Quantum biology

Quantum biology is the study of quantum mechanical phenomena — coherence, entanglement, tunneling — in biological systems. It challenges the classical assumption that biological processes are too warm, wet, and noisy to sustain quantum effects, which were thought to require cryogenic temperatures and isolation from environmental decoherence.

The most compelling evidence comes from photosynthesis, where ultrafast spectroscopy has revealed long-lived quantum coherence in the Fenna-Matthews-Olson complex of green sulfur bacteria. Similar effects may operate in avian magnetoreception, enzyme catalysis, and even olfaction. The field remains controversial: some researchers argue that quantum effects are functionally irrelevant epiphenomena, while others claim they confer genuine computational or energetic advantages that classical mechanisms cannot replicate.

Quantum biology raises a deeper question: if life has evolved to exploit quantum mechanics, what other physical regimes — previously dismissed as incompatible with biology — might organisms have colonized?