[extropy-chat] FWD (SK) Paper refuting Benveniste's digital biological signals

[Terry W. Colvin]

Jacques Benveniste (died 2004) was a researcher who produced

controversial results said to be supportive of homeopathy.  In recent
years he promoted the idea the biological signals could be converted to
digital form and transmitted electronically.  His web site describing
these efforts is still up, though it appears to be inactive:
http://www.digibio.com/ 

Here is the abstract of a paper of his reporting this type of effect:

Med Hypotheses. 2000 Jan;54(1):33-9  
 
Activation of human neutrophils by electronically transmitted
phorbol-myristate acetate.

Thomas Y, Schiff M, Belkadi L, Jurgens P, Kahhak L, Benveniste J.

Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale, (INSERM)
U200, and Digital Biology Laboratory, Clamart, France.
ythomas at ens.-fcl.fr 

We report the transfer of the activity of
4-phorbol-12-beta-myristate-13-acetate (PMA) by electronic means.
Neutrophils were placed at 37 degrees C on one coil attached to an
oscillator, while PMA was placed on another coil at room temperature.
The oscillator was then turned on for 15 min, after which cells were
usually further incubated for up to 45 min at 37 degrees C before
measurement of reactive oxygen metabolites (ROMs) production. In 20
blind experiments, PMA thus 'transmitted' induced ROM production. ROM
were not induced when: (1) PMA vehicle or 4-alpha-phorbol
12,13-didecanoate (an inactive PMA analogue) were transmitted; (2) the
oscillator was switched off; (3) superoxide dismutase or protein kinase
C inhibitors were added to cells before transmission. These results
suggest that PMA molecules emit signals that can be transferred to
neutrophils by artificial physical means in a manner that seems specific
to the source molecules.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=10790721&query_hl=2&itool=pubmed_docsum



Now we have a new paper in which his claims were tested:

FASEB J. 2006 Jan;20(1):23-8
 
Can specific biological signals be digitized?

Jonas WB, Ives JA, Rollwagen F, Denman DW, Hintz K, Hammer M, Crawford
C, Henry K.

Samueli Institute for Information Biology, Alexandria, Virginia,
22314, USA. wjonas at siib.org 

At the request of the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency, we attempted to replicate the data of Professor Jacques
Benveniste that digital signals recorded on a computer disc produce
specific biological effects. The hypothesis was that a digitized
thrombin inhibitor signal would inhibit the fibrinogen-thrombin
coagulation pathway. Because of the controversies associated with
previous research of Prof. Benveniste, we developed a system for the
management of social controversy in science that incorporated an expert
in social communication and conflict management. The social management
approach was an adaptation of interactional communication theory, for
management of areas that interfere with the conduct of good science.
This process allowed us to successfully complete a coordinated effort by
a multidisciplinary team, including Prof. Benveniste, a hematologist,
engineer, skeptic, statistician, neuroscientist and conflict management
expert. Our team found no replicable effects from digital signals.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=16394263&query_hl=4&itool=pubmed_docsum



Apart from the negative results and the fact that Benveniste was
involved in the planning, here are some points I thought were
interesting:

1.  There were some pilot studies conducted by Benveniste and his team.
 "A subgroup analysis of pilot phase data showed that all DTI [digitized
thrombin inhibitor] effects ocurred when experiments were conducted by
one member of Benvenite's team (Jamal Aissa) and that this usually
occurred when using a split sample technique in which he interrupted the
operation of the ABA machine to do manual plating followed by the
automated plating.  Two of the 16 experiments done only by the ABA
machine (no interruptions) showed effects when Jamal was present.  In
three instances Jamal set up experiments and then left for the day. 
None of these showed DTI effect."

In the discussion, it notes "Prof. Benveniste died on October 3, 2004.

Before he passed away, however, he posited unknown interactions with
digital signals that produce these effects and states that he observed
similar experimenter variability in his laboratory (personal
communication).  He stated that certain individuals consistently get
digital effects and other individuals get no effects or block those
effects."

2.  As noted in the abstract, the Defense Advanced Research Project
Agency (DARPA) thought that this line of investigation was worth
funding a grant to the researchers.


Thomas J. Wheeler, Ph.D.       tjwheeler at louisville.edu 
Associate Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
University of Louisville School of Medicine

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Terry W. Colvin, Sierra Vista, Arizona (USA) < fortean1 at mindspring.com >
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