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The proposed use of ion beams or cosmic rays as a new stimulus
technique in the search for biological nonlocality
Fred H. Thaheld
fthaheld@directcon.net
Abstract
Research over the last several decades appears to suggest the possibility of the existence of
biological nonlocality between human subjects. This is based on photostimulation and resulting
EEG correlations between stimulated and non-stimulated subjects. Replication of results has
proven to be difficult due to the low microvoltages generated and the lack of clarity in the
correlated brain waves. It is proposed to use either heavy ion beams from accelerators or cosmic
rays as alternate stimulus sources. This is based on existing research derived from irradiating
mice and brain tumor patients with heavy ions and with astronauts exposed to cosmic rays.
A counterintuitive body of research has been slowly accumulating over the last several
decades which seems to suggest the possibility of the existence of biological nonlocality between
human subjects [1,2]. This can be considered as the biological equivalent, or analogous to, the
original physics experiment by Aspect, which revealed the existence of quantum mechanical
nonlocality, by passing one photon of an entangled pair through a polarizer, and having the
second entangled photon respond in a similar polarized fashion [3]. I.e., a measurement was
made on the first photon and conveyed in nonlocal fashion to the second photon which was
several meters distant.
The usual research technique involving the humans, has been to subject one of a pair of
individuals to regular or patterned photostimulation, thereby altering their electroencephalogram
(EEG), and observing correlated EEG effects in the non-stimulated subject who is located
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several meters away, usually in a separate room or Faraday cage [1,2]. Other related research
has involved recording the fMRI of a non-stimulated subject. The problem with these
experiments has been the limited number of subjects involved and the lack of replication, due to
the low microvoltages generated by the non-stimulated subjects in their EEGs in comparison to
the microvoltages in the EEGs of the stimulated subjects. That is one of the reasons that the
author has proposed some additional stimulus techniques over and above photostimulation, such
as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), where one gets several different and simultaneous
EEG responses in addition to the appearance of phosphenes [1-2,4]. For the purposes of this
proposal it is important to mention here that in a similar vein, it has been noticed that patients
undergoing ion therapy for brain tumors, simultaneously observe phosphenes [5,6]. Astronauts
in space also observe phosphenes or light flashes (LF) as a result of cosmic rays impinging on
the retina [6].
Experiments have also been conducted with neurons adhering to two separate microelectrode
arrays (MEAs), both of which are in Faraday cages, where one MEA is stimulated with a laser
and correlated electrical signals appear in the non-stimulated MEA [7,8]. Future experiments
are planned with more stringent shielding to rule out any possible ultraweak electromagnetic
influences in the case of neurons grown on MEAs.
In addition to proposing experiments involving the use of human subjects, the author has
proposed the stimulation of monkeys and dolphins with patterned photostimulation and TMS [2].
He would now like to broaden the stimulus technique to include ions from accelerators and
cosmic rays utilizing both human subjects and mice.
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In the case of mice we would have one pair, with both hooked up to separate
electroretinogram (ERG), EEG and visual evoked potential (VEP) [9]. Only one of the pair is
irradiated with
12
C ions or is stimulated with light from a white LED, either simultaneously or
separately. We now want to determine if the other mouse, which is several meters distant or in
an adjacent room, reveals any simultaneous correlated or anomalous responses or overlap in the
areas of the ERG, EEG or VEP. For initial experimental purposes there would be no need to
have the non-stimulated mouse in a Faraday cage to rule out any possible electromagnetic
influences. It is only if we observe some type of correlations that one could proceed to this step.
Any evidence for any type of correlation over the period of ion bombardment would be evidence
for biological nonlocality.
Essentially the same arrangement could be made for patients undergoing radiation therapy for
tumors, using a pair with both hooked up to separate ERGs, EEGs and VEPs and, with a white
LED for separate or simultaneous light stimulation. Once again they are separated by several
meters without a Faraday cage i.e., the non-stimulated subject can be in an adjacent room. We
want to determine if, while one of them is being subjected to ion radiation, we get some
correlated response in either the ERG, EEG or VEP of the non-stimulated subject. In addition,
we will want to see if the non-stimulated subject also reports on seeing any phosphenes! If any
correlations are observed one can then place the non-stimulated subject in a Faraday cage to rule
out any extraneous influences.
The final proposal has to do with astronauts in space and human subjects on the ground. At
the present time astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) are utilizing what is referred
to as the Anomalous Long Term Effects on Astronauts (ALTEA) facility (6,9). ALTEA consists
of a silicon detector system (SDS) positioned around the astronaut’s head on a helmet shaped
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holder containing a 32 electrode EEG cap, including 3 floating electrodes for ERG
measurements. It also has a visual stimulator unit (VSU) which delivers the light stimulation
paradigm for the VEP. The VSU can also be used at any time to create additional stimuli in
conjunction with that arising from the cosmic rays. The SDS is able to reconstruct the
trajectories of specific cosmic ray particles and ascertain what type, while correlating this with
electrophysiological readings such as ERG, EEG and VEP. ALTEA measures the particles
passing through the astronaut’s eyes/brain, their electrophysiological brain dynamics and the
visual system status and, each perception of a LF is signaled with a pushbutton.
On any given day thousands of EEGs are being taken around the world. The objective will be
to see if we can observe any correlations of an ERG, EEG, VEP or LF nature between the
astronauts and subjects undergoing EEGs on earth, just as in the previous mice and tumor patient
experiments. Since the ISS is in motion around the earth at an altitude of 350 miles, any ERGs,
EEGs, VEPS and LF on the earth would have to be coordinated in real time with the ERGs,
EEGs, VEPs and LF originating from the ISS. This should be able to be done no matter where
the ISS is in its orbit with regards to any chosen site on earth.
The argument can be made that if we are having difficulty observing any of these effects on
earth, where the participants are only a few meters apart, that it will be many times over more
difficult to observe these effects between subjects that are several hundred to several thousand
miles apart! Except that in the case of entangled photon experiments, nonlocality has been
observed where the photons have been over 10 km apart and more [10]. Distance is no criteria
where nonlocality is involved as has already been amply demonstrated [3].
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We do not know what effect the heavy ion beams on earth or the cosmic rays in space will
have as a stimulus but, it could be of an unusual and unexpected nature. It is of interest to note
here that the heavy ion beam intensity at GSI/Darmstadt is of the order of 10
7-8
ions s
-1
, and that
ALTEA has had a collaboration with GSI/Heidelberg to measure the EEG of the patients while
they are being irradiated [6]. One cannot begin to predict what effect this will have on the
nervous system. As regards the cosmic rays as a stimulus source, they are high energy charged
particles that travel at nearly the speed of light, and are the nuclei of atoms ranging from the
lightest to the heaviest in the periodic table. They also include high energy electrons, positrons
and other subatomic particles such as muons and pions. Approximately 89% of the nuclei are H
(protons), 10% He and 1% heavier elements [11,12].
In addition, the rare possibility of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs), with energies of
10
18
-10
20
eV and above, impinging upon the retina or the brain/visual cortex and eliciting an
unusual ERG, EEG, VEP or LF, cannot be ruled out [13]. This might be the analogous
equivalent of the rare events which are recorded in neutrino, super heavy element and collider
experiments where, from trillions of bombarding particles one is lucky to get 2-3 recordable
events over a period of days or weeks. We are proceeding into uncharted territory and should be
prepared to see events of an electrophysiological nature which, even if they are rare, may
dramatically stand out, thereby more than making up for their rarity. And, we should be
prepared that certain rare individuals may be capable of revealing this effect.
Lest you think that this proposal might be stretching credulity to the extreme, for several
decades now scientists have been conducting a Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) by
monitoring and analyzing radio signals emanating from space. This search is now being pursued
under the auspices of what is referred to as SETI@home [14]. This is a distributed or grid
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computing project using internet-connected computers to analyze radio signals to determine if
they come from intelligent life outside the earth. At the present time over 250,000 computers
around the world are engaged in this search, with over 10
16
bytes (10 petabytes!) having been
analyzed so far, with an input from the radio signal receiving dishes of 5 x 10
6
bits/sec. While
the viability and practicality of the distributed grid computing concept has been proven, to date
no evidence for extraterrestrial intelligence signals has been shown via SETI@home.
References
[1] Thaheld, F.H., 2003. Biological nonlocality and the mind-brain interaction problem:
Comments on a new empirical approach. BioSystems 70, 35-41 (q-bio/0510039).
[2] Thaheld, F.H., 2004. A method to explore the possibility of nonlocal correlations between
brain electrical activities of two spatially separated animal subjects. BioSystems 73, 205-216.
[3] Aspect, A., Dalibard, J., Roger, G., 1982. Experimental test of Bell’s inequalities using time
varying analyzers. Phys. Rev. Lett. 49, 1804-1807.
[4] Thaheld, F.H., 2006. A new stimulus approach in the search for biological nonlocality (q-
bio/0606027; q-bio.NC/0606027).
[5] Schardt, D., Kramer, M., 2002. Particle induced visual sensations in heavy-ion tumor
therapy. GSI Scientific Report.
[6] Narici, L., 2008. Heavy ions light flashes and brain functions: recent observations at
accelerators and in spaceflight. New Journal of Physics 10, 075010. http://stacks.iop.org/1367-
2630/10/075010.
[7] Pizzi, R., Fantasia, A., Gelain, F., Rosetti, D., Vescovi, A., 2004. Non-local correlations
between separated neural networks. Quantum Information and Computation II. ed. E. Donkor,
A.R. Pirich, H. Brandt. Proceedings of SPIE Vol. 5436.
[8] Pizzi, R., Cino, G., Gelain, F., Rosetti, D., Vescovi, A., 2007. Learning in human neural
networks on microelectrode arrays. BioSystems 88, 1-15.
[9] Sannita, W.G. et al, 2007. Electrophysiological responses of the mouse retina to
12
C ions.
Neuroscience Lett. 416, 231-235.
[10] Thew, R.T., Tanzilli, S., Tittel, W., Zbinden, H., Gisin, N., 2002. Experimental
investigation of the robustness of partially entangled photons over 11 km (quant-ph/0203067).
[11] Mewaldt, R.A., 1996. Cosmic rays. Macmillan Encylopedia of Physics.
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[12] Semyonov, O.G., 2006. Radiation hazard of relativistic interstellar flight
(physics/0610030).
[13] Risse, M., 2007. An upper limit to photons from first data taken from the Pierre Auger
Observatory (astro-ph/0701065).
[14] Anderson, D., 2009. Private communication. (Director of SETI@home).
