Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Quantum Biology

The 21st century has been christened the century of biology. That's a safe prediction, given the advances in chemistry, engineering, and data processing--not to mention biology--but the solution to the thorniest problems may just lie in quantum physics.

(UC-Berkeley image)
Quantum theory posits the duality of matter in particle and wave forms, describes how seemingly dissociated bodies affect each other (quantum entanglement), and disavows objective truth in favor of probabilities.

Quantum biology purports to explain puzzling phenomena, such as how plants developed high efficiencies of energy transfer in photosynthesis. Some theorists even speculate that it provides a scientific basis for consciousness. Such enthusiasm may seem far-fetched to the vast majority of people--including your humble observer--who are not quantum physicists, but as those physicists are wont to say, all things are possible.

No comments: