Abstract: The number of biomedical studies where the observed effects are determined by the laws of quantum physics is constantly growing. These include respiration, vision, smell, photosynthesis, mutations, etc., united by name "quantum biology". The effect on organisms of magnetic fields, including those weakened in comparison with the geomagnetic field, is one of such studies. The magnetic field can act only on magnetic moments, the most important representative of which is the electron. The magnetic field changes the quantum dynamics of electrons in the body, which ultimately leads to the observed reactions at the biochemical and behavioral levels. Organisms on Earth have evolved in a geomagnetic field, which means that its absence can cause disturbances in the normal functioning of organisms. Indeed, there are more than two hundred scientific publications on this topic. Today, it has been reliably established that the hypomagnetic field can change the functioning of organisms from bacteria and fungi to mammals and humans. In deep space flight and in future missions to the Moon and Mars, astronauts will be in a hypomagnetic field, which is less than a natural geomagnetic field by more than a hundred times. Such a weakening of the magnetic field is associated with an additional risk. This mini review provides initial information about the levels of the magnetic field on Earth, in near and distant outer space, and on the surfaces of the Moon and Mars. Information is provided on the hypomagnetic field effects on the human body and about the mechanisms of such effects. It is reported about the features of research in magnetobiology that require special statistical methods for processing the results. The complexity of creating a hypomagnetic field in volumes sufficient to accommodate the human body is discussed. The primary tasks in this relatively new research field are formulated.

Abstract: The review discusses the microscopic mechanisms of the action of weak magnetic fields on organisms. Magnetobiology distinguishes between magnetoreception, i.e., the effect of a magnetic field on specialized receptors, and a nonspecific response that develops without such receptors. The nonspecific effects of weak magnetic fields are highly general and universal: they occur in all organisms. Often these effects are disguised as the result of the action of uncontrolled random factors, appear as an increased scatter of measurements, and accompanied by low reproducibility. The nature of nonspecific magnetic effects, as is shown in this review, is related to the quantum dynamics of the magnetic moments of electrons, magnetic nuclei, and, possibly, rotations of molecular groups. Among the most substantiated is the spin-chemical mechanism, first of all. Its known low sensitivity to weak magnetic fields can be increased by including spin-correlated radical pairs in the enzymes that catalyze biopolymer processes, e.g., ribosomal ones. We show that research on the effects of significantly weakened magnetic fields compared with the geomagnetic field on cellular processes has prospects for various practical applications. The mechanisms proposed to explain nonspecific effects, but turned out to be untenable, are listed.

Abstract: The subject of this research is D. Chalmers’ argument in explanation of the phenomenal consciousness –sentience or qualia – explanation on the basis of dualism of the low-level physical and high-level mental propertoes of the brain. The dualism of properties in the philosophy of consciousness means that consciousness is a high-level property, supervenient on the physical properties of the brain. Chalmers introduces the concept of logical supervenience and explains the phenomenal consciousness by the fact that psychical properties are supervenient on physical properties naturally, rather than logically. This comprises the essence of Chalmers' concept of naturalistic dualism. The article reviews the concept of supervenience in most commonly used form, and the definition of logical and natural supervenience. Supervenience becomes logical and/or natural due to the fact that its definition includes the modal term “possibility”, which concedes different interpretations: possibility by virtue of the laws of nature – nomic possibility, and logical possibility. The author demonstrates that the definition of logical supervenience, which leans on the concept of identity, makes sense only in the context of transtemporal, rather than transworld identity. Such circumstance substantially changes the meaning of the definition of logical supervenience. The novelty of this work consists in showing that unlike the logical and natural possibilities, logical and natural supervenience are different names for the same type of relationship. The conclusion is formulated that naturalistic dualism, which claims their fundamental difference, cannot explain the phenomenal consciousness using this distinction.