The proposal of this paper is that memory and dreams are forms of time reflection and result from a unique property of the brain, which acts as a natural metamaterial.

The involvement of physicists in the study of biological processes is only now starting to develop. And within the general field of biology, medicine is still mostly in the realm of physicians with little knowledge of basic biological mechanisms. It is important to consider that the current advances in medicine are mostly the result of work done by physicists, bioengineers, and chemists. Most patients going to a medical office today are diagnosed by imaging machines and laboratory analyses. Furthermore, within the field of medicine and biology, the brain is still a mysterious entity, and its characteristics, functions, and physical properties are poorly understood.

Working on fields, which are only minimally related to medicine, physicists and engineers are currently researching and developing so called “metamaterials”. Metamaterials are constructed materials usually arranged in repetitive patterns, with physical properties different than their individual components. Metamaterials exhibit responses to light, sound, electromagnetic radiation, and other forms of energy in ways which can be used for practical purposes, including the development of more efficient optical fibers, medical devices, sensor detectors, solar energy panels, lasers, antennas, sound modifiers, and transportation systems (Engheta et al., 2006). Metamaterials can be designed to detect and alter the reflection of light (Barras 2009), sound (Kurzweil, 2014), and other forms of energy. Surprisingly, the modeling of time can be induced by metamaterials as well (Smolyaninov and Hung, 2011). Recently, physicists have developed metamaterials which can also reflect time (Moussa et al., 2023). This amazing development opens a field of exploration into the possibility of time reflection occurring in nature as well. Years before these recent research developments, a paper suggested that structures within the brain could be the basis of consciousness as the result of quantum physics (Georgiev 2002). This theory was not considered correct within the physics community. However, neurons from the brain and the peripheral nerve system have axons, which are filamentous extensions for the transmission of nerve signals. The axons contain microtubules, which have an structural array with striking similarity to the characteristics of the metamaterials designed in physics and engineering laboratories. The unique microtubule arrangement could explain certain brain mechanisms, including the formation of memory (Musha and Caligiuri, 2015). In addition, dynamic recognition and mirage can be detected using neuro metamaterials (Qian et al., 2022).

Memory and dreams are mysterious phenomena which occur as a property of the brain. If memory and dreams are considered a form of time reflection, these phonomena can be explained by the brain acting as a natural metamaterial. In contrast to the reflection of light or sound, memory and dreams, as reflections of time, are significantly modified from the original experience. This is due to their reflection on a metamaterial with a highly variable configuration, such as our brain. Although the human brain can be considered an structure common to all humans in generic terms, each individual has unique structural and functional features. Furthermore, the configuration of each individual metamaterial brain is constantly modified by external signals, including social and physical environmental variables, as well as endogenous signal transduction mechanisms, which are regulated by fluctuating hormonal states, age, and complex interacting metabolic systems. Thus, time reflection is perceived and reenacted in our memory and dreams as a highly recreated collection of experiences. Memory and dreams are based on actual experiences, but include notable distortions and reconstructions, which appear to represent situations without previous experience. The altered reflection of time by our metamaterial brain would then result in realities, which may not be perceived as actual experiences (Manning et al., 2013). However, disordered reflective states can also be seen even in systematically constructed metamaterials produced by researchers in the laboratory (Gollub et al., 2007). Disorganization and entropy has been observed in constructed metamaterials (Cui et al, 2016) as well in the metamaterial brain (Carbart-Harris et al., 2014). For example, the most common forms of dementia, which are characterized by memory loss are caused by loss of microtubules. Theefore, the microtubules can be considered the physical basis of the brain as a natural metamaterial (Dubey et al, 2015, Austin et al., 2017). Thus, loss and distortion of time reflection in dementia (Dementia support forum) is the direct result of loss of the metamaterial properties of our brain. This hypothesis could open new opportunities for the study of loss of function in brains affected by degerative diseases and aging. Methods currently used mostly by physicists in the laboratory could result in developments to correct drecreased or distorted the metamaterial properties of the brain.

Conclusion: Evidence from research in constructed metamaterials and from medicine support the hypothesis that the brain is a metamaterial capable of reflecting time. However, the singularity and variability of the brain will necessarily reflect time in a format which may be unrecognizable even by the same brain that experienced it.

References:

Engheta N, Ziolkowski RW. (2006) Metamaterials: Physics and Engineering Explorations. pp 211-221. Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, NJ.

Barras C (2009) Invisibility cloak could render buildings “invisible” to earthquakes. New Scientist p.1.

Kurzweil R (2014) Wrinkled metamaterials for controlling light and sound propagation. Kurzweil Library.

Smolyaninov II, Hung Y-J (2011) Modeling time with metamaterials. Journal of the Optical Society of America B. 28 (7): 1591-1595.

Moussa H, Xu G, Yin S, Galiffi E, Ra’di Y, Alu A (2023) Observation of temporal reflection and broadband frequency translation at photonic time interfaces. Nature Physics 19:863-868.

Georgiev DD (2002) Bose-Einstein condensation of tunneling photons in the brain cortex as a mechanism of conscious action. http://cogprint.org/3539/01/tunneling.pdf

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Qian C, Wang Z, Qian H, Cai T, Zheng B, Lin X, Shen Y, Kaminer I, Li E, Chen H (2022) Dynamic recognition and mirage using neuro-metamaterials. Nature Communications 13, article # 2694.

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Cui T-J, Liu SL, Li L-L (2016) Information entropy of coding metasurface. Light: Science & Applications 5, e16172.

Carbart-Harris RL, Leech R, Hellyer PJ, Shanahan M, Feilding A, Tagliazucchi E, Chialvo DR, Nutt D (2014) The entropic brain: A theory of conscious states informed by neuroimaging research with psychedelic drugs. Frontiers in Human Neurosciences 8. 20. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2014.00020

Dubey J, Ratnakaran N, Koushika S (2015) Neurodegeneration and microtubule dynamics: Death by a thousand cuts. Frontiers in Cellular Neurosciences 9. 343. doi: 10.3389/fncel.2015.00343

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ALEJANDRO PERALTA SOLER, MD, PhD, obtained his medical degree and Ph.D. from the University of Cordoba, Argentina. He did postdoctoral training at The University of Pennsylvania and worked as a researcher at the Lankenau Institute for Medical Research, in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania. After completing the pathology training at SUNY Downstate, Brooklyn, and Cornell University, he worked as a pathologist at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. He currently works as a dermatopathologist at Inform Diagnostics in Needham, Massachusetts.

Brain, Mind