Quantum phenomena in life?

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In artificial systems, quantum superposition and entanglement typically decay rapidly unless cryogenic temperatures are used. Could life have evolved to exploit such delicate phenomena? Certain migratory birds have the ability to sense very subtle variations in Earth's magnetic field. Here we apply quantum information theory and the widely accepted "radical pair" model to analyze recent experimental observations of the avian compass. We find that superposition and entanglement are sustained in this living system for at least tens of microseconds, exceeding the durations achieved in the best comparable man-made molecular systems. This conclusion is starkly at variance with the view that life is too "warm and wet" for such quantum phenomena to endure.

Sustained Quantum Coherence and Entanglement in the Avian Compass

Authors: Erik Gauger, Elisabeth Rieper, John J. L. Morton, Simon C. Benjamin, Vlatko Vedral



Link: http://arxiv.org/abs/0906.3725

That stability of atoms is a quantum phenomenon.

ruveyn

On the bright side though, if the stability of atoms were a quantum phenomenon that couldn't be demonstrated without extreme conditions then nobody would know it.

I am not going to tell you that quantum mechanics is weird, bizarre, confusing, or alien. QM is counterintuitive, but that is a problem with your intuitions, not a problem with quantum mechanics. Quantum mechanics has been around for billions of years before the Sun coalesced from interstellar hydrogen. Quantum mechanics was here before you were, and if you have a problem with that, you are the one who needs to change. QM sure won't. There are no surprising facts, only models that are surprised by facts; and if a model is surprised by the facts, it is no credit to that model.

It is always best to think of reality as perfectly normal. Since the beginning, not one unusual thing has ever happened.

The goal is to become completely at home in a quantum universe. Like a native. Because, in fact, that is where you live.

There is no "if" about it. If atoms operated according to classical electrodynamics they would last about 10^-11 seconds.

ruveyn

It's probability amplitudes all the way down. If one thinks this is counter-intuitive, it's one's intuitions which are wrong.