Life is truly beautiful, declared the authors of a new experiment from the University of Calgary and the National Research Council of Canada.
The researchers reached this conclusion following an unusual experiment involving mice and two different types of plants. They discovered direct physical evidence of the biophoton phenomenon: the emission of light during life. The team also claims that all living things, including human bodies, stop glowing after death.
At first glance, these results may seem somewhat strange. It’s hard not to associate the researchers’ findings with pseudoscientific theories about auras and discharges surrounding living organisms.
Moreover, the visible wavelengths of light emitted by biological processes are expected to be so weak that they can easily be overshadowed by environmental electromagnetic waves and the radiant heat produced by our metabolism.
However, the team of scientists led by physicist Wahid Salari from the University of Calgary asserts that they observed ultra-weak photon emission (UPE) produced by the test animals and plants.
The science behind biophotons is quite controversial. Various biological processes generate bright manifestations of light in the form of chemiluminescence. For decades, spontaneous emissions of light waves ranging from 200 to 1000 nanometers have been recorded in less obvious reactions among a wide spectrum of living cells: from cow heart tissues to bacterial colonies.
A serious contender for the source of this emission is the action of various reactive oxygen species produced by living cells in response to stresses such as heat, toxins, pathogens, or nutrient deficiencies.
For instance, in the presence of sufficient hydrogen peroxide molecules, fats and proteins can undergo transformations that send their electrons racing at high speeds. As they return to their original state, they emit one or two fairly energetic photons, as reported by Science Alert.
What Did the Scientists Discover?
During the study, the team used specialized instruments to compare the weakest emissions from living and dead mice. At certain stages of the experiment, the bodies of the deceased rodents were warmed to normal living temperature to ensure that heat was not a variable factor.
The researchers detected individual photons in the visible light spectrum emanating from the cells of the mice both before and after death. The difference in the number of these photons was striking, with a significant drop in UPE after death.
Similar results were obtained during experiments with leaves of the watercress plant (Arabidopsis thaliana) and a houseplant known as the schefflera or dwarf umbrella tree (Heptapleurum arboricola). The stress experienced by the plants due to physical damage and chemical interventions provided compelling evidence that reactive oxygen species could indeed be the cause of the soft emission.
“Our results showed that throughout the 16 hours of filming, the damaged parts of all the leaves were significantly brighter than the undamaged ones,” the scientists wrote in their report.
The researchers suggested that even the faintest glow produced by cells under stress could eventually help experts assess the health status of a living organism.
The findings of the study were published in The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters.