Conville & Walsh

This book will bring together two of the most exciting areas in modern scientific research – quantum physics and molecular biology – and show how this new cross-disciplinary subject has evolved rapidly over the past decade, from a speculative field on the fringes of scientific respectability to one to which many of the world’s brightest minds are now turning their attention. And if what it is telling us about the nature of life itself is true, then it is certainly destined to become one of the most important areas of scientific research of the 21st century.

Evidence has been mounting over the past decade suggesting that a vast array of biological processes, from photosynthesis to bird migration to what turns a cell cancerous, can only be explained properly if the molecules of life are also governed by the weird rules quantum mechanics. It might even provide an answer to the most profound question of all: how did life itself begin?

In 2003, the author attended an international workshop at NASA’s research centre in Ames, California. Gathered there were quantum physicists, biologists, neuroscientists, philosophers, chemists, mathematicians and computer scientists – all drawn together to attack one of the most profound questions in science: how life first began. Many researchers now believe that the quantum world’s ability to explore all possibilities at once might have provided the necessary speed and efficiency to explain the origin of life as well as the many of the rich phenomena that make it so special.

This is cutting edge research told as it unfolds. The author is himself working in the field of quantum physics and molecular biology and will tell the story of how it was born, describing its profound and far-reaching implications if proven correct. At the same time, the book will serve as a primer to the uninitiated into some of the most fascinating, obscure and exciting areas of modern scientific research.