Quantum bio-physics in living organisms
'putting the kindergarten in
charge of nuclear power'
www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/quantumbiology.htm
December 2001
One of the great concerns arising from the development of genetic engineering in modern science is that new organisms are being created when very little is still known about the functioning of biological systems at the molecular level. Making synthetic alterations to a complex natural system whose basic organisational patterns are not understood is considered by many to be the equivalent to leaving the development of new computer software to technicians who know next to nothing about computer programming.
Despite this level of ignorance at the molecular level there is growing evidence of influences on gene expression and function emanating from an even deeper level of bio-physical existence - influences which emanate from the subatomic or 'quantum' levels of life.
The potential role of such influences open up new possibilities for a more sophisticated understanding of organism management from the most fundamental level of biological structure. This is a level of which even less is currently understood by the biotechnology community than the aspects of gene control and regulation operating from the molecular level.
Until this deeper level of functioning is recognised and accommodated it is highly unlikely that the long term consequences of randomly introducing extraneous molecular sequences into organisms through genetic engineering can be adequately predicted. Quantum bio-effects are likely to operate through channels whose existence is currently barely even conceived of by most genetic engineers. The primary focus of the genetic engineer continues almost exclusively at the molecular level of biological functioning, and essential interdisciplinary communication with the physics community remains extremely limited. This area is completely 'off the radar' for all but a few biotechnologists, such is the fragmented nature of modern science.
In the perhaps somewhat optimistic hope that genetic engineers can be encouraged to take a deeper look at the systems into which they are introducing essentially random and out-of-context changes, set out below are links to a number of information resources which seek to explore these new frontiers of understanding in the bio-physical sciences.
Some of this material is speculative, and in the fullness of time doubtless elements of it will prove to have been misplaced. However, there are sufficient developments in this area to suggest that current practices in genetic engineering are even more likely than previously thought to be harbingers of the consequences of the old adage that "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing".
These emerging discoveries in quantum biology suggest that those genetic 'engineers' who are not willing to consider a 'look before you leap' approach to the conversion of their 'science' into applied technology are likely to be securing for themselves a particularly infamous place in human history.
To make modifications to a complex multi-dimensional system in a way which may be described as 'engineering', requires at the outset a thorough understanding of how that system functions at and between its various levels. On this basis what is currently taking place in the biotechnology sector is tantamount to a situation roughly analogous to allowing kindergarten children to design and operate our nuclear power stations.
The calls for a 'scientific' debate about the risks of genetic engineering indeed ring hollow when even the most basic science has yet to be done and important elements of what little has already emerged are being ignored. We are nonetheless grateful to the various forward thinking scientists from the disciplines of biology and physics with whom we have had the opportunity to discuss these matters.
NATURAL LAW PARTY WESSEX
nlpwessex@bigfoot.com
www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex
Quantum Field Theory
The form of quantum theory which applies to non-localised
phenomena from classical physics such as electric and magnetic fields and
sound waves is called quantum field theory.
In this theory, the energy of the respective fields is 'quantised', so that it comes out
in packets related to and depending on the frequency. The energy of electromagnetic
fields is quantised into 'photons', of the waves on the surface of liquid helium into
'ripplons', and of pressure waves in any solid, liquid or gas (i.e. sound waves) into
'phonons' (as in phonograph, telephony etc.).
Phonons and biological functioning
"Phonons are the tiniest particles of sound. Phonons are to sound as photons
are to light.
It takes billions of phonons to make up a sound. Phonons oscillate, echo, reverberate etc.
at the sub atomic level in the quantum soup".
Pauline Oliveros
"Phonons are quantized modes of atomic vibration that
propagate throughout the lattice of a solid"
Jarett Cohen, National Centre for Supercomputing Applications, Univeristy of Illinois
http://archive.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Pubs/access/93.1/93.1Supercond.html
Quantum fluctuations and phonon frequencies
in biological molecules
http://www.physics.purdue.edu/deptinfo/postlh/biophys_ewp.html
"The explanation for these observations required the existence of fairly long
lived vibrational mode excitations, the quantized versions of which are called phonons.
Phonon modes can be used as a basis set for describing all atomic motion, and such atomic
motion is necessary for biological function. The phonons can form a frequency and
wavelength description that can replace the position and time description of atom
displacements. By this switch new insights to the energetics of processes can be
gained".
"Phonon-assisted polaron-like
hopping" in DNA
http://gtresearchnews.gatech.edu/newsrelease/CHARGE.html
http://www.chemistry.gatech.edu/News/slinky.html
http://www.sciencenews.org/sn_arc99/8_14_99/bob1ref.htm
"Phonon spectrum of simpler DNA and polypeptide
models"
http://www.dkfz-heidelberg.de/mbp/report.shtml
( see - "Theory and Applications of Intermolecular Interactions" near bottom of
web page link)
Wave phenomena in biological functioning
Biological effects from the
resonance of atoms and molecules
http://www.gewo.cz/health/charl_boehm_e.htm#Section 3
Wormholes and possible new physics in biological length
scales
http://www.physics.helsinki.fi/~matpitka/wormas.html
"Wormhole magnetic fields provide a quantum mechanism for a control at distance,
say of the control of the behaviour of cell organelles by cell nucleus as well as a model
for the memory of biosystem in terms of integer valued winding numbers identifiable as
quantized momenta of the wormhole supra currents. One of the basic problems of biology is
how the genetic code is transformed into spatial structures during ontogeny, and an
attractive idea is that each DNA sequence corresponds to a characteristic wormhole
magnetic field configuration serving as a template for the topological condensation of the
ordinary matter. The fact that wormhole flux tubes are hollow cylinders, is in nice
accordance with this idea (microtubules, axonal membranes, etc. are hollow
cylinders)."
"....Rather remarkably, the critical magnetic fields of exotic super conductors are very low and thus magnetic fields could play key role in the biological information processing if the quantum numbers of magnetic fields serve as carriers of bio-information."
Microtubules as Quantum Antennas
http://www.physics.helsinki.fi/~matpitka/tubula.html
Biosystems as macroscopic quantum systems
http://www.physics.helsinki.fi/~matpitka/wholea.html
Exotic atoms and a mechanism for superconductivity
in biosystems
http://blues.helsinki.fi/~matpitka/exo.html
Alik Kasumov of the Laboratoire de Physique des Solides
in France and co-workers have shown that DNA molecules act as ohmic conductors above
1 K and that below this temperature they can superconduct
http://physicsweb.org/article/news/5/1/5
http://www.trnmag.com/Stories/020701/DNA_induced_to_superconductivity_020701.html
http://www.trnmag.com/Stories/020701/DNA_conducts_020701.html
[It may seem that DNA supercondictivity at temperatures
close to Zero Kelvin would be of little relevance for biological systems. But see:
Cochran A.A. "Relationships between Quantum Physics and Biology" (Foundations of
Physics 1 (3), 235-250) and Cochran A.A. Nanobiology (1993) 2, 31-36.
Cochran made measurements and calculations (based on Kopp's Law) that led to the
conclusion that proteins have a very low specific heat. He refers also to others who
obtained the same result. According to quantum theory, (Cochran says), this means that
they are what he calls "quantum wave predominant" (QWP) which, he says, means
that most of the atoms are in their lowest quantum state corresponding to near absolute
zero temp level. This macroscopic quantum state he thinks explains their resistance to
surrounding thermal disorder as it causes a great resistance to exchange quanta with the
surroundings. Similarly, low levels of specific heat were found to occur in DNA/RNA
(Miller DA, J. Biol. Phys. 17:145-150, 1990 and Miller DA, Nanobiology 1:361-371, 1992)]
Proximity-Induced Superconductivity in DNA
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/291/5502/280
A Dynamical Theory Describing Superconductant DNA
Pensinger,W and Paine, D. International
Journal of Quantum Chemistry, Vol. XV (1979), pp. 333-341.
Summary: A dynamical model describing DNA as
superconductant is proposed. The status of superconductivity is described as being
represented by a radiation-induced harmonic oscillation of a parcel of p-electrons
between the reference level and critical temperatures. A set of field equations is used to
describe the information exchange process mediated by a coherent wave phenomenon.
Autogenic Discharge: Quantum Biological
Considerations
http://geocities.com/moonhoabinh/ithapapers/autogenic.html
Co-authored with Beverly Oliphant and Douglas A. Paine. Presented by William Pensinger to
the 6th Congress of the International College of Psychosomatic Medicine, Montreal, Canada,
August 1981
ILLUSTRATED TERMINOLOGY GLOSSARY
for “Autogenic Discharge: Quantum Biological Considerations”
http://geocities.com/moonhoabinh/ithapapers/glossary.html
'Electric DNA - There's another information superhighway
lurking in our genes' New Scientist, 13 Feb 1999
Discussion of findings of paper published in Chemistry & Biology (vol 6, number 2, p
85).
"....'It's a way of transmitting chemical information over a long distance that's
dependent on a DNA sequence,' says Barton, whose results appear in Chemistry & Biology
(vol 6, number 2, p 85). She speculates that the electrical signals might help to switch
genes that are far apart on and off...."
http://dhushara.tripod.com/book/upd/umar99/spec/spec.htm#anchor504710
Molecular Signalling - What is so unacceptable for ultra-orthodox scientists?
[cell function mediated through electromagnetic waves]
"....the current short range electrostatic theory of molecule
interaction-recognition via random collision cannot help us understand how biological
reactions really work. The key/keyhole and the structural matching are just cartoonesque
descriptions of the exceedingly more sophisticated mechanism which is required to command
the extraordinarily complex and rapid cascade of intricate biochemical reactions
supporting life."
http://www.digibio.com/cgi-bin/node.pl?nd=n5
Non-linear dynamics and self-organization effects in
proteins
http://www.mpi-muelheim.mpg.de/str/staff/holzwarth/holzwarth_home_e.html
(see bottom of this web page link)
"Such regulation phenomena are of fundamental importance for the functioning of
complex biological systems. Since according to our working hypothesis non-linear self
organization phenomena are not limited to electron transfer systems, we expect that the
insight obtained from these studies will have implications for other biological
charge-transporting systems like e.g. proton translocation, ion channels etc. or even
enzymatic reactions in general".
The Wave
Structure of Matter and the Origin of Instantaneous Action in Natural Laws
http://members.tripod.com/~mwolff/body_instant.html#a-intro
" The origins of
the natural laws from the Wave Structure of Matter are new topics in science.... To
study them you must first reject the ancient Democritus particle made of 'substances' and
replace it with the correct quantum wave structure of matter......
The extraordinary revelation of the quantum universe is that the laws of physics are
properties of the quantum wave medium which itself is formed from waves of all other
matter. Thus, all science grows out of the medium's properties.....
The most extraordinary conclusion is that the laws of physics and the structure of matter ultimately depend upon waves established by the matter itself. Every particle communicates its wave state with all other matter so that energy exchange and the laws of physics are properties of the entire ensemble. "
Quantum Biology - University of
Illinois
http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/Research/quantum_biology/
"From simple to complex
oscillatory behavior in metabolic and genetic control networks"
Chaos: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Nonlinear Science -- March 2001
Volume
11, Issue 1 pp. 247-260
Albert Goldbeter, Didier Gonze, Gérald Houart, Jean-Christophe Leloup, José
Halloy, and Geneviève Dupont Unité de Chronobiologie théorique, Faculté des Sciences,
Université Libre de Bruxelles, Campus Plaine, C.P. 231, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium
(Received 2 August 2000; accepted 5 December 2000)
We present an overview of mechanisms responsible for simple or complex oscillatory behavior in metabolic and genetic control networks. Besides simple periodic behavior corresponding to the evolution toward a limit cycle we consider complex modes of oscillatory behavior such as complex periodic oscillations of the bursting type and chaos. Multiple attractors are also discussed, e.g., the coexistence between a stable steady state and a stable limit cycle (hard excitation), or the coexistence between two simultaneously stable limit cycles (birhythmicity).
We discuss mechanisms responsible for the transition from simple to complex oscillatory behavior by means of a number of models serving as selected examples. The models were originally proposed to account for simple periodic oscillations observed experimentally at the cellular level in a variety of biological systems. In a second stage, these models were modified to allow for complex oscillatory phenomena such as bursting, birhythmicity, or chaos.
We consider successively (1) models based on enzyme regulation, proposed for glycolytic oscillations and for the control of successive phases of the cell cycle, respectively; (2) a model for intracellular Ca2 + oscillations based on transport regulation; (3) a model for oscillations of cyclic AMP based on receptor desensitization in Dictyostelium cells; and (4) a model based on genetic regulation for circadian rhythms in Drosophila. Two main classes of mechanism leading from simple to complex oscillatory behavior are identified, namely (i) the interplay between two endogenous oscillatory mechanisms, which can take multiple forms, overt or more subtle, depending on whether the two oscillators each involve their own regulatory feedback loop or share a common feedback loop while differing by some related process, and (ii) self-modulation of the oscillator through feedback from the system's output on one of the parameters controlling oscillatory behavior. However, the latter mechanism may also be viewed as involving the interplay between two feedback processes, each of which might be capable of producing oscillations.
Although our discussion primarily focuses on the case of autonomous oscillatory behavior, we also consider the case of nonautonomous complex oscillations in a model for circadian oscillations subjected to periodic forcing by a light-dark cycle and show that the occurrence of entrainment versus chaos in these conditions markedly depends on the wave form of periodic forcing.
'A BASIS FOR A UNIFIED
THEORY FOR PLANT GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT'
Wagner, O.E.
Physiological Chemistry and
Physics and Med. NMR (1999) 31:109-129.
ABSTRACT: Experiments indicate that the major plant processes such as the implementation of plant structure, a plant's response to gravity and light, sap flow, and other processes in plants are facilitated by a recently discovered species of longitudinal wave, W-waves. This paper shows how the wave model fits in with the basics of a plant's growth and development. This article takes into account much of the last eleven years of the published work of the author and adds some results that have not yet been published elsewhere. The work reported here answers questions about plants that have not been adequately answered before. For example it provides reasonable mechanisms for a plant's responses to gravity and light.
"The rules of W-wave mechanics seem to provide a template for the organization of life just as quantum mechanics provides a template for the organization of matter".
Quantum Evolution
Quantum Evolution
(Book)
The New Science of Life
Johnjoe McFadden
Reader in Molecular Microbiology
University of Surrey
'Over the coming chapters we will explore how all biological phenomena - mobility, metabolism, respiration, photosynthesis, replication and evolution – involves the motion of fundamental particles. We will examine how these dynamics are governed, not by classical physics, but by the non-deterministic laws of quantum mechanics. At its most fundamental level, life is a quantum phenomenon. We will go on to explore the implications of this realisation for our understanding of the origin of life, its nature, evolution and consciousness. By the end of this book, I hope you will have a new and exciting insight into what it means to be alive.’
Access book exerpts at http://www.surrey.ac.uk/qe/qecontents.html
More at: http://www.surrey.ac.uk/qe/Outline.htm
Physics and Life
Lecture in honour of Abdus Salam
Paul Davies, Physics
Department, Imperial College, London SW7 2AY
presented at Proceedings of the Sixth Trieste Conference on Chemical Evolution, September
2000: http://www.consciousness.arizona.edu/hameroff/What-is-life.html
"Another hint of quantum physics at work in the genetic code is the discovery that the coding assignments possess a compact description in terms of supersymmetry (Bashford et. al., 1999). Supersymmetry arises in particle physics as a unified description of fermions and bosons, and is a subject to which Salam made important contributions. To find supersymmtery appearing in a biological context is remarkable, and still somewhat mysterious. Unless it is a weird coincidence, it points to a deep link between the quantum realm of particle physics and the quasi-classical realm of protein assembly."
Quantum (de)coherence
[extracts only from the paper provided here - this paper effectively looks at the relationship between the quantum subatomic world and the classical world of 'objects' - such as DNA molecules and organisms. According to this paper classical objects are created as a result of interaction between the quantum subatomic world and the environment (itself generated from the subatomic world, of course, suggesting some interesting self-interacting dynamics): NLPWessex]
Nature 412, 869
- 870 (2001)
Quantum engineering: Protecting the
quantum world
JUAN PABLO PAZ
Juan Pablo Paz is in the Departamento de Física,
Universidad de Buenos Aires, Pabellón 1, Ciudad Universitaria, 1428 Buenos Aires,
Argentina.
e-mail: paz@df.uba.ar
When quantum systems interact with the environment, classical properties emerge — a process known as decoherence. Although decoherence is unavoidable, it may still be possible to manipulate the outcome.
The world around us looks classical even though the fundamental laws of physics are based on quantum mechanics. At the atomic level, electrons and protons are blurred entities that cannot be described as point-like particles following trajectories. But macroscopic objects have well defined properties: they are either here or there, and not everywhere. So how does the classical world arise from the quantum?
The consensus today is that classical behaviour is an emergent property of quantum systems, induced by their interaction with the environment. This interaction, a fact of life for complex macroscopic objects, is responsible for the process of decoherence1, 2, which is the biggest obstacle to building a viable quantum computer......
Decoherence makes most of the states of a quantum system unstable, so that only a small subset of all possible states, the 'pointer states', survive the interaction with the environment. So pointer states, dynamically selected by the environment, are the only ones in which macroscopic systems are allowed to exist. In the real world, pointer states are selected by nature.....
A remarkable feature of the debate on the transition between quantum and classical behaviour is that, for the first time in its rather long history, experiments are probing this boundary and playing an important role6, 7......... Many of these ideas, which were born in the context of studies on quantum information processing8 (such as quantum error correction), are also being examined experimentally. Most of these are 'controlled decoherence' experiments, which a few years ago appeared to be just thought experiments exploring the nature of the transition from quantum to classical physics. In the near future, a new generation of experiments, in which decoherence is caught in the act, will be able to probe the fuzzy border between the quantum and the classical worlds.
ASCI White, the most powerful computer on earth
To calculate the movements of a mere 600 atoms in an explosion-produced mixture of
hydrogen fluoride and water vapor for 1-trillionth of a second, scientists have had to tie
up the most powerful supercomputer available for about 15 days. - Science News
v.160 25aug01
http://www.mindfully.org/GE/GE3/Considering-The-Facts.htm
Fundamental scientific conceptual errors in the development of recombinant DNA technology