A remarkable new study has indicated that all living things may exhibit a type of ‘biophoton’ phenomenon. The biophoton phenomenon refers to the ultra-weak light emissions naturally produced by living organisms including plants, animals, and humans without any external illumination.
These emissions are typically in the visible to ultraviolet range (200–800 nanometers) and are millions of times weaker than normal daylight, making them invisible to the naked eye but detectable with highly sensitive instruments like photomultiplier tubes. The research, which was conducted by scientists from the University of Calgary and the National Research Council of Canada, looked at the somewhat controversial idea that biological processes emit very faint wavelengths of visible light that disappear when that organism dies.
While often confused with claims of paranormal ‘auras’, this idea does have merit – many biological processes really do emit light in the form of chemiluminescence.
Actually measuring this in any meaningful way, however, has always proved challenging. For the new research, scientists were able to detect ultraweak photon emissions (UPE) from several types of living animals (as well as plant matter) that disappeared upon death. Exactly what causes this phenomenon, however, remains unclear.
Of course this glow is not visible to the naked eye (otherwise we would visibly glow in a dark room), but there is merit to this research – it might one day be possible to determine someone’s health by monitoring and analyzing their subtle photon emissions.
Perhaps paranormal studies concerning auras and images captured through Kirlian photography are not quite so ‘out there’ after all.
