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Quantum Entanglement and Photosynthesis
medcalf writes "Scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and UC Berkeley have experimentally shown that plants use quantum entanglement in photosynthesis. Researcher Mohan Sarovar said, 'The lessons we’re learning about the quantum aspects of light harvesting in natural systems can be applied to the design of artificial photosynthetic systems that are even better. The organic structures in light harvesting complexes and their synthetic mimics could also serve as useful components of quantum computers or other quantum-enhanced devices, such as wires for the transfer of information.' According to the article, 'What may prove to be this study's most significant revelation is that contrary to the popular scientific notion that entanglement is a fragile and exotic property, difficult to engineer and maintain, the Berkeley researchers have demonstrated that entanglement can exist and persist in the chaotic chemical complexity of a biological system.'"
Animals have brains, right?
If quantum entanglement doesn't turn out to be a vital component in neurological science, then I'll be a fish on a loaf.
-FL
This finding seems to give support to the Orch-OR (orchestrated objective reduction) theory of quantum consciousness proposed by Stuart Hameroff and Roger Penrose. One of the main objections to the theory is that quantum coherence could not be sustained in the warm biological environment for sufficient duration. If quantum entaglement is a normal feature of photosynthesis, it's less of a stretch to believe that quantum coherence could be one of the mechanisms to give rise to consciousness in higher lifeforms.
The difficulty in achieving entanglement comes from the system being perturbed at random from thermal vibrations.
That's not quite accurate. The difficulty in achieving entanglement comes from the inherent difficulty in isolating a quantum system from its environment. In the case of ion trap quantum computing, for example, this isolation is achieved through an ultra high vacuum. Ultra high vacuum has its own difficulties, but does not require cryogenics.
Specifically, bamboo http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bamboo which can grow 60cm in a day. The summary seems to imply that biological systems are simple compared to high tech artificial systems. I might be biased because I am a microbiologist, but nothing humans have ever constructed have even remotely approached the complexity and efficiency of biological systems. For example, have a look at the bacterial outboard motor (flagellum) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flagellum. Just look at it. Isn't it beautiful, complex yet efficient at what it does. Considering that at bacterial scale, the liquid medium surrounding it is like molasses, makes it more incredible.