An Introduction to Quantum Biology - with Philip Ball

What is quantum biology? Philip Ball explains how strange quantum effects take place in the messy world of biology, and how these are behind familiar biological phenomena such as smell, enzymes and bird's migration.

In this guest curated event on quantum biology, Jim Al-Khalili invited Philip Ball to introduce how the mysteries of quantum theory might manifest themselves at the biological level. Here he explains how the baffling yet powerful theory of the baffling yet powerful theory of the subatomic world might play an important role in biological processes.

Philip Ball is a science writer, writing regularly for Nature and having contributed to publications ranging from New Scientist to the New York Times. He is the author of many popular books on science, including works on the nature of water, pattern formation in the natural world, colour in art, and the cognition of music, and he has also broadcast on many occasions on radio and TV.

Jim Al-Khalili is Professor of Theoretical Physics and Professor of Public Engagement in Science at University of Surrey. He is author of several popular science books and appears regularly on radio and television. In 2007, he was awarded the Royal Society Michael Faraday Prize for Science Communication.

This event took place at the Royal Institution on 28 January 2015.

Philip Ball is a science writer, writing regularly for Nature and having contributed to publications ranging from New Scientist to the New York Times.

He is the author of many popular books on science, including works on the nature of water, pattern formation in the natural world, colour in art, and the cognition of music.

He has also broadcast on many occasions on radio and TV.

[ajaz]

Incredible! That’s almost a book in a single easy to understand talk, thank you.

[eldritchedward]

Well-spoken and simple enough that I'd expect anyone with a basic interest in the field to be able to follow along. That's quite an achievement on it's own.

[mistasandman]

Physics and Quantum theory have become a fascination to me. I could listen to these lectures for hours... I enjoy it more than music even.

[rayzorrayzor]

“ It’s not hard to understand Quantum Theory,
It’s hard to understand what Quantum Theory is telling us”
WOW . . . When he said that phrase I just knew I would be glued to this lecture .

[richtourist]

Superb lecture. Shewing the woo-woo out of QM.
And well edited so we can see the images the speaker is talking about. Thanks RI.

[danabee]

Fantastic lecture! I can not believe it is out there just like THAT! Wow! Thank you, thank you, Royal Institution for going online ... this is a bliss for me ... delicious brain food! :-)

[bjarkifreyrbjarnason]

Thank you so much RI! These lectures have been a great treasure for me. A real goldmine of information. Thank you for spreading knowledge and enlightenment to all humans across the globe.

[RobSinclaire]

Thank you Mr. Ball, you touch on so many points and subjects in their own right but still knit it all together!

[Quarky_]

It's really cool how he managed to add the caveats sensibly, starting from the doubts around "Quantum biology", to D-wave's "Quantum computer" and the many-worlds interpretation. Very well articulated talk :).

[bzabrisk]

Scientists: "Birds, insects, and honeybees are extraordinarily sensitive to the tiny signals from the Earth's native electromagnetic fields."

Society: "Who's ready to upgrade to 5G and cover the planet with microwaves? Eh?"

[BULLAKI]

Great video. I've recently had the pleasure to interview the founder of the the world's first quantum biology doctoral training centre, Prof. Jim Al-Khalili.

[ambertiqueperspectives]

My take-away; my next band will be called 'Deuterated Oderants'. Wait...It already exists...

[aggressivecalm]

I almost had my finger on quantum phenomena, but then its wave-function shifted!

[jeffreyharrison]

Interesting topic. Thank you . Would like to mention the induced-fit model is generally considered a better model of of enzyme-substrate interaction than the lock and key model. This is because the active site and the substrate are, initially, not perfect matches for each other.

[dr.anupamghosh]

Really it is amazing....
Mysteries are gradually unfolding. Nice talk and we'll elaborated. Thank you.

[ValMartinIreland]

Well done, a huge effort put in and easy to follow.

[barbaraott]

Super interesting stuff starts at ~ 30:00

[anjuk]

I had paused the video several times to deeply thik about it..

[StaYcalm]

I love these lectures. Learning about the things science is still trying to figure out is one of the best things on youtube. The fact that I can actually understand it without getting dizzy is pretty awesome.

[excellinkus]

This is a very simplistic idea, but if the universe originated with the Big Bang, i.e., all and everything came from a singularity, then isn't it possible that everything in the universe is entangled to some extent, because everything came from a common source? This might explain why evolution is such a highly regulated process, and could be the reason behind mimicry and camouflage for example. Jumping spiders that look like ants. Leaf insects that look like leaves, and even sway back and forth like leaves. The incredible repertoire of songs the lyre bird has, imitating even chains saws with remarkable accuracy. It's as if they "know" how to do these things, not just by means of random mutation and natural selection, but by actually communicating with their environment. So in a sense, the orchid mantis is entangled with the orchid it looks like and smells like (pheromones). The so-called modern synthesis is very much incomplete, but is one of the most conservative and least innovative branches of the natural sciences. It's still looking at life through empirical, mechanical reductionism, breaking everything down into manageable bits that ends up leaving life itself completely out of the picture. Quantum entanglement has the promise to completely overhaul our current view of evolution, but it will encounter a great deal of stiff resistance along the way.