The difference between living and dead systems lies in the continual input of energy needed to sustain life in living organisms. These organisms can be modelled as thermodynamic systems which allow flow of energy forms to maintain a delicate balance of various intricate biochemical processes. The role of quantum effects to sustain life is not directly explicit. However in the case of photosynthesis for instance, there is experimental evidence that quantum coherence plays an important role. But still, there remain differing viewpoints on whether quantum effects underpins the difference between the living and the dead.
References:
Ball, Philip. "The dawn of quantum: biology." Nature 474.7351 (2011): 272-274.
Scholes, Gregory D., et al. "Lessons from nature about solar light harvesting." Nature chemistry 3.10 (2011): 763-774.
Bandyopadhyay, Jayendra N., Tomasz Paterek, and Dagomir Kaszlikowski. "Quantum coherence and sensitivity of avian magnetoreception." Physical review letters 109.11 (2012): 110502.
No, you are too educated and intelligent to use the word 'quantum' as a wow factor. Even a single water molecule is quantum. You can't obtain its properties, shape, dipole moment from classics. So, yes, every biological molecule is quantum, but it does not cease to be so in a dead body. The organism or cell becomes dead because of disruption of its organization. You cut the flower and it is dead, though the cells are alive, still capture sunlight. You crush the cell wall and the cell is dead. You poison some reactive centers and the cell dies.
No, you are too educated and intelligent to use the word 'quantum' as a wow factor. Even a single water molecule is quantum. You can't obtain its properties, shape, dipole moment from classics. So, yes, every biological molecule is quantum, but it does not cease to be so in a dead body. The organism or cell becomes dead because of disruption of its organization. You cut the flower and it is dead, though the cells are alive, still capture sunlight. You crush the cell wall and the cell is dead. You poison some reactive centers and the cell dies.
@ Igor Perhaps I should emphasize the difference between "quantum effects" that involve entanglement and other forms of quantum correlations, teleportation and the conventional "quantum".
When you say "disruption of its organization"......do you mean the breakdown of quantum effects ?
What sort of "organization" are you referring to? Is it one that involves quantum effects that comes into existence only when several entities are linked together in a coordinated fashion?
So if there exist an organisation (cell, bacteria) in which distinct component cease to participate because of the absence of "quantum effects", can we say it is dead? This is actually what I am asking. How can we prove this is indeed the case, and if so can we be conclusive that quantum effects are necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of life.
No all quantum effects are intact in a soldier but there's a gaping hole in his heart, blood pump ceases to supply the ailment to the brain. That's disruption.
No, there is no quantum and posh quantum. It is all the same. The electrons in a water molecule are intangled. Just there is no buzz or wow-factor.
@Mourad VBNC is interesting. How do you establish a link between the viable but non-culturable (VBNC) state and quantum effects? Or to start off with, is there a concrete definition of a VBNC state, then maybe we can see if quantum elements can be derived from this state.
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