Science of Consciousness / News and Research

Stuart R. Hameroff, MD
hameroff@u.arizona.edu
Director, Center for Consciousness Studies
Professor Emeritus, Departments of Anesthesiology, College of Medicine, University of Arizona and Psychology
Banner – University Medical Center Tucson

Aside from his full-time clinical role, Dr. Hameroff is involved in numerous research projects. Dr. Hameroff's research projects are potentially open to resident involvement time permitting.

Clinical Trial of Transcranial Ultrasound ('TUS')

see: anesth.medicine.arizona.edu/tus
see: anesth.medicine.arizona.edu/research/clinical-trials

Memory or Mood Problems?
Ongoing Clinical Trial of Transcranial Ultrasound ('TUS')
Investigator, Stuart Hameroff, MD

Publications, Journals, Interviews, Presentations - Highlights

2017

2016

  • Stuart R. Hameroff, Roger Penrose, Chapter 14 "Consciousness in the Universe: An Updated Review of the "Orch OR" Theory, in Biophysics of Consciousness: A Foundational Approach, eds. Roman R. Poznanski, Jack A. Tuszynski, Todd E. Feinberg, World Scientific, 2016

application/pdf icon 2016 Hameroff Penrose updated review of Orch OR chapter 14 Biophysics of Consciousness

  • Stuart Hameroff, Change the Music - Psychotherapy and Brain Vibrations, Vol 4 Issue 4, April 2016

application/pdf icon 2016 Change the Music

2015

2014

Current Research Projects

Good Vibrations - Transcranial Ultrasound - Tuning the Brain

Stuart Hameroff and colleagues performed the first clinical trial of trancranial ultrasound (TUS) on
mental states, finding improved mood after 15 seconds of sub-thermal 8 MHz ultrasound  compared with placebo applied at the temporal skull.  Another project is being planned numerous colleagues including, UA professor of psychology John Allen and postdoc Jay Sanguineti for mood, cognition and psychological and neurological disorders (including post-operative cognitive dysfunction) and others, tba.  

Microtubules within brain neurons are thought to resonate at megahertz frequencies, precisely where ultrasound acts.  We hope to enhance mood, and treat various neurological disorders by stimulating brain microtubule dynamics through TUS.

Transcranial ultrasound (TUS) effects on mental states: A pilot study,  Brain Stimulation  Hameroff S, Trakas M, Duffield C, Annabi E, Gerace MB, Boyle P,    Lucas A, Amos Q, Buadu A, Badal JJ  Received 21 November 2011; received in revised form 19 February 2012; accepted 6 May 2012. published online  30 May 2012.  Brain Stimulation 6: 409-415 Abstract:  http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.brs.2012.05.002

‘Good Vibrations’! Brain Ultrasound Improves Mood, (Newswise May 14, 2013) Non-invasive brain stimulation techniques aimed at mental and neurological conditions include transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) for depression, and transcranial direct current (electrical) stimulation (tDCS), shown to improve memory. Transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS) has also shown promise.UA professor of psychology John Allen and grad student Jay Sanguineti for mood, cognition and psychological and neurological disorders (including post-operative cognitive dysfunction). Microtubules within brain neurons are thought to resonate at megahertz frequencies, precisely where ultrasound acts.

Mediating Mood Through Brain Ultrasound  (UA News, July 16, 2013

Stuart Hameroff and Sir Roger Penrose - Orch OR Theory

Stuart Hameroff, MD is co-developer, with British physicist Sir Roger Penrose, of the controversial Penrose-Hameroff ‘Orch OR’ theory of consciousness, based on quantum computations in microtubules.

2014- Selections - Orch OR 

2014  additional selections

"Anesthetics are fairly selective, erasing consciousness while sparing non-conscious brain activity," Hameroff told io9.
"So the precise mechanism of anesthetic action should point to the mechanism for consciousness." more

Sir Roger Penrose and Stuart Hameroff discuss how the discovery of quantum vibrations in 'microtubules' corroborates the theory of consciousness - See  www.Quantum.Consciousness.org

Center for Consciousness Studies (CCS) at the University of Arizona at the University of Arizona, established in 1997 by the Arizona Board of Regents.  CCS is hosted by the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. Dr. Hameroff is co-founder and director.  contact: center@u.arizona.edu     website: www.consciousness.arizona.edu

Toward a Science of Consciousness (TSC) Conference Series - is presented by the Center for Consciousness Studies (CCS) at the University of Arizona, and alternates yearly between Tucson, Ariz. (even-numbered years, from 1998 including 1999 Quantum Mind in Flagstaff and 2003 Quantum Mind in Tucson and various locations around the world (odd-numbered years) in cooperation with partner organizations and institutions.  Overseas TSC Conferences have been held in: 1995 Ischia, Italy; 1997, Elsinore, Denmark; 1999, Tokyo, Japan; 2001, Skovde, Sweden; 2003, Prague, Czech Republic; 2005, Copenhagen, Denmark; 2007 Vienna, Austria; 2007, Budapest, Hungary; 2009, Hong Kong, China; 2011, Stockholm, Sweden; 2013, Agra, India; 2015, Helsinki, Finland; 2017, Shanghai, China

Research Interests

Consciousness studies, quantum mechanical/general relativity approaches to consciousness, protein conformational dynamics, molecular mechanisms of anesthetic gas molecules, information processing in cytoskeletal microtubules, quantum information science, essential features of living systems, nanotechnology, nanomedicine, philosophical pan-protopsychism, coherence and decoherence.

Research Website

UA Banner University Medical Center

Faculty  Page

Published Research  

PUB MED

Summary Bio

Anesthesiologist, Professor and Researcher joined the faculty at University Medical Center in 1975. Dr. Stuart Hameroff's research for over 35 years has involved consciousness (how the pinkish gray meat between our ears produces the richness of experiential awareness). Studying anesthetic gas mechanisms, he focused on how quantum effects control protein conformational dynamics. Following an interest which began in medical school in the computational capacity of microtubules inside neurons, Dr. Hameroff proposed in the early 1980's that microtubules functioned as molecular computers. Hameroff’s 1987 book Ultimate Computing suggested downloading consciousness into microtubule arrays. In the mid-1990s Hameroff teamed with British physicist Sir Roger Penrose to develop the controversial theory of consciousness called “orchestrated objective reduction” - Orch OR theory - in which consciousness derives from quantum computations in microtubules inside brain neurons, quantum computations connected to the fine- scale structure of spacetime geometry. Dr. Hameroff has published five books and well over 100 research articles, and appeared in the film ‘What the Bleep do We Know?’ and numerous TV documentaries on the problem of consciousness including BBC, Discover Channel, History Channel, PBS, OWN, Huff Post Live and the film “What the Bleep?”

As Director of the Center for Consciousness Studies, established in 1997 at the University of Arizona, Hameroff co-organizes (with philosopher David Chalmers) the international, interdisciplinary biennial conference series ‘Toward a Science of Consciousness’ since 1994. For the past 20 + years TSC, CCS has been providing opportunities for researchers to meet in an international and interdisciplinary setting and has provided scholarships, grants, webcourses, seminars, symposiums. The Center is grateful for the past research support from Pfizer-Roerig, NSF, Fetzer Institute The Chopra Foundation, The Bhaumik Foundation, YeTaDeL Foundation, Google, Elata Foundation, Journal of Consciousness Studies, Journal of Cosmology, Monroe Institute, NIMS, and Mind Event AB, AOARD, EOARD, AFOSR. 

Dr. Hameroff is grateful to his current and past fellow faculty and residents in the Department of Anesthesiology, surgeons and nurses and techs in the operating rooms, artist Dave Cantrell, webmeisters Ed Xia, Abi Behar Montefiore, Rita Ellsworth, graphic designers Roma Krebs, Darla Keneston; technical support of Scott Morgan, Michael Griffith, Ricky Bergeron and Erica Coleman; TSC conference manager and CCS assistant director, Abi Behar-Montefiore and Toward a Science co-director Philosopher David Chalmers as well as his numerous scientific collaborators including: Sir Roger Penrose, Jack Tuszynski, Anirban Bandyopadhyay, Travis Craddock, John JB Allen, Jay Sanguinetti, and Sterling Cooley.

2013

 13.7 cosmos & culture commentary on science and society

2012

Despite a century of research, memory encoding in the brain has remained mysterious. Neuronal synaptic connection strengths are involved, but synaptic components are short-lived while memories last ... full story

2011

Contact

Stuart Hameroff MD,
Department of Anesthesiology, University of Arizona
Director, Center for Consciousness Studies
hameroff@email.arizona.edu

University of Arizona, Department of Anesthesiology, Center for Consciousness Studies
P.O Box 245114 -  1501 N Campbell Ave.  5th floor   Su. 5301
Tucson, Arizona USA     85724-5114

Additional Links