The Guy Foundation team members Dr Geoffrey Guy and Professor Alistair Nunn gave a talk on light and health for the ‘Meaning of Light’ series on 1 May. Hosted by Ulysse Dormoy from the lighting company Atrium, the ‘Meaning of Light’ series is an initiative to investigate the profound influence of light on human health and wellbeing, and what this means in the context of our changing light environment. Presentations in the series have covered topics as diverse as architectural design, circadian rhythms and the phasing out of incandescent lighting.
The Guy Foundation’s presentation began with a short explanation of how we came to be interested in the effects of light on human health, through our research into cannabidiol fluorescence. This interest grew into a wider investigation of quantum biology, which includes topics relating to electromagnetic effects in biological systems. All living organisms on Earth evolved within a very specific set of physical conditions: a defined electromagnetic spectrum as well as a magnetic and gravitational field. Consideration of this evolutionary constraint led to the Foundation’s focus on how different environments, such as space, might perturb the optimal function – particularly the mitochondrial function – of biological organisms and lead to the accelerated ageing phenotype that is observed in astronauts. In their talk, Alistair Nunn and Geoffrey Guy briefly outlined some of the ways in which this perturbation may occur, through red and infrared light starvation, circadian disruption, hypomagnetic fields, and reduced gravity.
The Foundation is very pleased to be part of this excellent series that is drawing necessary attention to the importance of understanding how light interacts with life. You can watch the talk here.