Causal potency of consciousness
The evolution of the human mind through natural selection mandates that our conscious experiences are causally potent in order to leave a tangible impact on the physical world. Any attempt to construct a functional theory of the conscious mind within the framework of classical physics, however, inevitably leads to causally impotent conscious experiences in direct contradiction to evolution theory. The origin of the latter impasse lies in the mathematical properties of ordinary differential equations used in combination with the alleged functional production of the mind by the brain. Fortunately, quantum stochastic differential equations allow for the construction of a mind–brain theory that supports causally potent conscious experiences.
Thermal stability of protein solitons
Protein α-helices provide an ordered biological environment for energy transport. The nonlinear interaction between amide I excitons and phonons induced in the hydrogen-bonded lattice of peptide groups leads to self-trapping of the amide I energy, thereby creating a soliton that persists at zero temperature. Presence of thermal noise, however, could destabilize the protein soliton and dissipate its energy. To evaluate soliton thermal stability, we have numerically simulated the system of stochastic differential equations that govern the soliton dynamics at physiological temperature.
Quantum propensities and free will
Capacity of conscious agents to perform genuine choices among future alternatives is a prerequisite for moral responsibility. Determinism that pervades classical physics, however, forbids free will and undermines ethics. To resolve that impasse, we use the indeterminism of quantum physics to derive a measure for the amount of free will manifested by the brain cortex. The interaction between the nervous system and the environment performs a quantum measurement upon the neural constituents, which actualize a single measurement outcome from the available choices.
Computational capacity of pyramidal neurons
Electric activities of cortical pyramidal neurons are supported by structurally stable, morphologically complex axo-dendritic trees. Anatomical differences between axons and dendrites in regard to their length or caliber reflect the underlying functional specializations, for input or output of neural information, respectively. To properly assess the computational capacity of cortical pyramidal neurons, various morphometric measures of their axons and dendrites need to be precisely quantified from available three-dimensional digital reconstructions.