Daniel Oblak: You Emit A Visible Light - January 9, 2026
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
we're here because your heightened awareness deserves heightened entertainment the last show with david cooper
Do we all glow while we're alive?
Do we all glow while we're alive? And does that glow dim when we die?
What is the connection between light emission and death?
And I'm not just talking about us people. I'm talking about all living things.
How does quantum mechanics relate to biological processes?
It sounds science fiction-like. It sounds paranormal. But according to new research, this is all true. It's spooky. What does it all mean?
What is the role of metabolism in light emission?
I'm here with someone who has done this research. His name is Daniel Oblak. He's a physics and astronomy professor at the University of Calgary. Daniel, welcome to the show. Well, thanks for having me on.
How do living organisms respond to stress with light?
I'm excited to talk about this. I got to wonder, what does this have to do with physics and astronomy? I imagine this would be like a biological kind of area of study. Side note, I understand emitting light is a very physics kind of thing. But walk me through why this is a physics problem.
What is the significance of the faint light emitted by living beings?
Well, in some sense it isn't, and in some sense it is. I think, so actually beyond sort of the physics and astronomy tag I have on my, I'm also sort of into quantum research. And so we could ask ourselves, what has this to do with quantum mechanics? Well, and there's a couple of different links to it. First of all, the tools we're using are tools that are
How can this research be applied in medical diagnostics?
really coming from the field that I'm in. So it's cameras that are ultra sensitive at the point that they can count single photons, single particles of light. So there's the technology aspect of it. And then there's also maybe an underlying, something we maybe can go into, an underlying question whether quantum mechanics plays a role in biological processes. So this is what we could call interdisciplinary research because I don't know much about biology two, three years ago, and I've had to learn a lot about the kinds of biological processes and systems that are involved in this too.
At the risk of derailing, the quantum world, the world of the very small, functions in no way like the big world. Like things happen, but they don't happen. Things can be in the same place at the same time, two different places. Things act like particles and waves. There's all kinds of weird stuff. And I guess the big question is, like, is that phenomenon being used in our brain? Is that phenomenon being used in our cells? Are these the kind of open questions you're investigating?
Yeah, that's really sort of the motivation and sort of our hot fever dreams is if we could sort of like figuring out that quantum mechanics does play a role in biological systems. This is partially been answered in the sense that We do know that there are certain things where quantum mechanics, certain biological processes where quantum mechanics plays a role. For example, bird navigation is probably the most commonly and well-established area. So in order to sense a magnetic field, the birds use sort of molecules that have spins in them that depend on, they can sort of feel which direction the magnetic field is. But of course, you know, When we're thinking about quantum mechanics in the brain, you could ask ourselves, well, first of all, does it play a role?
Is there a reason to believe it plays a role? And yeah, there are unanswered questions in neuroscience, you know, the question of consciousness. anesthesia and the binding problem where you can say, okay, this is not really answered. So let's enroll quantum mechanics and see if that could help. And, you know, these spooky things that, you know, entanglement sounds a little bit like something like consciousness, but, you know, this is more like hypothesis. And then we're looking for, okay, what is it that transmits this information? And that's where these photons could come into play. If you know, all living processes, all living beings emit light even very dimly.
Oh, we've got back on topic all of a sudden. I love it. Although I did really enjoy that derailing. Okay, I'm going to interrupt because let's break this down. Yeah, for sure. When we hear the headline, and it's been going around in science news for the last few days, that all living things glow, to the average person that might sound mystical or paranormal.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–0:07
2
Do we all glow while we're alive?
0:07–0:13
3
What is the connection between light emission and death?
0:13–0:17
4
How does quantum mechanics relate to biological processes?
0:17–0:25
5
What is the role of metabolism in light emission?
0:25–0:36
6
How do living organisms respond to stress with light?
0:36–0:52
7
What is the significance of the faint light emitted by living beings?
0:52–1:18
8
How can this research be applied in medical diagnostics?
1:18–10:15
Speakers
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