Researchers looking at the way algae use quantum mechanics in photosynthesis have found a genetic switch that turns the critters' “quantum coherence” on or off. It's been known for some time that photosynthesis takes advantage of quantum mechanics to improve light harvesting. As this IOP Science article explains in some depth …

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Tuesday 17th June 2014 04:52 GMT Mark 85

Not what we thought?

So it's possible that the first quantum computer will be a tank of pond scum in the data center????

Or maybe this isn't a joke... dunno'.

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1. Tuesday 17th June 2014 13:44 GMT Robert Helpmann??
  
  Re: Not what we thought?
  
  As they are solving for most efficient path, perhaps they could be harnessed to solve the Traveling Salesman and other optimization problems.
  
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Tuesday 17th June 2014 06:52 GMT Wombling_Free

Oh, THAT kind of pond scum.

For a moment there I thought you meant ground-up politicians made good solar cells.

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1. Tuesday 17th June 2014 08:34 GMT tony2heads
  
  Re: Oh, THAT kind of pond scum.
  
  Hmm. I think we really ought to test your ground-up politicians idea
  
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2. Tuesday 17th June 2014 19:53 GMT Euripides Pants
  
  Re: Oh, THAT kind of pond scum.
  
  Ground-up politicians make a good start.
  
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Tuesday 17th June 2014 08:53 GMT Billa Bong

So what you're saying is....

We're throwing an awful lot of brain power into a problem that micro-organisms are able to achieve without any apparent effort? That kinda puts my job in perspective. *sob*

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1. Tuesday 17th June 2014 10:02 GMT Graham Marsden
  
  @Billa Bong - Re: So what you're saying is....
  
  Yes, but they have been working on it slightly longer than we have!
  
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Tuesday 17th June 2014 12:33 GMT breakfast

Evolution works

I love this kind of story, really interesting.

A lot of things that are possible manage to evolve. I would actually be very surprised if there didn't turn out to be a quantum component to our own brains.

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1. Tuesday 17th June 2014 13:14 GMT John H Woods
  
  Re: Evolution works
  
  Yes - but the flip side means that very efficient solar cells may be hard - there's always been a lot of evolutionary pressure on photosynthesis, but it's still not that efficient.
  
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  1. Wednesday 18th June 2014 06:53 GMT Geoff Johnson
    
    Re: Evolution works
    
    I'd bet a lot of solar cell research is very similar to evolution anyway. If a formula works, try tweaking it a bit for the next batch of cells. If a formula doesn't, work very well, drop that line of research. Give it a few billion years and they'll have it cracked.
    
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2. Thursday 19th June 2014 12:17 GMT A Twig
  
  Re: Evolution works
  
  Exactly, that occasional moment when one suddenly sees a solution without directly applying any reasoning to it (as a facile example: the countdown conundrum - sometimes people see the solution straight away - far faster than they could have consciously cognised all the letters and jumbled them around).
  
  I've always wondered how that works - how a solution can suddenly be "seen" without any iterative thinking/reasoning. Now I'm not saying that we have quantum brains, but there is definitely something very non-classical going on. Cool stuff.
  
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  1. Monday 23rd June 2014 23:57 GMT razorfishsl
    
    Re: Evolution works
    
    Simple pattern matching.
    
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Sunday 22nd June 2014 20:55 GMT Anonymous Coward

Now Where Have I Seen This Before?

"'Quantum walk' refers to a kind of quantum mechanical solution to the 'travelling salesman' problem. Instead of an iterative path-by-path test of the possible paths through a network, the quantum 'walker' exists as a superposition of states across many many paths. Those states can converge quickly on the optimal path."

Could it be... D-Wave?

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