteins, primarily involving diffusible oxygen and nitric oxide.38 More recently, Weingarten et al has investigated quantum information processing and storage through a model involving quantum entangled nuclear spins of phosphorus. In this model, phosphorus atoms in Posner molecules (clusters of Ca9(PO4)6) of distant neurons are quantum entangled, functioning as neural qubits and hypothesized to function as the basis of quantum processing and ‘qubit memory’.39,40
If we define sentience or consciousness as Michio Kaku, PhD does, we have evolved out of the oceans with higher and higher orders of sentience or ability to receive signals from the environment and react based on those signals. In order to do so, we have had to evolve with the ability to receive signals from light (electron excitation from DHA in the retina), which allowed us to develop larger brains, the ability to make ATP, and in turn the capability of memory storage or perception of time as outlined above.33
Mitochondria as Quantum Sensors
ATP, the body’s usable form of energy, is required for all neurological functions including both somatic and autonomic, or conscious and subconscious. ATP is produced by mitochondria which receive electrons from food and oxygen in addition to signals from light, as will later be explained. 1.45 billion years ago, a form of bacteria became enveloped in archaea, resulting in biosymbiotic coupling and what we know today as mitochondria.41 Natural selection occurred, and thus commenced the first eukaryotic life form-- the common ancestor for all complex life. Due to redistribution of DNA respective to bioenergetic membranes, this endosymbiosis led to a
200,000-fold increase in the number of genes expressed-- expression dependent on mitochondrial power.42 Necessary for the emergence of complex life, intelligence and sentience was a source of innate energy production: the mitochondria. Mitochondria are capable of producing seemingly unlimited amounts of usable energy, which enables expansive amounts of “information” to be stored.33 The body is dependent on mitochondria for energy production and has evolved to contain varying densities of mitochondria in different organ systems, according to energy requirements. This energy is also required for memory-- a function key to organismal awareness and therefore consciousness.
The human brain produces and utilizes roughly 5.7 kg of ATP per day, which is the equivalent of the use of 56 g of glucose per day if one is assuming an ATP:glucose ratio of 36:1.43 The brain uses 20% of the body’s energy daily and the majority of that goes to fueling neuronal activity and signaling.33 The heart contains the second highest density of mitochondria followed by the immune system. Not only have mitochondria allowed us the ability to produce ATP, but they have allowed us the ability to process and store information as quantum sensors for the environment.
The ability to interact with the environment has enabled evolution from a single-celled or flagellated organism responding to an object in its environment to the ability to search for food to where we are in current human evolution. In order to evolve as such, we have developed the ability to have memory, which is dependent upon our brain’s ability to perceive time. As we have evolved this is dependent only upon the quantum evolution of DHA in the brain.
DHA
This leads to a subsequent step in evolutionary development: the origin of vision and the nervous system. One of the key constituents of signalling membranes in the eyes and brain is docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), a long-chain, omega-3 fatty acid. DHA makes up the core of photoreceptors, which convert energy from photons into electricity that can be transmitted through neural impulses. The capability for the conversion of energy from light to electricity further stimulated the evolution of the nervous system, allowing for complex thought. Because of its critical role in neural cell signaling, the superabundance of DHA in the brain allowed for synaptic evolution of self-awareness-- in other words, consciousness.44 It is the conversion of energy from light to electricity that stimulated the evolution of the brain and nervous system 600 million years ago, leading ultimately to the evolution of fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals, and eventually humans.44 Over the past 600 million years of evolution, DHA has been conserved as the primary acyl compound of both photoreceptor synapses and neuronal signaling membranes.45 This extreme conservation demonstrates that it is a critical molecule in vision and brain development, supporting the notion that the visual and neural function evolved from the ocean.44
DHA modulates expression of several hundred genes in the central nervous system, including those that regulate hormone release (hypothalamus) and circadian biology (suprachiasmatic nucleus).46 DHA is located in high concentrations in the retina. There is a possible mechanism proposed by Crawford et al where photoreceptor membranes are responsible for the electrical current in vision.45 Greater than 50% of the outer rod segment membrane phosphoglycerides is composed of DHA. The structure of DHA consists of six double bonds, separated by -CH2 bonds. There exists a dipole across the molecule, and the partial charges of the pi bonds alternate with the CH on the same side of the plane. For example, if a pi bond on one side of the plane is partially positive, the neighboring CH on that same side will be partially negative. Three of these six CH=CH bonds are coplanar and at least two have different energy states. Thus, the pi bond field effects are always unequal. When sunlight enters the eye through the lens and vitreous, eventually hitting the retina, it causes polarization of DHA resulting in “flipping” of the molecule so that the polarity is in the opposite direction.47 The absorbance of energy is the exact amount needed to flip. To simplify this process, this flipping is the basis for photon energization of retinal, a key chromophore in transmembrane proteins in the retina called opsins. It is this flipping that is correlated with visual memory, as the length of time it takes to flip is supposedly correlated to the amount of time of visual memory. When the double bonds are rearranged, the conformation and conjugated double bonds are able to store energy in the ultraviolet to visible range of the electromagnetic field.44
Crawford et al has proposed that the electrons of the methylene groups exhibit a polarization similar to that of the CH=CH bonds. This would mean that there is a probability of electron coherence between the two CH=CH sets and involvement of electron tunneling.48 When examining the DHA molecule as a “copper wire” for electron transfer in retinal, the presence of methylene groups appears as a problem in classical physics, because these molecules would block the current from passing from double bond to double bond. However, from a quantum physics perspective, DHA has energy states that imply its participation in coherence and tunneling. Crawford et al hypothesizes that the pi electrons in DHA could engage in quantum tunnelling, explaining the transport of electrons across the molecule despite the apparent methylene barrier.44 Quantum tunneling and cohesion could create the precise and quantized energy release that results in our keen three-dimensional vision and highly refined mental processing to observe and interact with our surrounding environment.
Physiological Effects of Light
We propose that the human body has evolved as an antenna for light or the electromagnetic field. Both the eyes and skin have been demonstrated to interact with the electromagnetic field, including infrared (IR), ultraviolet (UV), and visible spectrum (VIS) wavelengths, which constitute 0.0035% of the total field. As aforementioned, when light enters the eye and passes through the lens and vitreous, hitting the retina, it causes polarization of DHA in photoreceptors resulting in “flipping” of the molecule.44 Photon energy is transmitted through the optic nerve and optic chiasm to generate the neural spark that regulates the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) in the hypothalamus via input to the retinohypothalamic tract which regulates circadian rhythm. It is through this mechanism that photons trigger electrochemical signals which are transmitted along the retinal axon projections to the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of the hypothalamus.44,49 The SCN is the core pacemaker in the brain akin to a circadian clock, regulating physiological functions including but not limited to hormone release,50 metabolism,49,51 and mitochondrial function.52
Mitochondria operate as sensors of the external environment-- part of that environment being the electromagnetic field, or light. The SCN synchronizes mitochondria in peripheral tissues using a mechanism that consists of a transcriptional-translational feedback loop (TTFL), which modulates a molecular clock mechanism via clock-controlled genes.53 Diurnal cycles have been demonstrated to regulate mitochondrial biogenesis and functions including fission and fusion processes, reactive oxygen species production, and cellular respiration. While the molecular clock is conserved in all tissues types, its downstream effects are tissue-specific. In experimentation conducted in the SCN of mice, there was an upregulation of several genes that code for components of the mitochondrial ETC toward the end of the light phase, matching higher energy consumption of the brain during daylight hours.54 The peripheral clock mechanisms have also been demonstrated to regulate physiological function of the liver and skeletal muscle, dictate transcription of proteins involved in glucose regulation. Additionally, as with autophagy itself, mitophagy has been demonstrated to fluctuate throughout the day in a day/night dependent manner.55 Because light regulates mitochondrial ATP production, which is necessary for most physiological functions, this is one of the mechanisms mediating our connection to light and therefore electromagnetic field.52
Emerging literature demonstrates that sunlight also regulates physiological function through the skin, in ways additional to the well-described process of vitamin D synthesis. As our largest protective organ, the skin serves as a communicator between the outside environment and our nervous, endocrine, and immune systems. Ultraviolet light (wavelengths 100-400 nm) is capable of inciting signal transduction via cellular chromophores, including aromatic amino acids, certain molecules containing purines or pyrimidines, and others. It is important to note that the skin is a complex neuroendocrine system and produces many constituents of the neuroimmune system which have both local and central effects, including but not limited to acetylcholine, serotonin, cannabinoids, nitric oxide (NO), and neuropeptides.56,57 Upon contact with the skin, ultraviolet radiation (UVR), can regulate homeostasis throughout the body through stimulation of all elements of the central hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, including glucosteroidogenesis, upregulation of the CYP11A1 and CYP11B1 genes, release of ACTH, MSH, corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH)/ urocortin, proopiomelanocortin (POMC), and more.58–60 While it serves many neuroendocrine functions, POMC is notably involved in the regulation of dopamine, known as the reward or pleasure neurotransmitter.
The neuroendocrine effects of UVR are relatively rapid, with observed increases in serum levels of MSH, ACTH, and CRH within hours of skin exposure to UV. The downstream signalling effects of UVR are demonstrated by altered activity of internal organs, including the GI tract, liver, lungs, kidney, and spleen.50 The specific effects of UVR are dependent on the wavelength of light and the chromophores that they interact with. UVA and UVB have very different effects on the body. Not only does UV light have a profound effect on the skin and in turn on homeostasis, but so does visible light (VIS), as evidenced by its increased use in treating medical conditions.61
As demonstrated in multiple review articles, sunlight (including UV and VIS) can modulate neural, endocrine, immune, and metabolic function through contact with the eye and skin.50 After sensing light input and undergoing molecular changes, chromophores signal effector domains to perform light-dependent functions. In essence, these molecules ‘carry’ the light via electron excitation in order to have profound physiological effects on DNA expression and organ system function. It is notable that cobalamin (otherwise known as vitamin B12) has recently been classified as a red light chromophore, absorbing light with which it can modulate DNA expression and alter RNA-based regulatory elements.62
Given human dependency on the electromagnetic field, we propose that this intertwining of consciousness and physiology with the quantum field can be traced back to conception. In order to demonstrate this connection, we will now describe the current model of the unified field.
The Standard Model and Higgs Mechanism
In the 1860s, James Clerk Maxwell unified light, electricity, and magnetism into what became known as the electromagnetic theory. This laid the foundation for Einstein’s theory of special relativity and the future of mathematical theories of everything, which attempt to account for all forces and matter in nature. In the 1970s, the Standard Model was created, uniting the strong nuclear force, weak nuclear force, and electromagnetic force (but not gravity) into one theory.
Since then, physicists have continued to expand upon the work of Maxwell, Einstein, and the Standard Model, combining it with gravity to create the unified field theory.
In addition to unifying three of the four known fundamental forces, the Standard Model classifies all known elementary particles, including bosons, quarks, and leptons. Critical to this model is the Higgs mechanism, which is believed to generate the mass of all elementary particles in the Standard Model.
According to the first law of thermodynamics, energy and information cannot be created nor destroyed, but can only be transferred or transformed. The Higgs mechanism, which describes the generation of mass for gauge bosons, obeys this law. The Higgs field is a field of energy proposed to exist ubiquitously throughout the universe, and upon interaction with a gauge boson generates a Higgs boson, giving mass to a previously massless elementary particle. When the gauge boson enters the Higgs field, it is slowed down, and it is this slowing down that converts kinetic energy into mass energy. Physicist Brian Greene famously described the Higgs field as ‘an invisible molasses that permeates every nook and cranny of space’, and the slowing down of the boson particle as ‘its interaction with the molasses-- the resistance that it feels as it tries to burrow through the molasses-- that is what we interpret as the mass of the particle.’63 Until recently, the Higgs boson was considered theoretical. On July 4, 2012, scientists at CERN announced that they had used the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) to confirm the existence of the Higgs boson.
Higgs bosons are highly unstable and decay rapidly into various elementary particles, including quarks and leptons. These are the building blocks of matter. Every proton, electron, and neutron that composes an atom has mass because of the interaction between elementary particles and the field.64 The mass that elementary particles have was once a part of the Higgs field in the form of potential energy prior to it being manifested into matter. Therefore, without the interaction of gauge bosons (which act as force carriers) with the Higgs field, consciousness or sentience would not be tethered to mass.
Microscopic Black Holes
Black holes were initially predicted by Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity, published in 1915. The theory unified his previous special theory of relativity and Newton’s law of universal gravitation, providing an explanation of the curvature of spacetime, experienced as gravity, through the Einstein field equations. If the object exerts a strong enough gravitational force, nothing can escape the pull— including light— and thus a black hole is formed.65 Black holes lack characteristics other than mass, spin, and electric charge. A characteristic property of a black hole is the event horizon, which is the defined one-way boundary of space at which nothing can escape its inward pull.
As scientists at CERN look for proof of the other dimensions predicted by