The brain emits secret light you don't know about

(Dan Tri) - Many creatures on Earth can emit visible light, but humans are not considered to have this ability. Actually, this may not be entirely true.

This light you can't see, but it really exists (Photo: Getty).

In 1923, some research discovered that humans glow at visible frequencies when the light source is strong enough. The truth is that from the time we are in our mother's womb until we leave this world, we actually glow.

This may be a controversial topic, but if we can detect these 'biophotons', we could potentially learn more about what's going on under our skin.

In a new study, a team of researchers led by biologist Hayley Casey at Algoma University in Canada investigated the extremely faint glow of a specific mass of tissue, the brain, located inside the skulls of all living people.

The team carefully recorded the faint glow of the human brain from outside the skull and found that it changed depending on the brain's activity at any given moment. This opened up a new possibility for assessing brain health: a yet-to-be-developed technique scientists call photoencephalography.

"To provide the first evidence that ultraweak photon emissions (UPE) from the human brain can be used as a functional state monitor, we measured and characterized the number of photons on the heads of participants while they were at rest or during auditory activity," the study report reads.

The team demonstrated that the UPE signals originating from the brain differed from background photon measurements. In addition, the study results showed that when performing certain tasks, the number of UPEs emitted was at a certain specific level.

Everything in the universe that has a temperature above absolute zero, including humans, emits a type of infrared radiation called thermal radiation. When we talk about UPE, it is a separate phenomenon distinct from thermal radiation.

UPEs are emitted at wavelength ranges close to visible light and are the result of electrons emitting photons as they lose energy, a normal byproduct of metabolism.

The team sought to clearly distinguish UPEs in the brain from background radiation and determine whether these UPEs appeared at levels corresponding to different brain activities.

They placed each study participant in a dark room. The participant wore an electroencephalogram (EEG) cap to monitor brain activity, and photomultiplier tubes were placed around them to record any light emissions. These vacuum tubes are extremely sensitive, able to detect even the faintest light.

The results showed that not only was UPE real and measurable, but there was also a clear correlation between emitted UPE and each different activity.

Schematic diagram of the experimental procedure and results (Photo: Casey et al., Curr. Biol., 2025).

The researchers say future research may explore how neuroanatomy might influence UPE output, as well as how different activities manifest in UPE models, rather than just the two brain states of resting and active.

They also said that it is currently impossible to confirm whether each individual has a unique UPE similar to fingerprints. This is also a topic that scientists are interested in studying.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/khoa-hoc/nao-phat-ra-anh-sang-bi-mat-ma-ban-khong-he-biet-20250619022639708.htm