The emerging discipline of quantum biology is attempting to understand the role quantum mechanics plays in the processes of life, such as photosynthesis—the capture of sunlight by plants and its conversion into stored energy.
One phenomenon that physicists have observed is the transfer of energy across giant protein matrices that appears to occur extremely rapidly with close to 100 percent efficiency. These matrices are like giant mazes so the question is how energy can find its way across the structures before it dissipates.
The classical solution to this problem is to explore the maze with a series of random hops. But this process would take so long that most of the energy would be lost.
That’s why physicists think that quantum processes must somehow be involved. Their initial thinking was that the quantum process of energy transfer might work by exploring many routes through the maze at the same time. This superposition of states would then collapse when the solution was found. In this way, the maze can be solved rapidly and the energy transferred efficiently.
But this does not work either. The reason is that a quantum process can interfere with itself and this has the effect of preventing efficient transport across the network.
So the most recent thinking is that the transfer of energy through this maze must rely on both classical and quantum processes. The quantum processes allow several routes to be explored at the same time while the classical processes allow random jumps that prevent the system seizing up due to interference.
To read more, click here.