Possible Significance of Centrioles
Centrioles, as schematically illustrated above, are structures found in every animal cell and may be what gives life the animation that science cannot otherwise explain at all. (Note, there is a big difference in describing life's characteristics and the operation of its separate parts and explaining how and why it becomes alive in the first place.)
Science will probably never fully explain "life" or consciousness, but it places science and materialism/reductionism in an awkward position when the Centrioles seem to exercise some control of cells and are no more than an antenna like structure which is at least necessary to give "intelligence" to a cell.
Science would be hard pressed at best to explain to the source of an animating signal coming from beyond the physical universe as now understood. Science already has no explanation for the origin of life and no explanation for the origin of consciousness. (Again, an operational description (which is what science is good at) is not a complete explanation at all.)
The living cell is an incredible/amazingly complex structure, as the Virtual Cell site displays beautifully, and the centrioles are structures within animal cells which are probably the key to understanding to some degree how the inanimate becomes animate and possibly the source of consciousness to some limited degree. (Science now has little understanding if any of how consciousness come about. Even if the centrioles play a role, science will still be silent on what consciousness is, but may at least gain a small understanding of how it interacts with the physical world.)
Centrioles (composed of microtubules) are structures found in the nucleus of all animal cells. The determination of the full function of these structures may one day turn out to be among the most important findings ever made by science. Centrioles may point with a significant probability to the existence of a non-physical field (a field of consciousness) beyond this physical world. This should not really be surprising from a scientific viewpoint since science is more and more forced to view "fields" as the basic substance of reality.
Centrioles may in effect be the basic antenna-like or waveguide-like objects which focus or tune in to an existence outside of this physical universe which is the source of life. This idea actually has an interesting correlation to the most widely accepted interpretation of quantum mechanics (the most basic form of physics proven to date) which seems to require consciousness as part of reality! Note; this is not a mis-statement but a fundamental "problem" for the materialistic interpretations of the laws of physics. Yes, quantum mechanics (the deepest level of physics) seems to depend on consciousness to describe reality.
We did not originate such ideas about the potential importance of centrioles. The original idea that centrioles may be the key to consciousness probably originated with or who at least was brought forward clearly by one of the top physicists in the world, Mr. R. Penrose. Others scientifically trained individuals besides this writer believe that some tiny portion of the light of something beyond this universe may shine through centrioles and be the source of consciousness. Click here for a site about Mr. Penrose's book and more about centrioles. Please note that Mr. Penrose makes a purely physics based argument. (To do otherwise would have been professional suicide for almost any scientist, even a noted physicist such as Mr. Penrose.) We do not agree with a purely materialist interpretation of the meaning of centriole findings but believe that Mr. Penrose's position at least makes the whole subject start from a credible scientific foundation.
We believe that consciousness is probably not simply a function of sufficient computing power (i.e. computers will never become consciousness. There are some scientists who share this belief with us, including Mr. Penrose, and of course, some who question his beliefs at least in part.) Mr. Penrose has some reasonable replies to his critics.
We believe that consciousness and the realities of spirit will almost certainly always be, in the main, beyond science. There are good and simple reasons to believe this. One of the main reasons is that consciousness cannot be measured directly by science and probably never will be even if evidence of a consciousness "field" is found. If such a field is determined to be highly probably, then science would still be faced with the question as to where the field arises and how. The centriole would probably simply become the focus of science again in this event.
It is possible, however, that science may find out how some form of presently undetected field interacts with matter (as was the case in the past with radio waves. Einstein once said; "It is possible that there exist emanations that are still unknown to us.") The most probable place they will find a field like interaction is in the centriole. It is worth noting at this point that science can only give an operational definition even of what matter is (something like submicroscopic grains of sand like particle systems) or what "fields" are (like electromagnetic fields or gravitational fields.) Science can tell us about interactions of matter and fields but when you get to the heart of the questions, science comes up short of satisfying definitions of the core of reality.
If there is ever to be even a partial understanding of how consciousness it will probably be something involving centrioles. One of the leading physicists in the world (Roger Penrose) is already proposing that centrioles are a key to understanding consciousness. (Ref. his books "The Emperors New Mind", and "Shadows of the Mind".) He is not the only mainstream scientist proposing bold new concepts about consciousness and centrioles. It is possible and in fact consistent so far with science findings, that centrioles may be a path which connects life at least to some form of guiding formative field.
It may be that centrioles are a path through which some intelligence beyond this universe (probably God, but that is cannot be determined by science) can interact with inanimate matter (this is speculation well beyond present hard science facts) to give it direction, intelligence, and consciousness. Science (physics experiments) has already proven in the laboratory that at the quantum subatomic level, everything in the universe is instantaneously interconnected. (Not limited by the speed of light which limits the speed of matter.) That interconnection beyond the material universe, is consistent with the concept of God, but that connection is, again, not something science will ever use to prove beyond doubt the existence of God. Probability yes, proof, almost certainly no. Sufficient for faith? Yes.
These speculations (like most scientific speculations (especially those in the biological sciences such as evolution), going beyond the hard science) are being given serious consideration by at least some of the top scientists in the world. It is consistent with quantum mechanics (the deepest law of particle physics) to believe that consciousness is in some way deeply connected to physical reality. Quantum mechanics seems to point to that connection as being much deeper and much different that reductionistic materialistic atheistic science would have us believe.
Since physics laboratory tests show that at the deepest level, all of the physical universe is in instantaneous contact with every part of the universe, this could be interpreted (again were not even close to hard science here) as pointing to consciousness not being a local phenomena (not limited to the individual brain) but rather a universal phenomena of some sort. The centrioles could be tapping into such a field if it actually exists.
The centrioles are made of structures called "microtubules". It is a hard science fact these centrioles control cell division. There is some evidence that they are probably the source of a cellular level intelligence. (Scientific tests have actually shown that even individual cells show some level of intelligence, at least in terms of being able to learn.) Cells do not contain a brain like structure or anything which is a reasonable semblance of one. The centrioles are clearly the best candidates for cellular intelligence almost for certain.
If centrioles are only acting like antenna, then there must be ("must be" is a dangerous phrase) an intelligent transmitter like source somewhere and that somewhere could be and probably is beyond the physical universe. If this is true, then there is even more reason to believe that intelligence and consciousness may well always be beyond the realm of science. If that is true, then science will always leave room for a belief in something beyond this material world.
If you wish to search the web on this subject, search both "centrioles" and "microtubules" together with the term consciousness.
We also show DNA symbols in the background of other pages with a link on each page to what we believe is the truth about DNA. We believe that already the scientific community is finding that DNA is just a small part of the book of life. We believe that hard science only shows that DNA is a small part of the full explanation of life.
Like most "truths" in science, the truths about Centrioles and DNA are much more complicated and far less understood than scientists would like the public to think. The truths, however, will probably point to the probable existence of a spirit beyond the physical universe. Most of us would refer to that as God.
(The Virtual Cell site is highly recommended and we especially recommend taking their Virtual Cell Tour. )