Quantum biology's new frontier: Tryptophan networks and brain disease defense

Quantum biology's new frontier: Tryptophan networks and brain disease defense

Howard University

By quantum standards, biological systems are quite hostile environments: they're warm and chaotic, and even their fundamental components-;such as cells-;are considered very large.

But a group of theoretical and experimental researchers has discovered a distinctly quantum effect in biology that survives these difficult conditions and may also present a way for the brain to protect itself from degenerative diseases like Alzheimer's. The result, published in The Journal of Physical Chemistry and selected as an Editors' Choice by Science magazine, is not only an important discovery for neuroscience, but also suggests new applications of techniques for quantum computing researchers, and represents a new way of thinking about the relationship between life and quantum mechanics.