Ken Springer
There is Science and then there is Pseudoscience ~
Which would you choose if you were having brain surgery?
In November 2022, this column presented an article titled “The Chinese Restaurant Syndrome – How We Fell for a Myth” about how one doctor wrote a highly influential paper for a leading medical journal, alleging that MSG (monoso-dium glutamate) is alto- gether unhealthy; this unsubstantiated myth persists to this day. We live in a world where conspiracy theories are gaining more weight than facts.
Fraudulent claims, an overt acts of deception, can fool us, as was the case with MSG. Many Chinese restaurants were forced to shut down due to an allegation that lacked evidence. There are often consequences to fabricated stories.
It should be evident to everyone that science is under attack from those who believe in conspiracy theories and the endless miracle cures online. When online, I often encounter pop-up ads offering outrageous cures for various ailments, ranging from constipation to cancer. The individuals who create these deceptive ads are profiting at our expense.
For example, one ad claimed that a concoction of Himalayan pink salt and spring water can help flush out toxins, improve metabolism and aid in weight loss. As is often said these days, “There’s a fool born every minute.”
The irony of this mistrust of science is that everything we use, wear, touch and eat is a product of research – scientific research. Clickbait theorists did not invent GPS; scientists did. Heart transplants are not a medical procedure devised by conspir- acy theorists or scammers.
Real science relies on incontrovertible facts obtained through rigorous studies and data that are replicable and verifiable. The “scientific method” is the Hippocratic Oath of science. There is a direct and unswerving relationship between facts and truth.
The term “alternative facts” is an oxymoron, a euphemism for unverifiable claims. In this column, we will steer clear of assertions lacking any reasonable evidence.
If one professes not to believe in the scientific method, then they should discard their cell phone, do the same with the keys to their GPS-equipped car, and discard the laptop that was invented and improved through science.
Science and technology are interdependent. Through research and experimentation, science seeks to understand the universe and how all things function, while technology utilizes these findings to create tools that benefit humankind. While science in the U.S. is being scaled back, countries such as China and India are ramping up their scientific studies and will be more than happy to pick up the banner of scientific research.
Just consider the technological advancements in the last Century alone; we’ve gone from penicillin to cell phones, as well as gaining a deeper understanding of our universe. Think about what quality science promises for the future. To abandon full-throttle science now would send us back to the Dark Ages, where ignorance thrives and people suffer as a result.
There is a role for herbal medicines; after all, many modern medicines have their roots in wild plants and mushrooms. The active compound in aspirin, salicin, comes from willow trees. We know that people in earlier times chewed the bark of willow as an analgesic.
But if we or our family are faced with serious diseases and conditions, we should seek the help of the professional medical community. I, too, make my own tinctures from certain plants and fungi known to have health benefits, but to me, they are nothing more than supplements that may or may not be effective.
OK, I’ll step down from my soapbox now and write about new and ongoing research into biophotons.
Humans evolved with the sun; we absorb the sun into our bodies in the form of discrete light particles called photons. We all know that plants require photosynthesis, and we are likely aware that sunlight is necessary for the synthesis of vitamin D, which is essential for bone health.
If the sun suddenly ‘blinked out,’ it would take a little over eight minutes for light and gravity to disappear, followed by extreme temperature drops within a week. The Earth’s oceans would freeze over in a matter of a few months. Within a year, all life, except for some extremophiles in the deepest parts of the seas, would cease to be, including humans.
All life depends on the sun, and researchers worldwide are uncovering new insights about how and why our bodies absorb and utilize light.
Did you know that humans and all other living things actually glow? Neither did I until I came across a captivating science story on Radiolab. When you tell your spouse that they look radiant, or a pregnant woman that she has that glow, it’s a genuine compliment, as we shall soon see.
The fact that all living things, whether plant or animal, utilize sunlight that ends up in every cell of the body was first discovered by a Russian researcher in the early 20th Century.
Meet Dr. Nirosha Murugan, a Biophysics Professor in the Department of Health Science at Wilfrid Laurier University.
When Nirosha was a student, she burned her hand while making mashed potatoes in her dorm. This experience was a moment of enlightenment for her. Having pulled her hand away from the hot surface of the pan, Nirosha marveled at the incredible speed at which she reacted to the burn. To her, it seemed instantaneous.
At the time, Nirosha was taking courses in both biology and physics. Biology is the study of all living things and their processes. At the same time, physics is the study of matter and energy, encompassing both the grand scale of the universe and the subatomic particles, such as atoms, quarks, muons and gluons. The two fields of study are generally not closely related to each other.
Nirosha thought that for the nerve signal to travel from her hand to the spine and on to the brain so quickly, it required an incomprehensible number of interactions in each cell along the way for the signal to pull her hand away from the hot surface. When she brought this up in her physics class, she was told by her professor that he did not know how such a signal could travel that fast, and he could not explain how it works.
This experience was an epiphany for Nirosha, and she decided right then and there to make this one of her primary areas of study. At first, she was rebuffed by the scientific community, as her work seemed more akin to woo-woo than science.
Colleagues warned Nirosha that continuing research into biophotons, as something yielding a deeper understanding of human biology, could be a career killer. But, oh my, were they wrong. Today, the scientific world accepts the principles of biophotonic emissions, and concurrent research continues worldwide.
So, what are the basic concepts of ultra-weak photon emission (UPE), and what do we know about them at this point?
We do glow, but this light is much less intense than what the human eye can see. Observing the glow requires technologies that can image ultra-low-light emissions, such as ultra-sensitive cameras and light-tight dark chambers.
We know that our glow occurs in every cell of the body and results from cellular metabolism. Pinning it down to a single source within a cell is where the research gets a bit complicated.
In the cell’s process of creating energy, specific unstable molecules are formed. These “reactive oxygen species” interact with other cellular components, including fats, proteins, mitochondrial activity, and even DNA, resulting in a high-energy state in some intracellular molecules.
The bio-photons that cause us to glow are a result of our high-energy state returning to a lower energy state. This transition from high energy to lower energy creates minuscule flashes of light; hence, the cells light up momentarily.
A similar process occurs when a sperm cell comes into contact with an egg, a “zinc spark.” When a single sperm pierces an unfertilized egg, there is an instantaneous release of zinc ions that bind to specific molecules within the egg, resulting in a flash of light. Now that is truly astonishing, whether you are religious or not: could this be the divine spark of life?
Already, scientists are finding practical applications for ultra-weak photon emissions. In the biomedical field, UPEs are being investigated for the early detection of diseases, such as cancer. UPEs are used for studying herbicide resistance and potentially to track cellular communication in plants and animals, including humans.
Some claim to be able to see “auras” around other people. If one truly had the supernatural ability to discern an aura, they would have to be able to see light that is 1,000 to 2,000 times weaker than what the human eye can detect.
That said, numerous doctors and hospice nurses report seeing a release of light at the moment of death. It begs the question: what happens to biophotonic emissions when we die?
Until next time,
Ken Springer
ken1949bongo@gmail.com
Citations:
Radiolab – The Spark of Life, September 19, 2025
Sciscape – Why the Human Body Emits Light (But We Can’t See It) July 6, 2025
CBC News – Fertilized Human Egg Emits Microscopic Flash of Light – April 27, 2016
Instagram – Zinc Spark or Spark of Life; you can watch the video of this happening.
