Life on the Edge: the Coming of Age of Quantum Biology Free

FREE LIFE ON THE EDGE: THE COMING OF AGE OF QUANTUM BIOLOGY PDF

T he scent of an orange, a robin on the wing — nothing could be more festive. But if you think such simple delights are born of simple processes, think again. But life, it seems, is different. The theory goes that the eye of a robin contains a chemical that, when it absorbs light of the right energy, can shuffle its electrons around. This shuffling creates a system that exists, thanks to some quantum jiggery-pokery, in two forms at once — each of which leads to a different outcome in the reaction that follows. And it turns out we, too, harness quantum effects. Indeed such phenomena account, among other things, for the ability of our enzymes to speed up chemical reactions that could otherwise take millennia, and might even be behind our olfactory prowess, allowing us Life on the Edge: The Coming of Age of Quantum Biology recognise the waft of limonene molecules as the scent of an orange. Dig into the science and this book offers fascinating insights — not least that the mirror image of a limonene molecule smells not of oranges, but turpentine. But whether the meatier revelations will elicit the resounding gasp that the authors clearly expect is another matter. But tenacity pays off: the later section exploring how life emerged from the primordial soup will have you gazing at the world in awe. After reading this, the answer seems obvious — weirder than your wildest dreams. Topics Science and nature books The Observer. Biology Physics Life on the Edge: The Coming of Age of Quantum Biology. Reuse this content. Order by newest oldest recommendations. Show 25 25 50 All. Threads collapsed expanded unthreaded. Loading comments… Trouble loading? Most popular. Life on the Edge: The Coming of Age of Quantum Biology by Johnjoe McFadden

Life is the most extraordinary phenomenon in the known universe; but how does it work? Even in this age of cloning and synthetic biology, the remarkable truth remains: nobody has ever made anything living entirely out of dead material. Life remains the only way to make life. Are we missing a vital ingredient in its creation? Like Richard Dawkins' The Selfish Genewhich provided a new perspective on evolution, Life on the Edge alters our understanding of life's dynamics as Jim Al-Khalili and Johnjoe Macfadden reveal the hitherto missing ingredient to be quantum mechanics. Drawing on recent ground-breaking experiments around the world, they show how photosynthesis relies on subatomic particles existing in many places at once, while 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. How do we really smell the scent of a rose? How do our genes manage to copy themselves with such precision? Guiding the reader through the maze of rapidly unfolding discovery, Al-Khalili and McFadden communicate vividly the excitement of this explosive new field of quantum biology, with its potentially revolutionary applications, and also offer insights into the biggest puzzle of all: what is life? Read more Read less. Customers who bought this item also bought. Page 1 of 1 Start over Page Life on the Edge: The Coming of Age of Quantum Biology of 1. Previous page. Andrew Marino. Kindle Edition. Paul Davies. Jack Kruse. Nick Lane. The Vital Question: Why is life the way it is? Sayer Ji. Next page. Review "Hugely ambitious Al-Khalili has a genius for illustrating complex ideas via imaginative sidetracks. With great vividness and clarity it shows how our world is tinged, even saturated, with the weirdness of the quantum. The startling discovery that the weirdness of quantum Life on the Edge: The Coming of Age of Quantum Biology provides the vital spark that ignites life --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. For over a decade, he has specialized in examining tuberculosis and meningitis, inventing the first successful molecular test for the latter. He is a leading theoretical physicist based at the University of Surrey, where he teaches and carries out research in quantum mechanics. Pete has coached for film and theatrical productions, and continues to work with private clients all over the world. Read more. Customers who viewed this item also viewed. Robert O. Ari Whitten. Customer reviews. How are ratings calculated? Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyses reviews to verify trustworthiness. Review this product Share your thoughts with other customers. Write a customer review. Top reviews Most recent Top reviews. Top reviews from Australia. There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later. Verified Purchase. I am enjoying this book. An avid fan of all JIm Alkhalili's documentaries and a long time reader about anything quantum - not saying I understand it all, by any means - but I know that I will have a few 'aha' moments if I persevere. This book is well written, it goes over some background history and uses metaphors and analogies in a clear and entertaining way. Highly recommended if you are into this kind of thing. I have not purchased this book, I am attempting to via the kindle - however, the kindle Life on the Edge: The Coming of Age of Quantum Biology takes the buyer to another quite different book. Please repair this Amazon. See all reviews. Top reviews from other countries. InJohnjoe McFadden wrote a book, Quantum Evolution, exploring Life on the Edge: The Coming of Age of Quantum Biology quantum mechanics is directly relevant to biology. At the time, the majority of biologists and physicists would have told you that quantum mechanics was largely irrelevant to biology, which is warm and wet and large scale, rather than the very small-scale or very cold conditions most physicists associate with non-classical behaviour. In those 14 years, quantum biology has progressed from wild speculation to mainstream, due in part to the work of these authors, and it is interesting to compare the two books. Compared with Quantum Consciousness, the chapter on Quantum Genetics has been both tightened up and made more tentative. The proposed mechanism for directed mutation, using the inverse Zeno effect, has been clarified and restricted. There Life on the Edge: The Coming of Age of Quantum Biology no longer any special appeal to the many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics. The authors have rowed back significantly from ideas that quantum mechanics is generally a major driver of mutation, which is a shame as it has the potential to explain some tricky bottlenecks in evolution. Similarly, the chapter on Mind is much more believable. The authors start by discussing Roger Penrose's ideas, such as the ability of the mind to bypass the Goedel theorem by being a quantum computer. Fortunately they do not undermine their own credibility by taking these ideas too seriously, and in fact their analysis is a very clear critique of Penrose's. Their proposed role for quantum mechanics in ion channels seems very plausible. I am not very persuaded by the proposed link between consciousness and electromagnetism. A human has a psychological and social need to be able to explain their own decisions, and this explanation is generally in terms of a sequential narrative. There is no necessity for this narrative to match what actually happens in the brain, except in its inputs and outputs. A brain is a black box to its owner almost as much as to others. Electromagnetism is a possible way for the mind to work in a synchronised way, but whether or not this happens is independent of the nature of consciousness. Moreover, it is not clear how this relates to quantum mechanics, except very indirectly. McFadden's earlier book Quantum Consciousness tries to make the connection, though in a hand-wavy and not very plausible way. I can see why he has dropped this idea, though I think he could have removed all the references to electromagnetic theories of consciousness from this book altogether. They belong in a different book. The chapter on the beginnings of life is greatly clarified compared with similar ideas expressed in Quantum Evolution. The problem with any understanding of the beginnings of life is that there is a period of about million years where somehow, somewhere on the Earth or just maybe, in space life began. Presumably this happened because a self-replicating molecule appeared, which mutated and evolved into a modern eukaryotic cell. Trying to identify the original molecule just by looking at modern cells is difficult or even impossible. Replicating the start of the process might take an ocean of water and million years, which makes it Life on the Edge: The Coming of Age of Quantum Biology tricky experiment. Until either of these is done, we have no way of knowing what the first self-replicators were or even how complex they had to be. At least, McFadden and Al- Khalili show how the incredible search capabilities of quantum mechanics could help achieve the first step, of constructing the first self-replicating molecule. The overall gist of the book is that life is a consequence of the boundary between quantum mechanics and classical physics, which seems to be key to many of the most important processes in biology, from photosynthesis to respiration and scent. It is hard to disagree with these conclusions. Time for biologists to learn some quantum mechanics. Usually I find popular science books at least interesting and often page turners. Not so with this altho I have slowly got to halfway thro it and it is improving slightly. I have always found Jim Al Khalil's tv programs poor with gimmicky and poorly chosen analogies and had mentally catalogued him using the old saw "Those that can do, and those that can't teach" as a teacher and rather a poor one at that. There are many exceptions ,fortunately but I don't find him one of them. This book follows the same pattern with each chapter opening in his usual TV style with an attention grabbing example usually pretty well knownpoorly chosen analogies etc. Now that I am over halfway through the book the biological aspects are proving more interesting, possibly due to his coauthor but even here there are childish analogies such as the miniature submarine going from normal to nano and then femto scale. So far the illustrations are equally puerile and add little. Halfway through the book I am starting to find newer information and at least learning something new so its probably worth reading but so far a poor example of popular science writing. I would in fairness give his co-author the benefit of the doubt as the faults in the book coincide so neatly with the faults in Khalil's TV presentations, and in the few other books by this author I have read. This book was written by two physicists and it shows. Having said that if I was asked to write a book about, well almost anything really, then I don't think I would have made a tenth as good a job as these two. Sometimes the concepts are not fully explained - and maybe you would need a library of related information to fully understand the ideas expounded here. And maybe a life of immersion in the maths and "understanding" of the quantum world. But there is enough here for the couch scientist to grasp the underlying reasoning, if not the detail. Bravely the authors in the final chapters offer a speculative insight into The Meaning of Liff from a quantum theorist's perspective. I think this is an important book and Life on the Edge: The Coming of Age of Quantum Biology wish I had the mathematical skill to delve further into this Life on the Edge: The Coming of Age of Quantum Biology and fascinating subject. Don't be put off please. Read this and be amazed at the progress of understanding our theoretical and experimental scientists have made in just the last few years. Life on the Edge review – the weird world of quantum biology explained | Books | The Guardian

Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Want to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Other editions. Enlarge cover. Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Jim Al-Khalili. Life is the most extraordinary phenomenon in the known universe; but how did it come to be? Even in an age of cloning and artificial biology, the remarkable truth remains: nobody has ever made anything living entirely out of dead material. Life remains the only way to make life. Are we still missing a vital ingredient in its creation? Like Richard Dawkins' The Selfish Life is the most extraordinary phenomenon in the known universe; but how did it come to be? Like Richard Dawkins' The Selfish Genewhich provided a new perspective on how evolution works, Life on the Edge alters Life on the Edge: The Coming of Age of Quantum Biology understanding of our world's fundamental dynamics. Bringing together first-hand experience at the cutting edge of science with unparalleled gifts of explanation, Jim Al-Khalili and Johnjoe Macfadden reveal that missing ingredient to be quantum mechanics; the phenomena that lie at the heart of this most mysterious of sciences. Drawing on recent ground-breaking experiments around the world, each chapter in Life on the Edge engages by illustrating one of life's puzzles: How do migrating birds Life on the Edge: The Coming of Age of Quantum Biology where to go? How do we really smell the scent of a rose? How do our genes copy themselves with such precision? Life on the Edge accessibly reveals how quantum mechanics can answer these probing questions of the universe. Guiding the reader through the rapidly unfolding discoveries of the last few years, Al-Khalili and McFadden communicate the excitement of the explosive new field of quantum biology and its potentially revolutionary applications, while offering insights into the biggest puzzle of all: what is life? As they brilliantly demonstrate in these groundbreaking pages, life exists on the quantum edge. Get A Copy. Hardcoverpages. Published July 28th by Crown first published November 6th More Details Other Editions Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Life on the Edgeplease sign up. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 4. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. You might think that this book has received four stars, but if you know anything about quantum theory you will be aware that a quantum object can be in a superposition of states. And this quantum book is in a superposed state of 5 stars for the subject - which is fascinating and important - and 3 stars for the writing - which is disappointingly poor, given Jim Al-Khalili's expertise and experience. It might seem that the whole concept of 'quantum biology' is a truism that hardly needs exploring. When every chemical reaction or electrical activity in a living organism is based on the interaction of quantum particles, why would there be a need for a separate discipline? But the Life on the Edge: The Coming of Age of Quantum Biology relatively few workers in the field like quantum physicist Jim Al-Khalili and biologist Johnjoe McFadden are looking at special cases. Where quantum effects, like entanglement, have a direct impact on large Life on the Edge: The Coming of Age of Quantum Biology systems. Whether it's the robin's ability to steer using a molecular magnetic compass or the detail at the heart of photosynthesis, there seems to be some strange quantum behaviour that would take biologists by surprise as much as the general reader. And, the authors suggest, perhaps it is Life on the Edge: The Coming of Age of Quantum Biology reason that life itself can exist. There are two aspects of the book that are truly fascinating. One Life on the Edge: The Coming of Age of Quantum Biology the exploration of the way that photosynthesis makes use of quantum effects - in fact, could not work without it. It's absolutely mind-boggling that the excited electron that has to be passed as an energy source to the reaction centre has no way of getting there without making use the of the quantum probabilities of taking every path to find its way. And as the authors explore the incredible unlikeliness of life getting started as a result of random interactions it becomes increasingly obvious that there surely must have been some kind of quantum effect that was involved in that process. We have no idea what it might be, so having a chapter titled How life began' is a bit optimistic. One thing I didn't like, which is a common failing when a media scientist writes a book, is the way that quantum physics is presented with a broadcast gloss. What I mean by this is that in a TV or radio programme, where you only have a minute or two to explain something, you often have to gloss over the detail in a way that means you will say something that isn't quite true to keep things moving. But in a book you have the space to explain things properly, and this kind of glossing is a shame. It happens early on where quantum physics is first explained. We hear for instance that quantum particles can be in two places at once where in reality they aren't at any fixed location and quantum spin is mentioned in a way that suggests it's literally about a particle spinning around it's not. There was also what seemed like a little cattiness. Several times again, as it's on quantum physics I assume this was Al-Khalili there are at least four little digs about the way that quantum entanglement doesn't make 'paranormal phenomena' his inverted commas such as telepathy possible. At one point he says 'despite the bogus claims of telepathy'. If you don't know the field, you might wonder why this obsession with telepathy, but if you do it's hard not to suspect that this is a dig at Nobel Prize winner Brian Josephson who has previously made exactly this suggestion. However, neither of these is the reason for the 3 stars for writing, which is rather that apart from those highlights of photosynthesis and the origins of life the book gets bogged down in biochemical details that are frankly not very interesting and that fail to carry the reader. Quantum physics may be glossed, but biological details get the opposite treatment. Perhaps it's the difficulty of having a co-authored book. Perhaps it's because the authors are too close to the subject, but I found parts of it very tedious, perhaps reflective of the old Feynman observation about biologists spending far too much time learning the names for things. Overall, then, a fascinating topic, a branch of science that is shiny and new and wonderful. But not the book it should have been. View all 8 comments. Nov 23, David rated it really liked it Shelves: biologychemistryphysicsevolution. I really appreciate well-written books about science when they are written by active researchers in the field. And this book qualifies, as McFadden is a research biologist, and Al-Khalili is a theoretical physicist. They are both actively engaged in researching evidence for quantum phenomena that are responsible for complex biological mechanisms. The book focuses on several important and difficult biology problems; photosynthesis, respiration, magnetoreception bird migrationconsciousness, gen I really appreciate well-written books about science when they are written by active researchers in the field. The book focuses on several important and difficult Life on the Edge: The Coming of Age of Quantum Biology problems; photosynthesis, respiration, magnetoreception bird migrationconsciousness, genetics, the sense of smell, and the origin of life. Each of these is still a mystery, and the authors find some--or a lot--of evidence for quantum mechanics being an essential component. I found a couple of the issues to be particularly fascinating. Some birds that migrate thousands of miles definitely use magnetoreception to find their way. But the receptors are also connected with sight, and require light in order for the magnetoreception to work! And some butterflies also have magnetoreceptors on their antennae. It can take three generations for some butterflies to do a complete round trip of a thousand miles or more. How in the world is this possible? I also found it fascinating that for photosynthesis to occur, plants may use a form of a quantum computer to perform the necessary catalysis. And the problem that the quantum computer solves is well known--it is the traveling salesman problem! The authors frequently repeat a quote by physicist Richard Feynman; "If you cannot make it, then you don't understand it. Well, that is certainly the case for the biological processes that are discussed in this book. The origin of life is far from our understanding! Research on this topic is proceeding rapidly, and the authors found that by the time they had finished writing the book, some parts were already dated. So, they added an extra chapter at the end, to include more recent results. But they recognize that by the time the book is published, it will still contain some out-of-date ideas. And that is wonderful, because science is a process, not an end result! View all 4 comments. Dec 04, Max rated it really liked it Shelves: Life on the Edge: The Coming of Age of Quantum Biology. McFadden and Al-Khalili explore the role of quantum mechanics in living organisms. This new field of quantum biology is finding that life lies Life on the Edge: The Coming of Age of Quantum Biology the edge between classical and quantum physics, thus the title of the book. The authors do not believe in any spiritual or mystical influences, rather they dig deeply into biochemistry. They identify specific situations in which the quantum properties of electrons and protons influence organic processes. McFadden and Al-Khalili explain without math the relevant attributes of the quantum world: wave-particle duality, quantum tunneling, superposition and entanglement. They begin each case with a story and then delve into the chemistry and physics behind it.