What if quantum physics could eradicate illness? | Jim Al-Khalili for Big Think

This interview is an episode from The Well, our new publication about ideas that inspire a life well-lived, created with the John Templeton Foundation.

Quantum biology examines quantum effects inside cells. This is a tricky field, as physicists are not comfortable working with messy biological systems, while biologists are not comfortable with complex (and seemingly irrelevant) particle physics equations.

But chemists, who straddle the space between physics and biology, know that biological molecules are part of the quantum world.

It is likely that there are quantum effects in several biological processes, such as those that generate mutations — which means that particle physics has played a role in the evolution of life on the planet.

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About Jim Al-Khalili:
Jim is a multiple award-winning science communicator renowned for his public engagement around the world through writing and broadcasting and a leading academic making fundamental contributions to theoretical physics, particularly in nuclear reaction theory, quantum effects in biology, open quantum systems and the foundations of quantum mechanics.

Jim is a theoretical physicist at the University of Surrey where he holds a Distinguished Chair in physics as well as a university chair in the public engagement in science. He received his PhD in nuclear reaction theory in 1989 and has published widely in the field. His current interest is in open quantum systems and the application of quantum mechanics in biology.

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Read more from The Well:
I put a camera on a monkey. Here’s how it shook my understanding of humanity
Atheism is not as rare or as rational as you think
System 1 vs. System 2 thinking: Why it isn’t strategic to always be rational

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About The Well
Do we inhabit a multiverse? Do we have free will? What is love? Is evolution directional? There are no simple answers to life’s biggest questions, and that’s why they’re the questions occupying the world’s brightest minds.

So what do they think?

How is the power of science advancing understanding? How are philosophers and theologians tackling these fascinating questions?

Let’s dive into The Well.

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[JohnSmith-utth]

Quantum biology, *including quantum tunnelling, * has been around 30 years. This comment had 6 upvotes in a very short time and the video uploader decided to delete it. He asked for references and I provided thousands (just do a scholar search for "quantum biology") along with myself as a living reference (because I worked in the field of quantum biology 20 years ago) and he promptly deleted that as well. This guy has an agenda. Please upvote to keep this comment alive.

[huangxiumin]

there must be a relationship between quantum physics and epigenetics, exciting to see this explored

[varunnikam]

Quantum mechanics + biology going to revolutionalize the next era of science.

[sacredkinetics.lns.]

`
👽
Long way to go; be creative.

[geezzerboy]

Dr Isaac Asimov once noted, (in the early 60s) that since the Carbon 14 in our DNA is radioactive, it breaks down eventually. The flying pieces of atom hurtle out of the DNA destroying structures, changing the DNA randomly. Has anyone explored that phenomena?

[BlueSoulTiger]

"Quantum Biology Explained"? That's bit of a stretch

[sanjuansteve]

Humans will never learn to live in balance on the planet we have. We'll always try to control and manipulate nature for our limitless greed (fear) and arrogance (ignorance).

[briankleinschmidt]

Yeah, man, it's all about quantum tunneling. Is that why they keep suggesting Minecraft videos?

[Hypersonicmind]

Is this not OLD news?
It is assumed tunneling is required to make solar dynamics work.
Also, tunneling has been (i thought) observed in order to explain the unreasonable speed of cellular enzyme reactions.
Additionally, it is speculated that entanglement/superposition is responsible for the rapidity of photosynthetic electron transport, the basic process of the sense of smell, as well as geomagnetic sense in some animals.
See Hameroff/Penrose Orch OR theory- Old stuff from the 90s. Compelling microtubule structure and function invoking electron cloud state switching as a far denser source of information processing
(allowing unicellular organisms the luxury of behavior despite the lack of a brain or nervous system!)
It seems like we know LESS about QM, that there is more doubt and suspicion of biological implication than we did 15 years ago!
Why this self imposed blindness?

[chej]

i dont know about this. Most cool stuff in biology come from studying the emergent problems of the individual components, and quantum research focuses on the fundamental dimentionless unit of a system. However, now that you are going to spend money on this, i would fucking LOVE to see what you find on the electron transport chain and the synaptic terminal of neurons.

[alhazenmediax]

As far as biology is concerned, we are not really focusing on the problem, but often devastating to mystical curiosity. This has been happening for 1000s of years.

[nuqwestr]

"The Well" has been around for decades, why call it "new"? The Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link, normally shortened to The WELL, was launched in 1985. It is one of the oldest continuously operating virtual communities.

[koloblicin]

Many comments confuse Quantum Mechanics with Quantum Mysticism... Considering the incredulous orders of magnitude between even the smallest life forms (eg bacteria) down to molecules then single atoms then subatomic particles (proton, neutron) then fundamental particles (Quarks, leptons) to correlate biological findings with Quantum processes is akin to correlating dust motes hitting our sun..

[skpince]

What is not quantum other than our "non-quantum" ideas about reality, I wonder...

[briankleinschmidt]

Yes, and also psychology and sociology. Those sciences remain in the dark ages of superstition.

[ChristopherOrth]

The partial backdrops in these vids looks super dumb. Either use the backdrop full frame, or get rid of it and pick a nice background.

[papuas]

dude that is even not a theory, not sure what is your claim except of your idea of mutations entanglement

[VincentFischer]

Ok so why did the big think guys made this The Well channel if they mirror the videos on their main channel

[Wackaz]

Ever studied quantum reincarnation? Fascinating stuff.

[deismaccountant]

Isn’t this a video they previously had? Was it reuploaded?