Quantum Aspects of Life

Quantum Aspects of Life, a book published in 2008 with a foreword by Roger Penrose, explores the open question of the role of quantum mechanics at molecular scales of relevance to biology. The book contains chapters written by various world-experts from a 2003 symposium and includes two debates from 2003 to 2004; giving rise to a mix of both sceptical and sympathetic viewpoints. The book addresses questions of quantum physics, biophysics, nanoscience, quantum chemistry, mathematical biology, complexity theory, and philosophy that are inspired by the 1944 seminal book What Is Life? by Erwin Schrödinger.

Quantum Aspects of Life

Author	Derek Abbott, Paul C. W. Davies, Arun K. Pati (Eds.) With foreword by Sir Roger Penrose
Language	English
Subject	Physics and biophysics
Genre	Non-fiction; science text
Publisher	Imperial College Press
Publication date	2008
Publication place	United Kingdom
Media type	Print
Pages	581 pp.
ISBN	978-1848162532

Contents

• Foreword by Roger Penrose

Section 1: Emergence and Complexity

• Chapter 1: "A Quantum Origin of Life?" by Paul C. W. Davies
• Chapter 2: "Quantum Mechanics and Emergence" by Seth Lloyd

Section 2: Quantum Mechanisms in Biology

• Chapter 3: "Quantum Coherence and the Search for the First Replicator" by Jim Al-Khalili and Johnjoe McFadden
• Chapter 4: "Ultrafast Quantum Dynamics in Photosynthesis" by Alexandra Olaya-Castro, Francesca Fassioli Olsen, Chiu Fan Lee, and Neil F. Johnson
• Chapter 5: "Modeling Quantum Decoherence in Biomolecules" by Jacques Bothma, Joel Gilmore, and Ross H. McKenzie

Section 3: The Biological Evidence

• Chapter 6: "Molecular Evolution: A Role for Quantum Mechanics in the Dynamics of Molecular Machines that Read and Write DNA" by Anita Goel
• Chapter 7: "Memory Depends on the Cytoskeleton, but is it Quantum?" by Andreas Mershin and Dimitri V. Nanopoulos
• Chapter 8: "Quantum Metabolism and Allometric Scaling Relations in Biology" by Lloyd Demetrius
• Chapter 9: "Spectroscopy of the Genetic Code" by Jim D. Bashford and Peter D. Jarvis
• Chapter 10: "Towards Understanding the Origin of Genetic Languages" by Apoorva D. Patel

Section 4: Artificial Quantum Life

• Chapter 11: "Can Arbitrary Quantum Systems Undergo Self-Replication?" by Arun K. Pati and Samuel L. Braunstein
• Chapter 12: "A Semi-Quantum Version of the Game of Life" by Adrian P. Flitney and Derek Abbott
• Chapter 13: "Evolutionary Stability in Quantum Games" by Azhar Iqbal and Taksu Cheon
• Chapter 14: "Quantum Transmemetic Intelligence" by Edward W. Piotrowski and Jan Sładkowski

Section 5: The Debate

• Chapter 15: "Dreams versus Reality: Plenary Debate Session on Quantum Computing" For panel: Carlton M. Caves, Daniel Lidar, Howard Brandt, Alexander R. Hamilton; Against panel: David K. Ferry, Julio Gea-Banacloche, Sergey M. Bezrukov, Laszlo B. Kish; Debate chair: Charles R. Doering; Transcript Editor: Derek Abbott.
• Chapter 16: "Plenary Debate: Quantum Effects in Biology: Trivial or Not?" For panel: Paul C. W. Davies, Stuart Hameroff, Anton Zeilinger, Derek Abbott; Against panel: Jens Eisert, Howard M. Wiseman, Sergey M. Bezrukov, Hans Frauenfelder; Debate chair: Julio Gea-Banacloche; Transcript Editor: Derek Abbott.
• Chapter 17: "Non-trivial Quantum Effects in Biology: A Skeptical Physicist’s View" Howard M. Wiseman and Jens Eisert
• Chapter 18: "That’s Life! — The Geometry of π Electron Clouds" Stuart Hameroff

See also

• Quantum biology

References

• Kibble, Tom (December 2010). "Book Review: 'Quantum Aspects of Life' Edited by Derek Abbott, Paul C. W. Davies and Arun K. Pati". International Journal of Quantum Information. 08 (8): 1427–1432. doi:10.1142/S0219749910006939.
• McClintock, Peter V.E. (January 2011). "Quantum aspects of life". Contemporary Physics. 52 (1): 71–73. Bibcode:2011ConPh..52...71M. doi:10.1080/00107514.2010.524806. S2CID 29174319.
• Rinaldi, Andrea (January 2012). "When life gets physical: Quantum effects in selected biological systems have been confirmed experimentally, but how widespread is their role remains unclear". EMBO Reports. 13 (1): 24–27. doi:10.1038/embor.2011.236. PMC 3246260. PMID 22173031.

External links

• Book's homepage at ICP