Bridging the Quantum and the Biological – A New Frontier in Consciousness Research
By IONS Communications Team for the IONS blog on July 3, 2025.
By IONS Communications Team for the IONS blog on July 3, 2025.
Quote:A groundbreaking scientific initiative has emerged that may redefine how we understand both life and consciousness. A diverse consortium of institutions, including the University of Arizona, Howard University, UC Santa Barbara, and Nanobiosym, has proposed an ambitious Center designed to explore the intersection of quantum physics and biology, dubbed CEQUAL: Center for Exploring Quantum Aspects of Life. What makes this effort particularly timely and significant is the involvement of IONS, as we are uniquely positioned to bridge empirical neuroscience with explorations of human consciousness.
How Quantum Mechanics Could Redefine Life Itself
At the heart of this initiative is the bold hypothesis that quantum mechanical phenomena—long considered too fragile for the warm, wet, and noisy environment of biological systems—may in fact be integral to the function and evolution of life itself. These include properties and behaviors such as superposition, entanglement, and tunneling, which are typically confined to controlled quantum devices. If such effects are indeed at play in living systems, they will open radically new avenues for understanding biological processes, cognition, and potentially consciousness.