CONTENTS

1. Preface: R P Bajpai
2. Properties of biophotons and their theoretical implications: Fritz-Albert Popp
3. Biophoton emission of a lichen species Parmelia tinctorum: R P Bajpai
4. Oscillations in ultraweak photon emission of Acetabularia acetabulum (L.): Roeland Van Wijk & Eduard P A Van Wijk
5. Temperature dependence of ultraweak photon emission in fibroblastic differentiation after irradiation with artificial sunlight: Hugo J Niggli
6. Biophotonic patterns of optical interactions between fish eggs and embryos: L V Beloussov, A B Burlakov & N N Louchinskaia
7. Solid state approach in biophoton research: Francesco Musumeci, Giuseppe Privitera, Agata Scordino, Maurizio Tedesco, Antonio Triglia & Salvo Tudisco
8. Biophoton emission of human body: S Cohen & F A Popp
9. Photon counting statistics analysis of biophotons from hands: Hyun-Hee Jung, Won-Myung Woo, Joon-Mo Yang, Chunho Choi, Jonghan Lee, Gilwon Yoon, Jong S Yang & Kwang-Sup Soh
10. Left-right asymmetry of biophoton emission from hemiparesis patients: Hyun-Hee Jung, Won-Myung Woo, Joon-Mo Yang, Chunho Choi, Jonghan Lee, Gilwon Yoon, Jong S Yang, Sungmuk Lee & Kwang-Sup Soh
11. Registration of spontaneous photon emission from virus-infected cell cultures: Development of experimental system: Michael Lipkind
12. Biophoton research in blood reveals its holistic properties: V L Voeikov, R Asfaramov, E V Bouravleva, C N Novikov & N D Vilenskaya
13. Biophotons from stressed and dying organisms: Toxicological aspects: Janusz Slawinski
14. Endogenous enzyme reactions closely related to photon emission in the plant defense response: Youichi Aoshima, Kimihiko Kato & Takahiro Makino
15. Variability of spectra of laser-induced fluorescence of colonic mucosa: Its significance for fluorescence detection of colonic neoplasia: Barbara W Chwirot, Malgorzata Kowalska, Natalia Plóciennik, Mariusz Piwinski, Zbigniew Michniewicz & Stanislaw Chwirot
16. Time-slot modulated electromagnetic fields of wireless communication systems: Is there a health risk for man? Lebrecht von Klitzing
17. Quantum coherence of biophotons and living systems: R P Bajpai
18. Single photon detectors for biology : Present and future: John Swain
19. ‘Virtual’ photons as carriers of consciousness — A critical comment: Michael Lipkind

ABSTRACTS

Preface
R P Bajpai (Guest Editor)

Many naturally occurring systems are endowed with a peculiar attribute called “life”. These systems are known as living or biological systems and are at the centre of all human cultures. The attribute “life” has been investigated with different perspectives and motivations for ages, but it has remained a riddle. It addresses some basic questions and fundamental problems. It is easy to perceive “life” and identify a living system but its scientific understanding is notoriously difficult and full of contradictions. The difficulty is linked with the inability to find an exclusive property of living systems that is law like related to all features of living systems arising from the attribute “life”. Crick and Watson took the first decisive step in the search of the exclusive property by discovering double helix structure of deoxyribose nucleic acid (DNA) showing specific pairing of adenine with thymine and guanine with cytosine between its two strands. They also realised that the specific pairing is indicative of a copying mechanism. It took another 13 years to decipher the genetic code employed in different steps of the copying mechanism. The copying mechanism altered the prevailing paradigm of Biology to a paradigm in which the essential ingredients of living systems are biomolecules and the working rule is the fundamental dogma of Biology. All biological properties originate at and are expressed by biomolecules. The new paradigm created a new scientific frontier of understanding and predicting the behaviour of living systems from a bio-molecular perspective. Rapid progress has been in this endeavour. The behaviour of a large number of properties of living system has become comprehensible. However, there are a small number of properties whose behaviour is incomprehensible; any attempt made to understand the behaviour encounters insurmountable problems. The incomprehensible properties bring out the inadequacies of the existing paradigm and a need to go beyond the existing paradigm. These properties are precursors of new inputs in the existing paradigm.

The properties of living systems are operationally demarcated into three classes, microscopic, macroscopic, and consciousness, based on measurability and comprehensibility in the existing paradigm. The properties of microscopic class are comprehensible as well as measurable, the properties of macroscopic class are not comprehensible but measurable, and the properties of consciousness class are neither comprehensible nor measurable. The incomprehensibility of some properties arises because of the basic tenets of existing paradigm. The tenets are separate identity of biomolecules, local interaction of biomolecules, incoherent and random kinetics of chemical reactions, and information transfer via movement of biomolecules. These tenets provide only a fine-grained vision of living systems. The grain size used is of biomolecules, which is the most appropriate grain size. The choice of a finer or coarser grain size will miss some important aspects of living systems. However, the depth of vision is too small in the paradigm; it only sees the properties of microscopic class and misses the cause of correlations of distant biomolecules. It is a serious shortcoming of the existing paradigm.

The effects of correlations are observable as efficiency and orders at macroscopic scales. The properties characterised by efficiency and orders at macroscopic scales belong to the macroscopic class. These are measurable properties and become comprehensible in the paradigm only after an assumption of co-operative and coordinated functioning of biomolecules that generates correlations. The assumption is usually made without any obvious reason. The assumption is attributed to some unknown peculiarity of living systems called coherence and the biomolecules involved in the cooperative functioning are called cohering. Coherence makes the cohering biomolecules behave like a macroscopic structure characterised by only a few holistic parameters. The number and behaviour of parameters depend upon the nature of the macroscopic structure that is either quantum or classical. The nature of macroscopic structure determines the nature of coherence, so that coherence is either quantum or classical. Quantum coherence is intrinsic to a system while classical coherence is a consequence of information and instruction transfers among biomolecules. Quantum coherence is associated with macroscopic quantum structures and one set of holistic parameters while classical coherence is associated with classical macroscopic structures and other set of holistic parameters. The holistic parameters are theory laden and indicate the existence of coherence but usually do not allow inferring its nature. A discriminatory property is the behaviour of correlations at small intervals. The correlation among distant molecules in a quantum structure exists at all times because of its intrinsic nature. In contrast, the correlation in a classical structure will be observable only after a time gap because of a finite speed of information transfer. Such experiments are difficult to perform and many measurements have not been made. Perhaps, because of it any serious effort has not been made to include the coherence in the biological paradigm and to study its consequences.

The information about the properties of consciousness class is based on subjective and non-repeatable experiences of human objects. The nature of knowledge obtained through experiences is participatory and experiences of only a few persons have been subjected to a limited form of scientific investigation. As a result, these properties are considered immeasurable and incomprehensible. The existence of such properties in non-human living systems is matter of speculation. These properties appear counter-intuitive, illogical and non-local in the existing paradigm. A similar situation is also encountered in describing the effects of non-locality of quantum systems in a classical framework. It is reasonable to expect that similar problems in two situations arise from a common cause. Since quantum nature introduces non-locality in non-living systems, the cause of non-locality in living systems should be the quantum nature of macroscopic structures. An added bonus is that it will imply quantum nature of coherence.

The phenomenon of biophoton emission addresses the basic problem of coherence and provides a means to study its consequences. The phenomenon is the incessant emission of photons by a living system mainly in the visible region and of ultra weak flux. A sensitive photo multiplier tube operating in the single photon detection mode is normally used in the detection of these photons. The signals of these photons have been observed in living systems ranging from bacteria to human tissues. The signals have two characteristic features — non-exponential decay characters of signals and sensitivity of signals to all essential biological and physiological activities. Both features rule out a conventional mode of photon emission and have far reaching implications. A prefix bio is added to the photons, photon signals, and photon emission to highlight the implications. The exponential decay character is a statistical result of emission from a large number of identical but independent units. Its absence in biophoton signals implies that biophoton-emitting units are correlated in a living system and biophoton emission is a manifestation of coherence. One can learn the properties and nature of coherence by studying biophoton signals. The implications of the sensitivity are also far reaching. The biological and physiological activities affecting biophotons signals belong to the macroscopic class. Further, the sensitivity is such that a biophoton signal appears to provide a faithful reflections of biological and physiological activities of the emitting system. If it is true for all macroscopic biological activities, then a biophoton signal contains decipherable and digitalised signatures of all macroscopic biological activities. The possibility has catalysed immense experimental activity of deciphering the signatures of individual biological activities and proving the uniqueness of signatures. The success of experiment activities depends upon the capability to identify the relevant parameters of biophoton signals so that the dependence of relevant parameters on physiological and environmental factors controlling biological activities can be measured. A theoretical model also specifies the relevant parameters and its formulation depends critically on the nature of coherence. In the absence of a consensus about the nature of coherence, the relevant parameters are inferred from model calculations as well as from the observed behaviour of biophoton signals. It is hoped that relevant parameters determined from the data and models will converge.

The support for the quantum nature of coherence also comes from a theoretical conjecture providing a possible explanation of the basic facts of genetic code namely only four bases in nucleotides, a codon consisting of three nucleotides coding for amino acids, and only twenty amino acids. These facts emerge in a natural way if it is conjectured that the selection of a base pair or of an amino acid is accomplished by a quantum search. Such selections occur in fundamental biological processes of replication, transcription and protein synthesis. The conjecture implies that the nucleotide making quantum searches are in quantum states because only a quantum object can make a quantum search. It raises the question of the composite quantum state of a bunch of nucleotides; the composite will be either decoupled or entangled. A decoupled state retains the individual identities of nucleotides while an entangled state obliterates the identities. The two states will have some common and different properties. The existing paradigm explores decoupled states of nucleotides because of its narrow vision. The paradigm implicitly assumes only the existence of decoupled states of nucleotides and never considers the possibility of composite entangled states. As a result, the paradigm is unsuccessful in understanding the quantum coherence of nucleotides. An entangled state has both local and non-local features. The local features manifest in the properties of macroscopic class and non-local features in the properties of consciousness class. The conjecture is appealing and integrates the hitherto comprehensible and incomprehensible aspects of biological systems into a broad picture. The experimental vindication of the conjecture will come from the study of properties of photons, emitted or absorbed in transitions of quantum states. The transitions in different types of states occur in the manifestation of properties of different classes. The transitions of decoupled states will probably involve thermal photons while transitions of entangled states will involve coherent photons. Coherent photons may have some non-local affects. The phenomenon of biophoton emission is in accordance with the broad picture and can give credence to the broad picture by filling its missing details through the study of biophoton signals. Biophoton emission is thus seen as crucial evidence of a physical basis of “life”, which is the theme binding, a collage of articles of this issue. These articles cover almost all aspects of biophoton phenomenon and give status reports of the various attempts made for understanding the issues raised above. The attempts have differing perspectives, follow different paths, investigate different systems, and make different promises of potential applications. This is inevitable in a new and evolving discipline. Perhaps, all attempts have grains of truth and “life” like a quantum reality traverses all available paths at the same time. Back to contents

Properties of biophotons and their theoretical implications
Fritz-Albert Popp

The word “biophotons” is used to denote a permanent spontaneous photon emission from all living systems. It displays a few up to some hundred photons /(s.cm2) within the spectral range from at least 260 to 800 nm. It is closely linked to delayed luminescence (DL) of biological tissues which describes the long term and ultra weak reemission of photons after exposure to light illumination. During relaxation DL turns continuously into the steady state biophoton emission, where both, DL and biophoton emission exhibit mode coupling over the entire spectrum and a Poissonian photo count distribution. DL is representing excited states of the biophoton field. The physical properties indicate that biophotons originate from fully coherent and sometimes even squeezed states. The physical analysis provides thermodynamic and quantum optical interpretation, in order to understand the biological impacts of biophotons. Biological phenomena like intracellular and intercellular communication, cell growth and differentiation, interactions among biological systems (like “Gestaltbildung” or swarming), and microbial infections can be understood in terms of biophotons. “Biophotonics”, the corresponding field of applications, provide a new powerful tool for assessing the quality of food (like freshness and shelf life), microbial infections, environmental influences and for substantiating medical diagnosis and therapy. Back to contents

Biophoton emission of a lichen species Parmelia tinctorum
R P Bajpai

The properties of biophoton signals emitted by samples of lichen species P. tinctorum are investigated. The shape of a light induced signal is determined from 5ms onwards using successively the bin resolution of 1, 10 and 100 ms; 1000 measurements in successive bins are made at each resolution. The measurement of the shape is repeated at various temperatures in the range (1-40°C) in steps of 1°C. It is found that a biophoton signal is very sensitive to temperature and different portions of the signal show different sensitivity. The temperature dependence of the decaying part is even qualitatively different from that of the non-decaying part. The signal responds to temperature changes of 0.1°C in less than 1 ms. The effect of monochromatic stimulation on the strengths of the signal and its red, blue and green spectral components are determined in the wavelength range (400-700) nm in steps of 10nm. The signal and its broad spectral components have similar excitation curves. The relative strength of spectral component appears independent of the stimulating wavelength. The shape of the decaying portion of the signal and its red, blue and green components is also determined. The character of decay in all four cases is non-exponential. The measurements with various interference filters spanning the entire visible region are made with the bin size of 20s. These measurements are qualitative because of large fluctuations but suggest that the spectral components of a biophoton signal are distributed in the entire visible region. The probabilities of detecting different number of photons in the non-decaying portion are determined by making 30000 measurements in each set with the bin size of 50, 100, 200, 300, 400, 500 and 700 ms. The probabilities determine the parameters of a squeezed state of light- the magnitude of its displacement parameter is different but the phase of its displacement parameter and its squeezing parameter are same for different sizes of a bin. These measurements further indicate that the average signal strength remains constant for 19 hr. Back to contents

Oscillations in ultraweak photon emission of Acetabularia acetabulum (L.)
Roeland Van Wijk & Eduard P A Van Wijk

Ultraweak photon emission of dark-incubated A. acetabulum cells were measured with the use of a sensitive electronphotomultiplier of the Hamamatsu 550 type. The photon count series were subjected to Fourier analysis for 2-1020 sec period range. The average level of photon emission in samples containing 50 cells was approximately 40% above background. Cell cultures were prepared at least 24 hr before the photon emission measurements and kept un-disturbed (“established cultures”). This paper reports results of Fourier analysis of a number of samples of Acetabularia cells. In a single population cells periodicity of light emission was not defined directly from Fourier transformation. A large number of analyses, however, if they are combined and compared with background data, reveal a cell-culture specific frequency pattern. The results suggest the idea that established cell-cultures are characterized by higher intensities of long period (minutes) oscillations occurs, while a relative decrease was observed in the short period (few seconds) range. The long period oscillations were not detected in cell cultures that were prepared within 1 hr before the photon emission measurements. It is concluded that Fourier analysis of ultraweak photon emission, even with relatively low signals, appears to be possible. It may serve as a non-invasive tool for monitoring the physiological state of cells, or for studying the control of intercellular dynamics. Back to contents

Temperature dependence of ultraweak photon emission in fibroblastic differentiation after irradiation with artificial sunlight
Hugo J Niggli

Yield of ultraweak photon emission in a cell culture model for biophotonic measurements using fibroblastic differentiation depended on the temperature of photonic measurement. The ultraweak photon emission of medium was significantly higher at 37°C than at 25°C and after UVB-irradiation this difference was even more pronounced. While with cells in the medium no temperature dependence could be determined in unirradiated samples, after UVB-irradiation of cells an increase of biophotonic emission was observed in postmitotic fibroblasts. While after several UVB exposures normal cells begin to absorb the ultraviolet light, cells from patients with the disease Xeroderma Pigmentosum loose this capacity. In view that fibroblasts play an essential role in skin aging, skin carcinogenesis and wound healing, the biophotonic model using the fibroblastic differentiation system provides to be a new and powerful non-invasive tool for the development of skin science. Back to contents

Biophotonic patterns of optical interactions between fish eggs and embryos
L V Beloussov & A B Burlakov and N N Louchinskaia

The optical (non-substantial) interactions between various biological samples have been evident in a number of cases mainly by the effects on their functional activity and developmental patterns. However, the mechanisms of these interactions have remained obscure. Effect of optical interaction has been observed on the intensity and Fourier patterns of biophoton emission of fish embryos. We demonstrate that: (1) the short-term optical interactions are accompanied by a gradual decrease of a total emission intensity of the interacting batches; (2) this effect is spread laterally to that part of a batch which does not have any direct optical contacts with its partner; and (3) the long-term optical contacts lead to a mutual exchange of spectral characteristics of interacting batches in which the total spectral density values are reversed (often with an overshoot). The reversal rate depends upon the developmental distance between the optical partners and the initial differences of their spectral characteristics. The results are discussed in terms of a sub-radiance and Le Chatelier principle. Back to contents

Solid state approach in biophoton research
Francesco Musumeci, Giuseppe Privitera, Agata Scordino, Maurizio Tedesco, Antonio Triglia & Salvo Tudisco

Main characteristics of the delayed luminescence (DL) emitted in the seconds range from biological systems is analyzed. The correlation between change in DL and cell’s organization, and similarity with some characteristics of DL from solid state system suggest to connect DL in biological system to decay of collective electron states formed during energy and charge transport along the macromolecular ordered structures which form the cell. Results of a proposed soliton model are discussed, together with some phenomenological evidence which emphasize the possibility of using DL measurements as an intrinsic probe in biophysical investigations. Back to contents

Biophoton emission of human body
S Cohen & F A Popp

For the first time systematic measurements of the "ultraweak" photon emission of the human body (biophotons) have been performed by means of a photon detector device set up in darkness. About 200 persons have been investigated. In a particular case one person has been examined daily over several months. It turned out that this biophoton emission reflects, (i) the left-right symmetry of the human body; (ii) biological rhythms such as 14 days, 1 month, 3 months and 9 months; (iii) disease in terms of broken symmetry between left and right side; and (iv) light channels in the body, which regulate energy and information transfer between different parts. The results show that besides a deeper understanding of health, disease and body field, this method provides a new powerful tool of non-invasive medical diagnosis in terms of basic regulatory functions of the body. Back to contents

Photon counting statistics analysis of biophotons from hands
Hyun-Hee Jung, Won-Myung Woo, Joon-Mo Yang, Chunho Choi, Jonghan Lee, Gilwon Yoon, Jong S Yang & Kwang-Sup Soh

The photon counting statistics of biophotons emitted from hands is studied with a view to test its agreement with the Poisson distribution. The moments of observed probability up to seventh order have been evaluated. The moments of biophoton emission from hands are in good agreement while those of dark counts of photomultiplier tube show large deviations from the theoretical values of Poisson distribution. The present results are consistent with the conventional d-value analysis of the second moment of probability. Back to contents

Left-right asymmetry of biophoton emission from hemiparesis patients
Hyun-Hee Jung, Won-Myung Woo, Joon-Mo Yang, Chunho Choi, Jonghan Lee, Gilwon Yoon, Jong S. Yang, Sungmuk Lee & Kwang-Sup Soh

Left-right biophoton asymmetry from the palm and the dorsum of hands from 7 Korean hemiparesis patients were studied. There is a strong tendency that the left-hemiparesis patients emit more biophotons from the right than the left hands, while the right-hemiparesis patient emits more from the left hand. Acupuncture treatment reduces dramatically the left-right asymmetry of biophoton emission rates. However there is no systematic difference for the patients in the emission rates from the palm and the dorsum of hands. Back to contents

Registration of spontaneous photon emission from virus-infected cell cultures: Development of experimental system
Michael Lipkind

“Viruses are probes by which one can gain insight into cellular structure and function”. Sir M.F. Burnet
Detection of spontaneous photon emission from virus-infected cells was attempted using cell monolayer cultures prepared from the established cell lines differing by origin and sensitivity to viruses. The experimental system was elaborated permitting maintenance of the cell monolayer cultures grown upon quartz slides placed inside quartz cuvettes within the photomultiplier chamber during prolonged time periods (till 24-36 hr) covering the whole virus multiplication cycle. Rich nutritive medium was employed, providing undisturbed cell viability and virus-induced cytopathic effect (CPE) development during such prolonged experiment, each ingredient of the medium being checked as potential parasitic emitter or extinguisher of the cell-specific emission. As presupposed ‘positive control’, the in vivo cultivated chorio-allantoic membranes (CAM) of 10-days-old chick-embryonated eggs were used. The virus-infected CAMs showed specific peculiarities of the emission dynamics as compared to monotonous dynamics shown by non-infected CAMs. Similar dynamic regularities were observed in cell monolayer cultures containing much lesser (by order) number of cells per exposed sample. Using the elaborated system, some specific changes in the virus-infected cells were found, being correlated with two stages of virus replication cycle: the initial stage, synchronous penetration of the pre-adsorbed virus inside the cell, and a later stage, characterized by intensive CPE manifestations. Back to contents

Biophoton research in blood reveals its holistic properties
V L Voeikov, R. Asfaramov, E V Bouravleva, C N Novikov & N D Vilenskaya

Monitoring of spontaneous and luminophore amplified photon emission (PE) from non-diluted human blood under resting conditions and artificially induced immune reaction revealed that blood is a continuous source of biophotons indicating that it persists in electronically excited state. This state is pumped through generation of electron excitation produced in reactive oxygen species (ROS) reactions. Excited state of blood and of neutrophil suspensions (primary sources of ROS in blood) is an oscillatory one suggesting of interaction between individual sources of electron excitation. Excited state of blood is extremely sensitive to the tiniest fluctuations of external photonic fields but resistant to temperature variations as reflected in hysteresis of PE in response to temperature variations. These data suggest that blood is a highly cooperative non-equilibrium and non-linear system, whose components unceasingly interact in time and space. At least in part this property is provided by the ability of blood to store energy of electron excitation that is produced in course of its own normal metabolism. From a practical point of view analysis of these qualities of blood may be a basement of new approach to diagnostic procedures. Back to contents

Biophotons from stressed and dying organisms: Toxicological aspects
Janusz Slawinski

Cells and organisms exposed to detrimental and toxic substances show different responses in photon emission dependent on amount, kind and exposure time of toxin as well as on the organism investigated. Radical reaction-generating substances and dehydrating, lipid dissolving and protein denaturating toxins which do not induce direct chemiluminescence resulting from reactive oxygen species were applied. Lethal doses of toxins and stress factors such as osmotics and temperature evoke increase in the intensity of photon emission resulting from a rapid and irreversible perturbation of homeostasis. Bacterial and fungal toxins that elicit hypersensitive death of plant cells or defense response correlated with photon emission are also briefly discussed. Collective molecular interactions contribute to the photon-generating degradative processes in stressed and dying organisms. The measurements of biophoton signals and analysis of their parameters are used to elucidate the possible mechanisms of the toxin-organism interaction and the resistance of organisms. Toxicological perspectives of the use of these sensitive and rapid measurements as a part of direct toxicity assessment are discussed. Back to contents

Endogenous enzyme reactions closely related to photon emission in the plant defense response
Youichi Aoshima, Kimihiko Kato & Takahiro Makino

Lipoxygenase (LOX) and peroxidase (POD) reactions, which are involved in the production of reactive oxygen and radical species, are shown to be associated with ultraweak photon emission in plant defense mechanisms. These enzyme reactions induced high-level ultraweak photon emission in an in vitro reaction system. The application of LOX to sweet potato slices caused photon emission directly in plants. LOX substrate promoted photon emission in chitosan-treated sweet potato, and LOX inhibitor markedly suppressed this emission. Therefore, a LOX-related pathway, including LOX and other downstream reactions, is principally associated with photon emission in plant defense mechanisms. Back to contents

Variability of spectra of laser-induced fluorescence of colonic mucosa: Its significance for fluorescence detection of colonic neoplasia
Barbara W Chwirot, Malgorzata Kowalska, Natalia Plóciennik, Mariusz Piwinski, Zbigniew Michniewicz & Stanislaw Chwirot

To determine the extent of a natural variability of the spectra of the autofluorescence and its significance for a reproducibility of different approaches typically used in studies on fluorescence detection of colonic lesions. Two independent series of experiments have been conducted during three years in the same laboratory. Macroscopic tissue specimens obtained during operations of patients with colonic cancers were studied in vitro. The tissues were excited using UV lines of c.w. He-Cd laser and pulsed nitrogen laser and the autofluorescence spectra were recorded for areas visually diagnosed as normal or pathologically changed mucosa. Natural variability of the autofluorescence spectra of colonic tissues seems to be most important factor limiting sensitivity and specificity of the diagnostic algorithms. The mean fluorescence spectra obtained for normal mucosa and its neoplastic lesions differ significantly but the differences are difficult to observe because of the high natural variability among the individual spectra. Further studies of biological basis of the colonic autofluorescence are necessary for a progress in the field of fluorescence detection of colonic neoplastic lesions. Back to contents

Time-slot modulated electromagnetic fields of wireless communication systems: Is there a health risk for man?
Lebrecht von Klitzing

The safety guidelines of ICNIRP on bio-effects of low energy fields are based absorption and transformation into thermal effects. These guidelines are much higher than for acute reactions and long time exposure. It is pointed out that the guidelines for cordless telephone and mobile phone should correspond to long time exposure to low energetic electromagnetic fields. Back to contents

Quantum coherence of biophotons and living systems
R P Bajpai

Coherence is a property of the description of the system in the classical framework in which the subunits of a system act in a cooperative manner. Coherence becomes classical if the agent causing cooperation is discernible otherwise it is quantum coherence. Both stimulated and spontaneous biophoton signals show properties that can be attributed to the cooperative actions of many photon-emitting units. But the agents responsible for the cooperative actions of units have not been discovered so far. The stimulated signal decays with non-exponential character. It is system and situation specific and sensitive to many physiological and environmental factors. Its measurable holistic parameters are strength, shape, relative strengths of spectral components, and excitation curve. The spontaneous signal is non-decaying with the probabilities of detecting various number of photons to be neither normal nor Poisson. The detected probabilities in a signal of Parmeliatinctorum match with probabilities expected in a squeezed state of photons. It is speculated that an in vivo nucleic acid molecule is an assembly of intermittent quantum patches that emit biophoton in quantum transitions. The distributions of quantum patches and their lifetimes determine the holistic features of biophoton signals, so that the coherence of biophotons is merely a manifestation of the coherence of living systems. Back to contents

Single photon detectors for biology : Present and future
John Swain

A summary of the status of present technology for the detection of single photons is presented with a view towards applications in biophotonics. Included are careful discussions of the numerous problems that can be encountered and how to get around them with the hope that this will be of help to biologists interested in doing work in the field of biophotonics. Emphasis is placed on traditional devices, but the field is one which is continuously developing and we review the status of new and very interesting technologies which are becoming available. The paper is meant to be fairly self-contained and assumes no extensive knowledge of the physics of photodetection. Back to contents

‘Virtual’ photons as carriers of consciousness — A critical comment
Michael Lipkind Back to contents