Was Penrose Right? NEW EVIDENCE For Quantum Effects In The Brain

Check out the Space Time Merch Store Sign Up on Patreon to get access to the Space Time Discord! Nobel laureate Roger Penrose is widely held to be one of the most brilliant living physicists for his wide-ranging work from black holes to cosmology. And then there’s his idea about how consciousness is caused by quantum processes. Most scientists have dismissed this as a cute eccentricity—a guy like Roger gets to have at least one crazy theory without being demoted from the supersmartypants club. The most common argument for this dismissal is that quantum effects can’t survive long enough in an environment as warm and chaotic as the brain. Well, a new study has revealed that Penrose’s prime candidate molecule for this quantum activity does indeed exhibit large scale quantum activity. So was Penrose right after all? Are you a quantum entity? PBS Member Stations rely on viewers like you. To support your local station, go to: Sign up for the mailing list to get episode notifications and hear special announcements! Search the Entire Space Time Library Here: Hosted by Matt O’Dowd Written by Christopher Pollack & Matt O’Dowd Post Production by Leonardo Scholzer, Yago Ballarini & Stephanie Faria Directed by Andrew Kornhaber Associate Producer: Bahar Gholipour Executive Producers: Eric Brown & Andrew Kornhaber Executive in Charge for PBS: Maribel Lopez Director of Programming for PBS: Gabrielle Ewing Assistant Director of Programming for PBS: John Campbell Spacetime is a production of Kornhaber Brown for PBS Digital Studios. This program is produced by Kornhaber Brown, which is solely responsible for its content. © 2024 PBS. All rights reserved. End Credits Music by . Schattenberg: Space Time Was Made Possible In Part By: Big Bang Sponsors Wojciech Szymski First Principles Foundation John Sronce Bryce Fort Peter Barrett David Neumann Alexander Tamas Morgan Hough Juan Benet Vinnie Falco Mark Rosenthal Quasar Sponsors Grace Biaelcki Glenn Sugden Ethan Cohen Stephen Wilcox The Tyacke boys Amy Hickman Mark Heising Hypernova Sponsors Julien Dubois Richard Pavlicek Dean Galvin Michael Tidwell Robert DeChellis Chris Webb David Giltinan Ivari Tölp Kenneth See Gregory Forfa Alex Kern drollere Bradley Voorhees Scott Gorlick Paul Stehr-Green Ben Delo Scott Gray Антон Кочков Robert Ilardi John R. Slavik Mathew Donal Botkin Edmund Fokschaner chuck zegar Daniel Muzquiz Gamma Ray Burst Sponsors Sandhya Devi Michael Oulvey Neil Moore Robin Sur Arko Provo Mukherjee Mike Purvis Christopher Wade Anthony Crossland treborg777 Grace Seraph Stephen Saslow Tomaz Lovsin Anthony Leon Leonardo Schulthais Senna Lori Ferris Dennis Van Hoof Koen Wilde Nicolas Katsantonis Richard Steenbergen Joe Pavlovic Justin Lloyd Chuck Lukaszewski Cole B Combs Andrea Galvagni Jerry Thomas Nikhil Sharma John Anderson Bradley Ulis Craig Falls Kane Holbrook Ross Story Harsh Khandhadia Matt Quinn Michael Lev Rad Antonov Terje Vold James Trimmier Jeremy Soller Paul Wood Kent Durham jim bartosh John H. Austin, Jr. Diana S Polijar Faraz Khan Almog Cohen Daniel Jennings Russ Creech Jeremy Reed David Johnston Michael Barton Isaac Suttell Oliver Flanagan Bleys Goodson Mark Delagasse Mark Daniel Cohen Shane Calimlim Tybie Fitzhugh Eric Kiebler Craig Stonaha Frederic Simon Tonyface John Robinson Jim Hudson Alex Gan John Funai Adrien Molyneux Bradley Jenkins Vlad Shipulin Thomas Dougherty Dan Warren Joseph Salomone