Schrödinger’s Influence on Biology

Platohagel: Socrates, can you speak to Erwin Schrödinger’s Influence on Biology?

Socrates: Erwin Schrödinger, renowned for his pivotal contributions to quantum mechanics, also made significant strides in biology with his influential 1944 book, “What Is Life?” This work explored the concept of negentropy and the idea that genetic information is stored in complex molecules, speculations that inspired key figures like James Watson and Francis Crick in their discovery of the DNA double helix structure.

Schrödinger’s foray into biology was motivated by his interest in understanding life from a physical perspective, bridging physics and biology. His insights laid the groundwork for the field of molecular biology, demonstrating how physical laws could elucidate biological processes.

For more detailed information, you can visit his Wikipedia page here.

Platohagel: Can you speak to the book, “What is Life.”

Socrates: Schrödinger’s book What Is Life? The Physical Aspect of the Living Cell was published in 1944. It is considered a foundational work that bridged the gap between biology and physics, addressing profound questions about the nature of life from a physicist’s perspective. Here are some key points from the book:

1. Genetic Information Storage: Schrödinger proposed that genetic information is stored in an “aperiodic crystal” within living cells. This concept was revolutionary because it suggested a physical and molecular basis for heredity, which was not well understood at the time.
2. Negentropy: Schrödinger introduced the idea of negative entropy, or “negentropy,” to describe how living organisms maintain order and sustain life by importing energy from their environment. This concept helped explain how living systems defy the second law of thermodynamics, which states that systems tend to move towards disorder.
3. Influence on Molecular Biology: The book had a profound impact on future scientists. James Watson and Francis Crick, who later discovered the double helix structure of DNA, were inspired by Schrödinger’s ideas. Watson mentioned that What Is Life? motivated him to investigate the gene, while Crick acknowledged that Schrödinger’s speculation about genetic information being stored in molecules was a crucial influence on his work.
4. Interdisciplinary Approach: Schrödinger’s interdisciplinary approach was ahead of its time. He applied principles from quantum mechanics and thermodynamics to biological questions, encouraging other physicists to explore biological problems and paving the way for the new field of molecular biology.

Overall, What Is Life? is celebrated for its visionary insights and its role in inspiring the research that led to the discovery of DNA’s structure. It remains a significant work in the history of science, exemplifying how concepts from physics can profoundly influence our understanding of biological phenomena.

Platohagel: Thus this interpretation lead to the area of Quantum Biology. Can you expand on this?

Socrates: Indeed, Schrödinger’s What Is Life? laid the groundwork for the development of quantum biology, a field that explores quantum phenomena in biological systems. Quantum biology investigates how quantum mechanics, typically associated with subatomic particles, can play a role in biological processes. Here are some key aspects:

1. Quantum Coherence and Photosynthesis: One of the most well-known examples of quantum biology is the study of photosynthesis. Researchers have found that quantum coherence, where particles like electrons exist in multiple states simultaneously, helps plants, algae, and some bacteria efficiently transfer energy during photosynthesis. This quantum effect allows for optimal energy transfer through the photosynthetic complexes, significantly enhancing the efficiency of converting light into chemical energy.
2. Enzyme Catalysis: Enzymes, the biological catalysts that speed up chemical reactions in cells, may also operate using quantum tunneling. This phenomenon allows particles to pass through energy barriers they seemingly should not be able to cross. Quantum tunneling can explain how enzymes facilitate reactions at rates much faster than would be possible through classical mechanics alone.
3. Olfaction: Another intriguing application of quantum biology is in the sense of smell. The theory suggests that our noses might detect odors through a quantum mechanism involving electron tunneling. The vibrational theory of olfaction posits that odorant molecules’ vibrational frequencies are sensed by the nasal receptors via quantum processes.
4. Magnetoreception in Birds: Some migratory birds are believed to navigate using Earth’s magnetic field through a quantum mechanism in their eyes. This involves cryptochrome proteins, which may form radical pairs whose quantum states are affected by magnetic fields, thus aiding in navigation.
5. DNA Mutation and Repair: Quantum biology also extends to genetic mutations and DNA repair mechanisms. Quantum tunneling might play a role in the mutation process by allowing protons to transfer between DNA bases, potentially leading to changes in the genetic code.

Schrödinger’s pioneering ideas encouraged scientists to consider the possibility of quantum effects in biological contexts, leading to an interdisciplinary field that combines principles of quantum physics and biology to explain phenomena that classical theories cannot fully address. This approach has opened new avenues for understanding the fundamental mechanisms of life at a molecular level.

Platohagel: Can you also speak to the nature of Quantum Chlorophyll in the Photosynthesis process?

Socrates: Quantum chlorophyll refers to the role of quantum mechanics in the functioning of chlorophyll molecules during photosynthesis, particularly in the light-harvesting complexes of photosynthetic organisms. Here’s a detailed look at how quantum effects come into play:

1. Energy Transfer Efficiency: Chlorophyll molecules are crucial in capturing sunlight and transferring the energy to the reaction center where photosynthesis occurs. This process involves a highly efficient transfer of energy through a network of chlorophyll and other pigments. Quantum coherence allows for this energy to be transferred in a superposition of multiple paths simultaneously, thereby finding the most efficient route and reducing energy loss.
2. Fenna-Matthews-Olson (FMO) Complex: The FMO complex in green sulfur bacteria is one of the most studied systems for understanding quantum effects in photosynthesis. Research has shown that excitons (bound states of electrons and holes) created by absorbed photons can exist in a quantum superposition state. This coherence enables the excitons to explore multiple pathways through the FMO complex, enhancing the efficiency of energy transfer to the reaction center.
3. Quantum Tunneling: Besides coherence, quantum tunneling may play a role in the photosynthetic energy transfer process. Tunneling allows excitons to pass through energy barriers they would not be able to surmount classically. This effect can further increase the efficiency of the energy transfer between chlorophyll molecules and other pigments..
4. Noise-Assisted Quantum Coherence: Paradoxically, some level of environmental noise (thermal fluctuations and vibrations) can assist the quantum coherence in maintaining efficient energy transfer. This phenomenon, known as noise-assisted quantum coherence, suggests that a certain amount of environmental disturbance can help sustain the quantum states that facilitate energy transfer in photosynthesis.
5. Experimental Evidence: Experimental techniques like two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy have provided evidence for quantum coherence in photosynthetic systems. These studies have demonstrated long-lived coherence in light-harvesting complexes, supporting the idea that quantum effects play a crucial role in photosynthetic efficiency.

Quantum chlorophyll thus represents a remarkable example of how quantum mechanics can enhance biological processes, leading to highly efficient energy transfer mechanisms in photosynthesis. This quantum understanding not only provides insights into natural photosynthesis but also inspires the design of artificial light-harvesting systems and quantum technologies

Information and Consciousness

As I look deeper into ( Tegmark's ideas I am wondering if such affective states as emotion do describe the fluidity of feeling as a discription of all emotive states of being. While consciousness is present in such a state such a fluid system can signal other responses quite readily as a messenging system within the body. We understand well how consciousness can be moved according to such affective states.

 So to then, think of the states of abstraction that mind is given too, as a certain airiness of thought, that the brain as a consciousness system and matter defined, does not sit solely in the matter but seeks thoughts of consciousness as being in quite another state?

 Again too, I examine and wonder about judgement defined as a "matter define process" as decision making. You see these examples being defined as states of consciousness, and relevant examples of information bodily expressed, while conscious shares these facets of ideas formulated as expression from such a higher perceptive place, to reality all around?

Regarding Determinism

 You can't argue with what's staring you in the face. It is like saying there is nothing. Nothing would never have anything to offer of itself, but it is not determined that way. Nothing like determinism is lead too, by circumstance/contextuality? By our discription of what it is?

The reality just is? The very situation in the now is connected to what? A past, or a possible, future ?

 Now, if it is subjective, how is such a thing measured in Order for change to become possible, if possible at all? Well thats the thing, destiny and change is possible, even through a subjective understanding?

 While these are functioning facets of consciousness in expression, the subtitled examination is reactions in the bodily function related to these varying perspectives regarding those aspects of consciousness expressed. These become, defined in judgement, in measure. Quickly the materialist has been identified, but not the degrees with which consciousness has been expressed? Recognizing this aspect of layering that is realized in consciousness, reveals a deeper realization of the reality according to states of consciousness? What then is reductionism doing here to say that the final result is materialism , as judgement and measure? Subtle aspects and recognition of consciousness in this way helps to point out what is at work in the world of determinism that is believed to be hidden?

The "Invisible Reality" of Quantum Theory with Alan Alda, Brian Greene, and others

See: The "Invisible Reality" of Quantum Theory with Alan Alda, Brian Greene, and others

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See Also:

• Quantum Cognition
• Quantum Realism and Physical realism.

Quantum Cognition

Niels Bohr, one of the founding fathers of quantum physics, suspected that it could provide insights into human psychology. Now a new field called quantum cognition is exploring how quantum math can explain some seemingly irrational human behavior. See: Quantum math makes human irrationality more sensible

Quantum cognition community states that the activity of such neural networks can produce effects which are formally described as interference (of probabilities) and entanglement. In principle, the community does not try to create the concrete models of quantum (-like) representation of information in the brain

I would take note of ,"in the brain."

The Architecture of Matter?

Buckminsterfullerene-perspective-3D-balls

I cannot say for certain and I speculate. Bucky balls then bring to mind this architectural structure? Let me give you an example of a recent discovery. I have to wonder if Bucky was a Platonist at heart......with grand ideas? Perhaps you recognze some Platonist idea about perfection as if mathematically a Tegmarkan might have found some truth? Some absolute truth? Perhaps a Penrose truth (Quasicrystal and Information)?

 Aperiodic tilings serve as mathematical models for quasicrystals, physical solids that were discovered in 1982 by Dan Shechtman[3] who subsequently won the Nobel prize in 2011.[4] However, the specific local structure of these materials is still poorly understood .Aperiodic tilings -

 While one starts with a single point of entry......the whole process from another perspective is encapsulated. So you might work from the hydrogen spectrum as a start with the assumption, that this process in itself is enclosed.

 
 The future lies in encapsulating all electromagnetic forces under the auspice and enclosed within the understanding of gravity?

 240 E₈ polytope vertices using 5D orthographic_projection to 2D using 5-cube (Penteract) Petrie_polygon basis_vectors overlaid on electron diffraction pattern of an Icosahedron Zn-Mg-Ho Quasicrystal. E8_(mathematics) and Quasicrystals

At the same time one might understand the complexity of the issue?

 By now it is known theoretically that quantum angular momentum of any kind has a discrete spectrum, which is sometimes imprecisely expressed as "angular momentum is quantized".Stern–Gerlach experiment -

 ***

So possibly a Photon polarization principle inherent in a quantum description of the wave and such a principle inherent in the use of photosynthesis to describe a property not just of the capability of using sun light, but of understanding this principle biologically in human beings? I actually have a example of this use theoretically as a product. Maybe Elon Musk might like to use it?

Photonic molecules are a synthetic form of matter in which photons bind together to form "molecules". According to Mikhail Lukin, individual (massless) photons "interact with each other so strongly that they act as though they have mass". The effect is analogous to refraction. The light enters another medium, transferring part of its energy to the medium. Inside the medium, it exists as coupled light and matter, but it exits as light.^[1]

While I would like to make it easy for you, I can only leave a title for your examination. "The Nobel Prize in Physics 1914 Max von Laue." Yes, but if it is understood that some correlate process can be understood from "a fundamental position," as to the architecture of matter, what would this light have to say about the component structuralism of the information we are missing?


The idea is not new. From a science fiction point of view, StarTrek had these units that when you were hungry or wanted a drink you would have this object materialize in a microwave type oven? Not the transporter.

So, you have this 3d printer accessing all information about the structure and access to the building blocks of all matter in energy, funneled through this replicator.

***

 When Bucky was waving his arm between the earth and the moon.....did he know about the three body problem, or how to look at the space between these bodies in another way. If people think this is not real, then you will have to tell those who use celestial mechanics that they are using their satellite trajectories all wrong.

 Ephemeralization, a term coined by R. Buckminster Fuller, is the ability of technological advancement to do "more and more with less and less until eventually you can do everything with nothing".^[1] Fuller's vision was that ephemeralization will result in ever-increasing standards of living for an ever-growing population despite finite resources.

 Exactly. So it was not just "hand waving" Buckminister Fuller is alluding too, but some actual understanding to "more is less?" One applies the principle then? See? I am using your informational video to explain.

 ARTEMIS-P1 is the first spacecraft to navigate to and perform stationkeeping operations around the Earth-Moon L1 and L2 Lagrangian points. There are five Lagrangian points associated with the Earth-Moon system. ARTEMIS - The First Earth-Moon Libration Orbiter -

 To do more with less, it has to be understood that distance crossed needs minimum usage of fuel to project the satellite over a great distance. So they use "momentum" to swing satellites forward?

 This is a list of various types of equilibrium, the condition of a system in which all competing influences are balanced. List of types of equilibrium -

A Wavicle

Etymology

 Blend of wave and particle. Noun  

Wavicle (plural wavicles)

 (quantum mechanics) A wave-particle; an entity which simultaneously has the properties of a wave and a particle.

See also:

•  de Broglie wavelength
•  matter wave
• wave-particle duality 

*** 

Quantum physics says that particles can behave like waves, and vice versa. Research published in Nature Communications shows that this 'wave-particle duality' is simply the quantum uncertainty principle in disguise.

An international team of researchers has proved that two peculiar features of the quantum world – previously considered distinct – are different manifestations of the same thing. The result is published 19 December in Nature Communications.

Patrick Coles, Jedrzej Kaniewski, and Stephanie Wehner made the breakthrough while at the Centre for Quantum Technologies at the National University of Singapore. They found that 'wave-particle duality' is simply the quantum 'uncertainty principle' in disguise, reducing two mysteries to one.

"The connection between uncertainty and wave-particle duality comes out very naturally when you consider them as questions about what information you can gain about a system. Our result highlights the power of thinking about physics from the perspective of information," says Wehner, who is now an Associate Professor at QuTech at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.

The discovery deepens our understanding of quantum physics and could prompt ideas for new applications of wave-particle duality................... SEE : CQT (Centre for Quantum Technologies)-Two quantum mysteries merged into one

More on Quantum Biology

If you push perspective into the area of quantum biology you will be very surprised.

 QUANTUM CHLOROPHYLL: Sunlight triggers wave-like motion in green chlorophyll, embedded in a protein structure, ........ that guides its function. GREGORY ENGEL

Early visions of wireless power actually were thought of by Nikola Tesla basically about 100 years ago. The thought that you wouldn't want to transfer electric power wirelessly, no one ever thought of that. They thought, "Who would use it if you didn't?" And so, in fact, he actually set about doing a variety of things. Built the Tesla coil. This tower was built on Long Island back at the beginning of the 1900s. And the idea was, it was supposed to be able to transfer power anywhere on Earth. We'll never know if this stuff worked. Actually, I think the Federal Bureau of Investigation took it down for security purposes, sometime in the early 1900s.See: http://www.ted.com/talks/eric_giler_demos_wireless_electricity.html

I think people have been behind the times a bit here on what may have been a interesting proposal in order to help the recharging system. Think of Photosynthesis and then think of nano-particulates and you will see they are quite advanced in terms of using this proposal in a varied productive means and not just with solar panels. I know of companies using this approach in shingle application.

But the one that I had thought of was one has its applicability toward helping electric cars is my favorite. You want to know? Do not have time and money to do development but I know the process is being explored and probably at this point being worked towards an application. Interested? Any developers here?:)

Nanocrystal solar: The solar cells at top were made on a roll-to-roll printer from an ink consisting of the rod-shaped inorganic semiconducting nanocrystals shown below. The cells were printed on a flexible metal foil and will be topped with a glass plate.
Credit: Solexant

An Idea: Percolating to the Surface

As well you might have understood why I claimed  Aristarchus Crater and Surrounding Region that since thinking beyond the boundaries on the planet it is important that quantum processes are used to develop the energy that is needed to survive on the moon?:)

Quantum Music

Quantum: Music at the Frontier of Science - QNC Performance

Published on Oct 19, 2012 The Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony and the Institute for Quantum Computing teamed up on Sept. 29, 2012, to present an innovative musical experiment called "Quantum: Music at the Frontier of Science." The concert served as the the grand finale of the grand opening celebrations of the Mike & Ophelia Lazaridis Quantum-Nano Centre at the University of Waterloo. Through narration, an eclectic musical programme, live narration and "sound experiments," the concert explored the surprisingly parallel paths followed by quantum science and orchestral music over the past century. The concert was created over the period of a year through meetings and brainstorming sessions between KW Symphony Music Director Edwin Outwater and researchers from the Institute for Quantum Computing.

***

See Also:

• QUANTUM: MUSIC AT THE FRONTIER OF SCIENCE

Quantum Tunnelling

Quantum tunnelling or tunneling (see spelling differences) refers to the quantum mechanical phenomenon where a particle tunnels through a barrier that it classically could not surmount. This plays an essential role in several physical phenomena, such as the nuclear fusion that occurs in main sequence stars like the Sun.[1] It has important applications to modern devices such as the tunnel diode,[2] quantum computing, and the scanning tunnelling microscope. The effect was predicted in the early 20th century and its acceptance, as a general physical phenomenon, came mid-century.[3]

ABSTRACT Surprisingly robust quantum effects have been observed in warm biological systems. At the same time quantum information technology has moved closer to physical realization. This one day workshop will examine the significance of mesoscopic quantum coherence, tunneling and entanglement in biomolecular membranes, proteins, DNA and cytoskeleton, with particular attention to recently discovered megahertz ballistic conductance in microtubules. Potential utilization of biomolecular quantum information in regulation of cellular activities will be addressed, along with implications for disease and therapy as well as the future development of quantum computation and artificial intelligence.Google Workshop on Quantum Biology, Welcome and Introduction, Presented by Hartmut Neven

See Also:

• Discovery of quantum vibrations in 'microtubules' corroborates theory of consciousness
• Are microtubules macroscopic quantum systems?
• Flatland in Expression?

Quantum Computing and Evolution?

The unique capability of quantum mechanics to evolve alternative possibilities in parallel is appealing and over the years a number of quantum algorithms have been developed offering great computational benefits. Systems coupled to the environment lose quantum coherence quickly and realization of schemes based on unitarity might be impossible. Recent discovery of room temperature quantum coherence in light harvesting complexes opens up new possibilities to borrow concepts from biology to use quantum effects for computational purposes. While it has been conjectured that light harvesting complexes such as the Fenna-Matthews-Olson (FMO) complex in the green sulfur bacteria performs an efficient quantum search similar to the quantum Grover's algorithm the analogy has yet to be established. See: Evolutionary Design in Biological Quantum Computing

The Bloch sphere is a representation of a qubit, the fundamental building block of quantum computers.

Quantum Light Harvesting Hints at Entirely New Form of Computing

See:

• Landauer's principle
• Thanksgiving 
• Irreversibility and Heat Generation in the Computing Process

Data: CERN computing through the ages and Quantum AI Lab

Video: CERN computing through the ages

A peek at the early days of the Quantum AI Lab: a partnership between NASA, Google, and a 512-qubit D-Wave Two quantum computer.

History Displays Newton's Optics and Organic Chemistry?

 The Errors & Animadversions of Honest Isaac Newton

by Sheldon Lee Glashow


ABSTRACT:

Isaac Newton was my childhood hero. Along with Albert Einstein, he one of the greatest scientists ever, but Newton was no saint. He used his position to defame his competitors and rarely credited his colleagues.His arguments were sometimes false and contrived, his data were often fudged, and he exaggerated the accuracy of his calculations. Furthermore, his many religious works (mostly unpublished) were nonsensical or mystical, revealing him to be a creationist at heart. My talk offers a sampling of Newton’s many transgressions, social, scientific and religious.

This is an entry in progress but if one has been following one may have asked indeed where did such a history begin to say that in today's world there is this emergence of the trades in combination. Theoretical Physics and Organic Chemistry.

You may be familiar with Isaac Newton from such inventions as calculus and the law of universal gravitation. What you may not know is that he was also an avid "chymist," or alchemist. In fact, Newton actually wrote roughly a million words about alchemy and his experiments with it — as Indiana University science historian William Newman has noted, Newton probably spent more time doing alchemy than he did on any of his other scientific pursuits. See: Incredible videos recreate Isaac Newton’s experiments with alchemy

Analysis of white light by dispersing it with a prism is an example of spectroscopy

 
So while looking at the future it is always interesting to see where such thought predate the thinking that cross pollination with regard to the science could have seen any benefit in looking at Spectroscopy. So you can see where I might have displayed an ancient idea suggested of alchemy as to the psychology as an end result of the complexity of simple formulation of the physics of things we did not see useful before.

It forces my thinking as to the assumptions that will eventually reveal the nature of our thoughts processes and evidences as existing in the idea of consciousnesses explained?

There is no doubt there is some relevance in my thinking that what may be termed spiritual may have some weight attached to how I think we may be held to our experiences. How the weight of our experiences could have affects as to what is perceivable outside the parameters of and circumference of our established lives.  On a classical level, the matter distinctions are apparent and anything beyond that as related too, quantum effects,  is a much more deeper request for new and measurable techniques to the psychology of our being and examination of what consciousness really is?

The Physics of Organic Chemistry

Download a Power Point Presentation about Hera (3.3 MB)

It is a hasty entry this morning so by all means this information will not be complete. Familiarity with using spectrographic  processes helps to align the thinking needed in the overview of dealing with the processes of organic chemistry. By no means do I have a complete view here,  but if you think possibly in a theoretical way can we  marry Organic Chemistry to what we call Theoretical Organic Chemistry?

You are not just looking at the stars anymore but have realigned your thinking to organic processes here on Earth.

Spectra are complex because each spectrum holds a wide variety of information. For instance, there are many different mechanisms by which an object, like a star, can produce light - or using the technical term for light, electromagnetic radiation. Each of these mechanisms has a characteristic spectrum. Let's look at a spectrum and examine each part of it. Introduction to Spectroscopy

• -Ultraviolet/Visible Spectroscopy

• - Infrared Spectroscopy

• -Mass Spectrometry

• -Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy

See Also:

The simulation hypothesis and other things I don’t believe

Quantum Biology

The frequency of vibration of an object is, among other things, a function of mass: A heavy guitar string vibrates more slowly than a light one and produces a lower tone. These tiny cantilevers vibrate at radio frequencies, in the 1 to 15 megahertz range, and because they are so small to begin with, adding just a tiny bit more mass will make a measurable change in frequency.

For cell detection, the researchers coated their cantilevers with antibodies that bind to E. coli bacteria, then bathed the devices in a solution containing the cells. Some of the cells were bound to the surface, and the additional mass changed the frequency of vibration. In one case just one cell happened to bond to a cantilever, and it was possible to detect the mass of the single cell.
‘Nano’ Becomes ‘Atto’ and Will Soon Be ‘Zepto’ for Cornell - New Technology

As soon as you use the word "quantum" there is a easy assessment for a scientist who deals with reduction-ism to have it sorted out as to what levels of perception are being forced upon  a definition and understanding. A measurable quantity of something? For us lay people, it is never that easy.

 quan-tum (kwntm)

n. pl. quan·ta (-t)

1. A quantity or amount.

2. A specified portion.

3. Something that can be counted or measured.

4. Physics

a. The smallest amount of a physical quantity that can exist independently, especially a discrete quantity of electromagnetic radiation.

b. This amount of energy regarded as a unit.

adj.

Relating to or based upon quantum mechanics.

---

[Latin, from neuter of quantus, how great; see quantity.]

So suffice is it to say that by demonstrating this scalable reference to the values and options in recognition of the Powers of Ten,  we realize the depth with which we need participation. That through use of manufacture,  as for any of us to say such a thing that which is not observable normally, can we say then exists for us? We have all taken it for granted, even a scientist perhaps to realize how one can divvy up their day as to say at times our perception was much deeper in to the reality then previously confirmed?

Have we gotten so far into our assumptions of the world that we would not further entertain the idea that consciousness emerges from something. Consciousness that is so subtle that we have not really to this date been able to reproduce what consciousness actually looks like. Categorized consciousness at this wanted measurable level of perception that is needed.


Can we say we have always measured around it, and can shows signs of something going on in terms of biological exchange, but have as yet not been able to assess this function as nothing more then some abstract creature of design that we lack for distinct measurable quantities?

Quantum biology refers to applications of quantum mechanics to biological objects and problems. Usually, it is taken to refer to applications of the "non-trivial" quantum features such as superposition, nonlocality, entanglement and tunneling, as opposed to the "trivial" applications such as chemical bonding which apply to biology only indirectly by dictating quantum chemistry.
Austrian born physicist and theoretical biologist Erwin Schrödinger was one of the first scientists to suggest a study of quantum biology in his 1946 book "What is Life?"

Contents 1 Applications 2 Notes 3 Further reading 4 External links

Applications

Many biological processes involve the conversion of energy into forms that are usable for chemical transformations and are quantum mechanical in nature. Such processes involve chemical reactions, light absorption, formation of excited electronic states, transfer of excitation energy, and the transfer of electrons and protons (hydrogen ions) in chemical processes such as photosynthesis and cellular respiration.^[1] Quantum biology uses computation to model biological interactions in light of quantum mechanical effects.^[2]
Some examples of the biological phenomena that have been studied in terms of quantum processes are the absorbance of frequency-specific radiation (i.e., photosynthesis^[3] and vision^[4]); the conversion of chemical energy into motion;^[5] magnetoreception in animals,^[6][7] DNA mutation ^[8] and brownian motors in many cellular processes.^[9]
Recent studies have identified quantum coherence and entanglement between the excited states of different pigments in the light-harvesting stage of photosynthesis.^[10][11] Although this stage of photosynthesis is highly efficient, it remains unclear exactly how or if these quantum effects are relevant biologically.^[12]

Notes

1. ^ Quantum Biology. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Theoretical and Computational Biophysics Group. http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/Research/quantum_biology/
2. ^ http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/01/070116133617.htm Science Daily Quantum Biology: Powerful Computer Models Reveal Key Biological Mechanism Retrieved Oct 14, 2007
3. ^ Quantum Secrets of Photosynthesis Revealed
4. ^ Garab, G. (1999). Photosynthesis: Mechanisms and Effects: Proceedings of the XIth International Congress on Photosynthesis. Kluwer Academic Publishers. ISBN 978-0-7923-5547-2.
5. ^ Levine, Raphael D. (2005). Molecular Reaction Dynamics. Cambridge University Press. pp. 16–18. ISBN 978-0-521-84276-1.
6. ^ Binhi, Vladimir N. (2002). Magnetobiology: Underlying Physical Problems. Academic Press. pp. 14–16. ISBN 978-0-12-100071-4.
7. ^ Erik M. Gauger, Elisabeth Rieper, John J. L. Morton, Simon C. Benjamin, Vlatko Vedral: Sustained quantum coherence and entanglement in the avian compass, Physics Review Letters, vol. 106, no. 4, 040503 (2011) (abstract, preprint)
8. ^ Lowdin, P.O. (1965) Quantum genetics and the aperiodic solid. Some aspects on the Biological problems of heredity, mutations, aging and tumours in view of the quantum theory of the DNA molecule. Advances in Quantum Chemistry. Volume 2. pp213-360. Acedemic Press
9. ^ Harald Krug; Harald Brune, Gunter Schmid, Ulrich Simon, Viola Vogel, Daniel Wyrwa, Holger Ernst, Armin Grunwald, Werner Grunwald, Heinrich Hofmann (2006). Nanotechnology: Assessment and Perspectives. Springer-Verlag Berlin and Heidelberg GmbH & Co. K. pp. 197–240. ISBN 978-3-540-32819-3.
10. ^ Sarovar, Mohan; Ishizaki, Akihito; Fleming, Graham R.; Whaley, K. Birgitta (2010). "Quantum entanglement in photosynthetic light-harvesting complexes". Nature Physics 6 (6): 462–467. arXiv:0905.3787. Bibcode 2010NatPh...6..462S. doi:10.1038/nphys1652.
11. ^ Engel GS, Calhoun TR, Read EL, Ahn TK, Mancal T, Cheng YC et al. (2007). "Evidence for wavelike energy transfer through quantum coherence in photosynthetic systems.". Nature 446 (7137): 782–6. Bibcode 2007Natur.446..782E. doi:10.1038/nature05678. PMID 17429397.
12. ^ Scholes GS (2010). "Quantum-Coherent Electronic Energy Transfer: Did Nature Think of It First?". Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters 1: 2–8. doi:10.1021/jz900062f.

Further reading

• Derek Abbott, Julio Gea-Banacloche, Paul C. W. Davies, Stuart Hameroff, Anton Zeilinger, Jens Eisert, Howard M. Wiseman, Sergey M. Bezrukov, and Hans Frauenfelder, "Plenary debate: quantum effects in biology―trivial or not?" Fluctuation and Noise Letters, 8(1), pp. C5–C26, 2008.
• Philip Ball, "Physics of life: The dawn of quantum biology," Nature 474 (2011), 272-274.
• P.C.W. Davies, "Does quantum mechanics play a non-trivial role in life?" BioSystems, 78, pp. 69–79, 2004.
• P.C.W. Davies, "Quantum fluctuations and life", quant-ph/0403017, 2 March 2004
• Johnjoe McFadden and Jim Al-Khalili, "A quantum mechanical model of adaptive mutation" BioSystems 50 (1999), 203-211.
• Ogryzko VV. "Erwin Schroedinger, Francis Crick and epigenetic stability". Biol Direct. 3, pp. 15, 2008. http://www.biology-direct.com/content/3/1/15
• Erwin Schrödinger. What is Life?, Cambridge, 1944.
• M. Tegmark, "Why the brain is probably not a quantum computer," Information Sciences, 128, pp. 155–179, 2000.

External links

• Theoretical and Computational Biophysics Group, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• Quantum Biology Workshop, University of Surrey, UK

Photos By: Illustration by Megan Gundrum, fifth-year DAAP student

See Also:

• An Idea: Percolating to the Surface

Quantum Computing

Towards quantum chemistry on a quantum computer

B. P. Lanyon1,2, J. D. Whitfield4, G. G. Gillett1,2, M. E. Goggin1,5, M. P. Almeida1,2, I. Kassal4, J. D. Biamonte4,6, M. Mohseni4,6, B. J. Powell1,3, M. Barbieri1,2,6, A. Aspuru-Guzik4 & A. G. White1,2

Abstract

Exact first-principles calculations of molecular properties are currently intractable because their computational cost grows exponentially with both the number of atoms and basis set size. A solution is to move to a radically different model of computing by building a quantum computer, which is a device that uses quantum systems themselves to store and process data. Here we report the application of the latest photonic quantum computer technology to calculate properties of the smallest molecular system: the hydrogen molecule in a minimal basis. We calculate the complete energy spectrum to 20 bits of precision and discuss how the technique can be expanded to solve large-scale chemical problems that lie beyond the reach of modern supercomputers. These results represent an early practical step toward a powerful tool with a broad range of quantum-chemical applications.

Frogs, Foam and Fuel: UC Researchers Convert Solar Energy to Sugars

Photos By: Illustration by Megan Gundrum, fifth-year DAAP student

For decades, farmers have been trying to find ways to get more energy out of the sun.

In natural photosynthesis, plants take in solar energy and carbon dioxide and then convert it to oxygen and sugars. The oxygen is released to the air and the sugars are dispersed throughout the plant — like that sweet corn we look for in the summer. Unfortunately, the allocation of light energy into products we use is not as efficient as we would like. Now engineering researchers at the University of Cincinnati are doing something about that.See:Frogs, Foam and Fuel: UC Researchers Convert Solar Energy to Sugars

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I get very excited when I see ideas like this.


See:When It Comes to Photosynthesis, Plants Perform Quantum Computation

Plants soak up some of the 10¹⁷ joules of solar energy that bathe Earth each second, harvesting as much as 95 percent of it from the light they absorb. The transformation of sunlight into carbohydrates takes place in one million billionths of a second, preventing much of that energy from dissipating as heat. But exactly how plants manage this nearly instantaneous trick has remained elusive. Now biophysicists at the University of California, Berkeley, have shown that plants use the basic principle of quantum computing—the exploration of a multiplicity of different answers at the same time—to achieve near-perfect efficiency.

Biophysicist Gregory Engel and his colleagues cooled a green sulfur bacterium—Chlorobium tepidum, one of the oldest photosynthesizers on the planet—to 77 kelvins [–321 degrees Fahrenheit] and then pulsed it with extremely short bursts of laser light. By manipulating these pulses, the researchers could track the flow of energy through the bacterium's photosynthetic system. "We always thought of it as hopping through the system, the same way that you or I might run through a maze of bushes," Engel explains. "But, instead of coming to an intersection and going left or right, it can actually go in both directions at once and explore many different paths most efficiently."

In other words, plants are employing the basic principles of quantum mechanics to transfer energy from chromophore (photosynthetic molecule) to chromophore until it reaches the so-called reaction center where photosynthesis, as it is classically defined, takes place. The particles of energy are behaving like waves. "We see very strong evidence for a wavelike motion of energy through these photosynthetic complexes," Engel says. The results appear in the current issue of Nature.

QUANTUM CHLOROPHYLL: Sunlight triggers wave-like motion in green chlorophyll, embedded in a protein structure, depicted in gray here, that guides its function. GREGORY ENGEL

Employing this process allows the near-perfect efficiency of plants in harvesting energy from sunlight and is likely to be used by all of them, Engel says. It might also be copied usefully by researchers attempting to create artificial photosynthesis, such as that in photovoltaic cells for generating electricity. "This can be a much more efficient energy transfer than a classical hopping one," Engel says. "Exactly how to implement that is a very difficult question."

It also remains unclear exactly how a plant's structure permits this quantum effect to take place. "[The protein structure] of the plant has to be tuned to allow transfer among chromophores but not to allow transfers into [heat]," Engel says. "How that tuning works and how it is controlled, we don't know." Inside every spring leaf is a system capable of performing a speedy and efficient quantum computation, and therein lies the key to much of the energy on Earth.

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Filling the Universe with Sand

One of the "Silicon Avogadro Spheres" at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), Teddington, UK. See:Counting Atoms in a Sphere

Stefan writes...

To measure means to count. We measure a length by counting marks on a ruler, and a time span by counting ticks of clock. We compare the quantity we want to measure to multiples of a standardized quantity, the unit of measurement, such as the metre, the inch, or the second......

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Discrete mathematics, also called finite mathematics or decision mathematics, is the study of mathematical structures that are fundamentally discrete in the sense of not supporting or requiring the notion of continuity. Objects studied in finite mathematics are largely countable sets such as integers, finite graphs, and formal languages.

Discrete mathematics has become popular in recent decades because of its applications to computer science. Concepts and notations from discrete mathematics are useful to study or describe objects or problems in computer algorithms and programming languages. In some mathematics curricula, finite mathematics courses cover discrete mathematical concepts for business, while discrete mathematics courses emphasize concepts for computer science majors.

Reductionism seems to be the ability to measure in powers of ten, and then, we get to a point where everything is all smeared out. So energy at some point becomes the determination of what any particulate could be measured, and yet, we would say that it is like using sand to fill the universe?

I have been intrigued by the idea of a "kitchen measure of a teaspoon of sorts" as well as to what water fills any glass to it's brim. Thinking, that such a substance while pertaining to the measure of something, can have space in between, with which it can fill? Yet, it does not flow over? How much before it does, and we say that this measure is what the spirit of these walking bodies shall qualify too? The soul at 21 grams?

The title of the movie comes from the work of Dr. Duncan MacDougall, who in the early 1900s sought to measure the weight purportedly lost by a human body when the soul departed the body upon death. MacDougall weighed dying patients in an attempt to prove that the soul was material, tangible and thus measurable. These experiments are widely considered to have little, if any scientific merit, and MacDougall's results varied considerably from 21 grams, but for some people this figure has become synonymous with the measure of a soul's mass [1]The Soul=λόγος,θυμος,ἔρως

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Archimedes met an untimely death while deep in thought, pondering a figure he had drawn in the sand. He did not see the Roman soldier approach, sword in hand. The mosaic portrays this historical event

"Kepler Conjecture is speaking about cannon balls. Tom Hales writes,"Nearly four hundred years ago, Kepler asserted that no packing of congruent spheres can have a density greater than the density of the face-centered cubic packing."

Turning now to Archimedes’ reckoning, he proceeds to fill up the (then) known universe with sand by considering a succession of spheres, each 100 times the diameter of its predecessor in the succession. He uses a fact well known to Greek geometers: the ratio of the volumes of two spheres is the third power of the ratio of their diameters. The Sand Reckoner

The Stomachion

A computer-enhanced image of a 1,000-year-old manuscript reveals the faint traces of a copy of Archimedes' Stomachion treatise. It had been overwritten by monks in the 13th century. (Rochester Institute of Technology, Johns Hopkins University/The Archimedes Palimpsest)

It was chance that led Dr. Netz to his first insight into the nature of the Stomachion. Last August, he says, just as he was about to start transcribing one of the manuscript pages, he got a gift in the mail, a blue cut-glass model of a Stomachion puzzle. It was made by a retired businessman from California who found Dr. Netz on the Internet as a renowned Archimedes scholar. Looking at the model, Dr. Netz realized that a diagram on the page he was transcribing was actually a rearrangement of the pieces of the Stomachion puzzle. Suddenly, he understood what Archimedes was getting at.

See:στομα'χιον

See Also:Archimedes Palmpsest

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See:

Historical Approach of the Sand Reckoner

13th Sphere of the GreenGrocer

Loosing Sight of Discrete Geometry