Nature's hot green quantum computers revealed

New Scientist ^ | 03 February 2010 | Kate McAlpine

[neverdem]

Click on the links at the source. A new window opens with the first abstract and then the others in succession as the other links are clicked.

[muawiyah]

Earthshattering news in fact. Next someone pulls strands of DNA from a banana peel to build a super computer.

Actually, the teeny-tiny little quantum computers are not exactly unexpected. They had to be inserted to make it possible for life to sustain itself in the very hostile Earth environment.

[J Edgar]

I think this is fascinating news.

[sigSEGV]

I read a book about evolution relying on quantum computation a few years back --

Quantum Evolution

Probably a lot more things utilize this.

[OneWingedShark]

From the Article: “The hope is that quantum coherence could be used to make solar cells more efficient.”

That may indeed work, I’ve estimated that solar cells would have to be 85 to 90+% efficient to be viable for mass-solar electric. Considering we recently broke 20%, IIRC, then this may be a good, and possibly big, leap toward that level of efficiency.

[LibWhacker]

Hope he’s right. But the last time chemists encroached into the world of physics, it didn’t turn out very well. That was called cold fusion.

[SpaceBar]

There has been talk in recent years that consciousness itself may be quantum in nature, specifically normal modes of bose-einstein condensates on a biological substrate. This discovery may in fact be evidence in that direction.

[SpaceBar]

the last time chemists encroached into the world of physics...

You're not familiar with the rather well developed discipline of quantum chemistry? Today's chemists are specialized physicists, not the wet experimental alchemists of yesteryear.

[Paradox]

God is a friggin Genius...

[neverdem]

Thanks for reminding me about the solar cells.

[Ken H]

There has been talk in recent years that consciousness itself may be quantum in nature, specifically normal modes of bose-einstein condensates on a biological substrate.

Translation?

[OneWingedShark]

>God is a friggin Genius...

Yep!

[SpaceBar]

Wave-like character of an exotic condensed phase of matter that behaves as a large coherent quantum state, usually only observed at extremely low (cold) energies and controlled laboratory conditions.

[neverdem]

Translation?

That's in the realm of theoretical physics and states of matter found in around the temperature near absolute zero and particles sought in experimental particle colliders.

[Ken H]

Are they hypothesizing that such a coherency - whether in biological brains or the conditions you described - is what produces consciousness?

Taking it a step further, would such a coherency necessarily require matter?

[SpaceBar]

In short, yeah, that's what has been conjectured. The argument being that consciousness would require a complexity, speed, and macro-coherence not realizable using the standard synapse-neurotransmitter-axion model which is strictly classical. As for the non-substrate model, I haven't heard that discussed directly, but it adds an intriguing dimension to say the least.

[LibWhacker]

No, you’re right. I don’t know anything about it. As I say, I hope he’s on to something. Perhaps cold fusion and other premature eureka moments have made me too suspicious in my old age.

Love the discussion of quantum consciousness, btw. I had heard of that before and your comment prompted me to Google it to learn more. Fascinating stuff.

[Ken H]

Interesting stuff. Too bad I'm not some eccentric old billionaire. I'd set up my own institute to study such things.

[SpaceBar]

Well don’t be too humbled, it’s one of the most demanding disciplines in the hard sciences. The old methods of chemistry treating atoms as hard spheres with valence charges and so forth is so 19’th century. Now they build up molecules from first principles using techniques called generically ab-initio methods which includes such techniques as the Hartree-Fock method which builds up the quantum wavefunction first of atoms then molecules from discrete elementary quantum wavefunctions representing electrons and protons. As the molecule is built up its electrical and chemical properies such as bond lengths and energies, symmetry, vibrational modes, etc become apparent not through experimentation and wet analytical methods but through brute computation. Such methods are not trivial and generally require a lot of computing power, but there are software packages that can do it on a PC. GAMESS (General Atomic and Molecular Electronic Structure System) is a popular package with a big following. Chemists who use these techniques are really physicists specializing in chemistry. Fascinating stuff really.

[neverdem]

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