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FIELDS OF THE CELL
Discover the Future
Definition
The term ‘fields of the cell’ refers to the fact thatelectrodynamic fields surround every cell and cellularorganelle. It includes fields belonging to all charged
cell components, i.e. ions and polar molecules, as wellas those components generated by cell chemistry.
This further refers to the model of cavity resonance,and can also be defined as the sum of all electrody­
namic cell activity taking part in intracellular andextracellular processes.

Past and Present
The discovery of electrodynamics in the 19th Century
boosted not only material sciences but also Bioengi­
neers, developing devices to affect biological systems
in plants, animals and man. For example, devices thatemit low­frequency electromagnetic fields wereconstructed for that purpose. Even though successfultreatments were reported, the upcoming chemicalindustry had no interest in devices that give desired
effects with lowest costs, and nothing more to sellthan a technical device. Additionally, in the early 20thCentury a theory was developed – based on obser­
vation – that cells emit electromagnetic waves, inparticular that they radiate in UV. While this wasstudied in many countries in Europe, some claimed
the experiments were non­repeatable. Even thoughmany could repeat and contribute, the general attention
got distracted. Without a greater context, it remains
fully speculative why these early approaches to thefields of the cell had only marginal continuity up totoday. Reasons among others were probably thekey­locker principle that offered a good model tounderstand molecular cascades in living systems
and the lack of technical devices to measure fields
generated by cells.
Today we understand and can describe electrody­
namic phenomena far better than for decades. We now
have devices that can measure the lowest intensities
of electromagnetic energy emitted by cells. We also
have an increasing number of scientists exploring
the quantum world of life. Currently the key­locker

principle is in the company of systems explained byelectromagnetic resonance, true for cell phones andfound for cells.

External – Internal
Being interested in understanding the fields of thecells will lead to 2 approaches. One, is applying fields
from an exterior source, while the other is studying
the interior (endogenous) fields.
The application from outside falls under non­invasive
therapy and is branching from empirical research aswell as from measuring the electromagnetic emis­
sions of cells. Despite technical devices, natural fields,such as sunlight and the Earth’s magnetic field, canessentially influence life from outside, too. Cells dohave receptors for these fields, yet many of them arestill unknown demanding us to look at the interior of
the cells. Today we know that the cell interior is an
ensemble of polar molecules structurally organisedin ways that allow oscillations in low as well as thehighest frequencies (i.e. from kHz to THz). ROS­in­
duced chemical reactions, i.e. other than thoserelated to bioluminescence, are known to result incellular emission of visible light. An increasing numberof studies give evidence that these (ultra­weak) lightemissions are signals that belong to a non­chemical
cellular communication system. While cells function
as senders and receivers of such cellular photonemissions, it remains a major working hypothesisthat the sources of these fields may partly function
as receiving structures.

The Network
The exploration of the fields of the cell is mainly
performed by scientists from Medicine, Physics,
Biology, and/or Engineering working both practicallyand theoretically. We currently have a European
network of scientists investigating the fields of thecell connecting with research groups around theworld (Figure 1), and we see a slow but steadily
increasing number of new researchers joining thiswww.botanik.unibas.ch/en/home

Figure 1) The world map displays the European research groups networkand their intercontinental relations with other research groups. It depicts
relationships of cooperation and scientific dialogue.

network. Some can give these young students
full­time projects; others dig into the unknown withprudence. Yet, over recent years, publications werereaching impacting journals, international confer­ences were organised, and projects were started
across country borders. The networking is reachinga new dimension, e.g. websites are going live, andjournals are being created to directly address theissue to governments and politicians. The goal ofthe latter is to inform people in decision­making
positions about the state of knowledge, with the aim
to affect funding decisions but moreover to declarethat revolutionary discoveries are being made in
respect to cell water, molecular interactions, non­chemical cell interactions, and the role of endoge­
nous electrodynamic fields involved in fundamental
biological processes. The upcoming website <field­
softhecell> will deliver information on these subjects
from late 2014 onwards. It will also include publications,details and dates of conferences, and short essays
to introduce the topics of papers. Furthermore, theopen­access eBook Fields of the Cell (onlineend­summer 2014) will deliver an introductionthat allows any interested student to read about
empirical data, theory, history and new perspectives.

The Coupling with Life Sciences
In a nutshell, there are 2 fundamental aspects one
should be aware of when talking about the fields ofthe cell. The first is the building of the field. Cells
cannot avoid building fields because they are filledwith charged particles, which by definition have anelectrostatic field around them. The other is thatfields are either static or oscillating – the latter allows
them to resonate in frequencies applied from theexterior being either technical (electroceutical is a newterm in this context) or natural, i.e. Earth’s magnetic
field, sunlight and other cells. Research on effects ofcells across chemical separators indicated that cells
could non­chemically influence other cells on severallevels, one of which being biochemistry where cells
were found to induce the production of cell compo­
nents. This hints directly on the gene level as well as
gene regulation (genetics and epigenetics). Other
studies show effects on cell division rates and cell
population regulation, the latter being a topic in cancer
research. Cells and organisms may also have non­chemical means by which they couple with eachother across the species border; hence, ecosystems
may also be organised by fields (models for this comeother is to have a barrier between cell cultures that
separates these cultures chemically but not electro­
magnetically – this is achieved with transparent
material. The best situation is when a laboratory canuse both of these methods to complement eachother (Figures 2a and 2b). Other approaches refer tosophisticated devices for low­frequency measurementof cell material, measuring cell membrane potentials,
or technologies for reaching the gene level.

11 Great – Yet unanswered – Questions
Figure 2a) The photo shows chemical separation of two
media containing cells used to test for electro­dynamic, i.e.
non­chemical cell communication.

Biology and Medicine, and Life Sciences in general, areconstantly discovering new facets of life. While some
old questions remain unanswered, new questions
also arise.
• How could life, that game between order andchaos, start?
• Why do cells replicate themselves?
• Are cells intelligent?
• How can cells regulate 20,000 and more genes?
• What in the cell organises the switching on and offof genes in accordance to environmental stimuli?

Figure 2b) In the center one can see a lightproof photo­multiplier, into which probes are placed for counting emitted
photons/sec×cm2.

from quantum field theory). Finally, we may ask froman evolutionary perspective whether the fields areinherited. If so, then it is not only DNA that is passed
from generation to generation but also a field thatinteracts with the DNA. Any investment in the
research of the electrodynamics of cells brings us
closer to non­invasive therapies, potentially resulting
in much lower costs than traditional methods.

• Epigenetics hints on Lamarckian evolution, mutation
on Darwinian; is life evolving in a rather Lamarcko­
Darwinian way?
• What induces functional and structural unity in a
multicellular organism?
• What gives form e.g. to a flower, a fish, or an ear?
• Do we sufficiently describe how enzymes find theirsubstrates when about 10,000 different enzymes
are at the same time ‘looking’ for their substrate?
• Are the fields of the cell inherited?

Methods
Non­chemical cell signaling is a very important areaof research, for here we learn more about how cells
communicate and more importantly what they
communicate. There are 2 major methods of investi­
gation. One is measuring the emitted fields (e.g.
the ultra­weak photons) with photomultipliers; the• What is the role of the field of the cell, e.g. forwound healing, neuronal signal processing, tumor
formation and cell transformation?
A model of life that (i) considers cells only as a kindof random beakers where molecules bang into eachother, and (ii) assumes random mutations on theDNA­level may probably never have the potential towww.botanik.unibas.ch/en/homeanswer these questions. Evidence for this being trueis that the hundreds of years old question of what isgiving form to life has still not been answered so far.
Why this might be so is suggested with an analogy. If
we were assuming any solar system to exist without
gravitational and electrodynamic fields, such a solar
system with its dynamic form could not exist. Whatgravity and electrodynamic fields are to solar
systems, the fields are to the cells. These fields playa significant role in life and hence are part of theanswer. We know that fields (i) can influence chemical
reactions, (ii) affect gene expression, (iii) play a rolein cell migration and positioning, (iv) regulate cell
division rates, (v) induce epigenetic alterations, (vi)play triggering roles in regenerative processes, (vii)
can induce long­distant interactions among molecules,(viii) and – last but not least – are assumed to play anessential role in form giving processes. Here, the term‘field’ is mainly used in singular form. However, e.g.
electrostatic membrane potential, ROS­induced
reactions, cytoskeleton vibrations are all expressionsof what is summarised with the term electrodynamic
field, shortly ascribed here as the field(s) (seedefinition above).

The Hurdles
The biggest hurdle to explain why there is not alreadymuch investment in the research of the fields of thecell is seen in the models. They explain life mainly asrandom events of probability from molecules toorganisms. Seeing a cell as more than a bartender’sshaking beaker demands you to incorporate thediscoveries in bioelectromagnetics and photobiology
into the concept. This is not easy! It demands many
hours of investment, hours which only young scien­tists might be able to find, for any established groupcannot afford to change the so far successful model.
It needs courage to reject or enlarge, in respect to an
old model. It is more comfortable to back the old,(which is still a winning horse) – the prize however, isthat we can only pretend to look for the answers tosome of the great questions. In other words, we must
invest in research without the immediate pay­off.
It is about life. It is about us.

The Significance and the Potential
Studying the fields of the cell is of the highest signif­
icance. First of all, it is not a variation of what we doalready but is adding what we may call the essenceof matter. Such research can be undertaken todaywith tremendous insight into the potential of cells.
The fields can also be seen as the potential of whatleads to observable cell kinetics.
Once we understand how cells electrodynamicallyinteract and what the effects are, we can develop
devices that copy the signals and affect cells in similar
ways. This will add to existing non­invasive devices
where people experience an improvement in theirstate of health, in ways we may not yet comprehend.
Once we start teaching quantum biology, i.e. describing
life as a vibrating phenomenon it will become easier
to collate and unify alternative explanations and prin­ciples. Such thoughts are far from being trivial as theybare a socio­political component: the unification of
all of us. Yet this is not because of wishful thinking, but
because we can learn from life with very pragmatic
approaches – investigating the fields of the cell – howlife creates unity among trillions of cells that belong
to a single being like man for example.
We may learn that cells need their fields in theirdecision making processes and start seeing themas quantum computers that are already realised bynature. In combination with devices we may sooner
or later literally communicate with cells.
In summary, the current models of life are still in the19th Century. When people had to communicate witheach other they used matter (a letter). Nowadays, weare in the early stages of harnessing electrodynamics(with smartphones) to inform each other by sending
electromagnetic waves. Cells have always done this.
Why not learn from them?
Addendum: There are not as many students studying
Natural Sciences as we would like. Maybe this isbecause the thinking models of Natural Sciences do not
relate with how the younger generation experience
the world: wireless. However, we believe that studying
the fields of the cell can be so attractive that in thenear future we will find many more enthusiastic
young people wanting to join.

Contact:
Dr Daniel Fels
daniel.fels@breitband.chdaniel.fels@unibas.ch

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