Dr. Jim Al-Khalili is a nuclear physicist and professor of theoretical physics at the University of Surrey in the United Kingdom. Recently he has been exploring the potentially exciting and speculative field of Quantum Biology. While this field is not new (its been around since the 1930s) there have been some major leaps forward in the last decade.
The main focus of this field is to ask a simple question: Does quantum mechanics also play a role inside the living cell? Are there processes, mechanisms, phenomena in living cells that can only be explained with a helping hand from quantum mechanics?
Now quantum mechanics was developed in the 1920s and is a set of beautiful and powerful mathematical rules and ideas that explain the world of the very small, a world built on probability and chance that is very different from our everyday life.
One of these ideas, quantum tunneling which is the transferring of subatomic particles from one part of the molecule to another instantaneously, has been shown to occur inside the enzymes of living cells. Enzymes have evolved to make use of this trick. This research was first performed in the 1980s by the Judith Klinman group at Berkley and has been confirmed by other groups in the UK.
Dr. Al-Khalili's group has been investigating a very different area of the cell specifically if quantum tunneling plays a role in mutations in DNA.
We all know that DNA is held together by the hydrogen bonds that connect the nucleotides that line the center of the double helix. It can happen that these hydrogens can jump from one strand to another. If the strands separate, leading to the process of replication with the hydrogens in the wrong positions, this can lead to a mutation. The question is how do they accomplish this hoping and how likely they are to do it? Early indications from Dr. Al-Khalili's group indicate that quantum tunneling can play a role here. while the results are speculative it could be a major leap forward and have big implications towards understanding if quantum mechanics has a role in mutations, possibly even those that lead to turning a cell cancerous.
Quantum biology is still in its infancy, its still speculative, but more and more evidence is coming forward that life is taking advantage of these tricks of the quantum world. If you are interested in more examples watch his Ted Talk video where he talks about other discovers made in this fascinating field.
Link: https://www.ted.com/talks/jim_al_khalili_how_quantum_biology_might_explain_life_s_biggest_questions?language=en
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