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SUMMARY:Life on the Edge: Why Life Needs Quantum Mechanics - Professor Joh
 njoe McFadden
DTSTART:20160203T210000Z
DTEND:20160203T220000Z
UID:TALK63749@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Jamie Fox
DESCRIPTION:Life is the most extraordinary phenomenon in the known univers
 e\; but how does it work? It is remarkable that in this age of cloning and
  even synthetic biology\, nobody has ever made anything living entirely ou
 t of dead material. Life remains the only way to make life. Are we missing
  a vital ingredient in its creation?\nIn this talk I will shift the focus 
 of understanding life from cells or biomolecules to the fundamental partic
 les that drive life’s dynamics. From this new perspective\, life makes m
 ore sense as its missing ingredient is revealed to be quantum mechanics an
 d the strange phenomena that lie at the heart of this most mysterious of s
 ciences. Ground-breaking experiments show that photosynthesis relies on pa
 rticles existing in many places at once\; whilst other research demonstrat
 es that inside enzymes\, those workhorses of life that make every molecule
  within our cells\, particles vanish from one point in space and instantly
  materialize in another. Birds appear to navigate around the globe by harn
 essing spooky quantum connections\; and the scent of a rose may waft up fr
 om the quantum realm. Even our genes are quantum-coded. I will conclude th
 at life\, uniquely\, navigates a narrow strait between the world we know a
 nd the strange and counterintuitive realm of quantum mechanics. Life lives
  on the quantum edge.
LOCATION:Nihon Room\, Pembroke College
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