This article from the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph summarizes ideas, theories and discussions arising from a meeting of scientists from many parts of the world to discuss "Quantum Effects in Biological Nanostructures", regarding the possible role of quantum mechanics in the origin of life. The writer quotes one of the expositors ideas as:
“….. British physicist Dr Paul Davies……..said that quantum theory fills a missing link in existing models of the origins of life, of which there are many. While all traditional theories suggest chemistry provides the hardware of life, quantum mechanics could provide the software, he said. "Today the cell is regarded not as magic matter but as a computer - an information processing and replicating system of astonishing precision."
In the beginning, Dr Davies speculates that once "Q life", in the form of self replicating information at the atomic level, got going on Earth, this paved the way for replicating chemicals, the best known of which is DNA.
"What we don't know is whether life has evolved over billions of years to the "quantum edge" to exploit those tricks, or whether it's the other way: quantum mechanics was the midwife of life and a few quantum tricks are left as a hangover," he says.”
For the full article, click on the link below.
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