LanceGary
24-05-2012, 14:12
Research suggests cells communicate via biophotons
May 23rd, 2012 in Biology / Other
(Phys.org) -- Biologists have long been familiar with luminescence in
organisms, where plants and animals produce visible light, but more
intriguing perhaps is the newer field of study centered around
biophotons, whereby cells in organisms produce photons, but in numbers
that are too few to be seen. How they do so and why, is an area that
has come under more scrutiny of late. Now, new research by Sergey
Mayburov, of the Lebedev Institute of Physics in Moscow, has uncovered
a pattern in photons being generated by cells in fish eggs that gives
credence to the theory that some cells use biophotons to communicate.
He has written a paper describing his results and has posted it on the
preprint server arXiv.
Mayburov is not alone in his thinking. Other researchers have found
what they believe to be evidence of cells communicating by emitting
streams of biophotons. Some have even have found what they believe are
associations between the emittance of biophotons and increased cell
division in plants growing in close proximity; so much so that they
have measured increases of up to 30%. Others have found that
biophotons emitted from older eggs in a clutch, appear to inhibit the
growth of immature eggs; a form of survival of the fittest, or at
least the more mature.
To find out if fish eggs are able to play a similar role, Mayburov
turned out the lights in his lab and recorded biophotons as they were
emitted from the eggs. His aim was to see if any discernible pattern
could be found, which would perhaps offer some clues as to how
biophotons could be used by organisms or their cells to communicate.
After much study, he says he has indeed found such a pattern and that
it resembles the way we humans send binary data over noisy
communications channels. The biophotons he studied he says, emit near
periodic bursts of photons which could conceivably be seen and
interpreted by other organisms or their cells who could then respond
accordingly.
Mayburov’s results don’t really prove anything of course, his results
are purely speculative, yet they do suggest that there might be more
to biophotons than has been previously thought. More work will have to
be conducted to find answers to the many questions that still exist,
such as how do cells actually create them, and if other cells in other
organisms are really listening, how do they do it, and perhaps more
importantly, how do they know how to respond to them?
More information: Photonic Communications and Information Encoding in
Biological Systems, arXiv:1205.4134v1 [q-bio.OT] http://arxiv.org/abs/1205.4134 (http://www.google.com/url?sa=D&q=http://arxiv.org/abs/1205.4134&usg=AFQjCNEoTXHglREG2MQ8sF9l6ZTmyuMzCA)
Abstract
The structure of optical radiation emitted by the samples of loach
fish eggs is studied. It was found earlier that such radiation perform
the communications between distant samples, which result in the
synchronization of their development. The photon radiation in form of
short quasi-periodic bursts was observed for fish and frog eggs, hence
the communication mechanism can be similar to the exchange of binary
encoded data in the computer nets via the noisy channels. The data
analysis of fish egg radiation demonstrates that in this case the
information encoding is similar to the digit to time analogue
algorithm.
via Arxiv Blog
© 2012 Phys.Org
"Research suggests cells communicate via biophotons." May 23rd, 2012.
http://phys.org/news/2012-05-cells-biophotons.html (http://www.google.com/url?sa=D&q=http://phys.org/news/2012-05-cells-biophotons.html&usg=AFQjCNHAitw7QsjaWoyWiTQpatY_qiSG1Q)
May 23rd, 2012 in Biology / Other
(Phys.org) -- Biologists have long been familiar with luminescence in
organisms, where plants and animals produce visible light, but more
intriguing perhaps is the newer field of study centered around
biophotons, whereby cells in organisms produce photons, but in numbers
that are too few to be seen. How they do so and why, is an area that
has come under more scrutiny of late. Now, new research by Sergey
Mayburov, of the Lebedev Institute of Physics in Moscow, has uncovered
a pattern in photons being generated by cells in fish eggs that gives
credence to the theory that some cells use biophotons to communicate.
He has written a paper describing his results and has posted it on the
preprint server arXiv.
Mayburov is not alone in his thinking. Other researchers have found
what they believe to be evidence of cells communicating by emitting
streams of biophotons. Some have even have found what they believe are
associations between the emittance of biophotons and increased cell
division in plants growing in close proximity; so much so that they
have measured increases of up to 30%. Others have found that
biophotons emitted from older eggs in a clutch, appear to inhibit the
growth of immature eggs; a form of survival of the fittest, or at
least the more mature.
To find out if fish eggs are able to play a similar role, Mayburov
turned out the lights in his lab and recorded biophotons as they were
emitted from the eggs. His aim was to see if any discernible pattern
could be found, which would perhaps offer some clues as to how
biophotons could be used by organisms or their cells to communicate.
After much study, he says he has indeed found such a pattern and that
it resembles the way we humans send binary data over noisy
communications channels. The biophotons he studied he says, emit near
periodic bursts of photons which could conceivably be seen and
interpreted by other organisms or their cells who could then respond
accordingly.
Mayburov’s results don’t really prove anything of course, his results
are purely speculative, yet they do suggest that there might be more
to biophotons than has been previously thought. More work will have to
be conducted to find answers to the many questions that still exist,
such as how do cells actually create them, and if other cells in other
organisms are really listening, how do they do it, and perhaps more
importantly, how do they know how to respond to them?
More information: Photonic Communications and Information Encoding in
Biological Systems, arXiv:1205.4134v1 [q-bio.OT] http://arxiv.org/abs/1205.4134 (http://www.google.com/url?sa=D&q=http://arxiv.org/abs/1205.4134&usg=AFQjCNEoTXHglREG2MQ8sF9l6ZTmyuMzCA)
Abstract
The structure of optical radiation emitted by the samples of loach
fish eggs is studied. It was found earlier that such radiation perform
the communications between distant samples, which result in the
synchronization of their development. The photon radiation in form of
short quasi-periodic bursts was observed for fish and frog eggs, hence
the communication mechanism can be similar to the exchange of binary
encoded data in the computer nets via the noisy channels. The data
analysis of fish egg radiation demonstrates that in this case the
information encoding is similar to the digit to time analogue
algorithm.
via Arxiv Blog
© 2012 Phys.Org
"Research suggests cells communicate via biophotons." May 23rd, 2012.
http://phys.org/news/2012-05-cells-biophotons.html (http://www.google.com/url?sa=D&q=http://phys.org/news/2012-05-cells-biophotons.html&usg=AFQjCNHAitw7QsjaWoyWiTQpatY_qiSG1Q)