Well, we know that the simple fact of observing an event changes it (see the Double Slit experiment), so consciousness has to have some kind of link to reality itself, no?

We currently do not know what consciousness even is exactly, and we know only about the human consciousness, but there can be other degrees of consciousness within other particles in the universe.

And even if current-day experiments disprove something, that doesn't mean it will in the future, just like before Einstein's laws of relativity proved that gravity bends spacetime and that it is relative according to the point of observation.

And I'm sure people that study neuroscience ask this same question from time to time. It's a scientist's duty to find the factual truth about things, even if they disprove everything they know so far. We can't rule out something as impossible just because we haven't observed it yet, as it would directly contradict the scientific method, and therefore cease to be science.