Methods of Studying Ultraweak Photon Emissions from Biological Objects. II. Methods Based on Biological Detection

Abstract—This is the second part of a review; it is devoted to the methods of studying ultraweak photon emissions, presents a methodology of biological detection. During the first 25 years of research (1923–1948), almost all experiments in this area were based on biological detection and only the component belonging to the middle ultraviolet region of the spectrum (also called mitogenetic radiation at that time) was studied, because it was observed due to the influence of ultraweak ultraviolet radiation on the mitotic regime of the biological detector. These experiments remain open to debate till present due to the insufficient validation of methods. Many of the results obtained from these investigations were very impressive for that time period and are now verified, the research questions the other results relate to are of considerable interest (for instance, fundamental results concerning cell division and carcinogenesis, early cancer diagnostics). Thus, the analysis of the methodology employed is an emerging issue for the subsequent experimental verification. The details of the methods with the most common biological detectors (onion roots, yeast and bacterial cultures) are analyzed and the onion detection method is compared to the closest analogue (the Allium test).