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QUANTUM VS CLASSICAL. "When coupled to an energy trap such as the reaction center, this process can greatly increase the quantum yield of a system relative to the classical limit" during photosynthesis. https://lnkd.in/eytWxV5 View in LinkedIn

PHOTOSYNTHESIS EFFICIENCY is increased by superposition. "Superposition contributes to more efficient energy transport. An exciton, a quantum quasi-particle carrying energy, can travel faster along the photosynthetic complex due to the fact that it can exist in two states simultaneously. When it comes to a bifurcation it need not choose left or right. It can proceed down both paths simultaneously." https://lnkd.in/e3xDSJC View in LinkedIn

WIRED PROTEINS. "These observations provide compelling evidence for quantum-coherent sharing of electronic excitation across the 5-nm-wide proteins under biologically relevant conditions, suggesting that distant molecules within the photosynthetic proteins are ‘wired’ together by quantum coherence for more efficient light-harvesting in cryptophyte marine algae." https://lnkd.in/edvYfjM View in LinkedIn

COMBINED EFFECT. "A radical pair is (typically) a pair of bound molecules that each has an unpaired electron. These pairs are created, by a photochemical process, in spin-correlated states; that is, singlets or triplets. The state of these spins then evolves under the combined effect of the Earth’s weak magnetic field and internal nuclear hyperfine interactions with the host nuclei. Finally, the rate of charge recombination depends on the spin of the separated charges, directly influencing the reaction products of these radical pairs." https://lnkd.in/eRUdQZj View in LinkedIn

ENERGY CASCADE. "The arrangement of the chromophores in FMO results in a downhill, rugged energetic landscape with two distinct routes through which an excitation can travel to reach the lowest energy state. While classical trajectories can navigate such funnel-like landscapes, the wave-like motion through the complex improves efficiency by avoiding kinetic traps." (FMO = antenna complex). https://lnkd.in/eytWxV5 View in LinkedIn

RADICAL PAIRS. "Schulten et al., proposed the radical-pair mechanism as a plausible biological chemical-compass. It was already well known that radical pairs can mediate magnetic-field-sensitive and light-activated chemical reactions, but up to that point only with external fields much stronger than the Earth’s." https://lnkd.in/eRUdQZj View in LinkedIn

COHERENCE. "The observation at room temperature of quantum effects in a biological system is itself remarkable. A great deal of evidence does suggest that in principle such coherence can enhance the efficiency of photosynthetic units, such as the FMO (antenna) complex, even if just by a few per cent. Any small enhancement in efficiency may be biologically important." https://lnkd.in/eRUdQZj View in LinkedIn

EUROPEAN ROBINS. "It has been shown that the navigation sense was disrupted by magnetic pulses, and very weak external oscillating magnetic fields." https://lnkd.in/eRUdQZj View in LinkedIn

CHIRALITY. "Calcite crystals grown in the presence of L- and D- aspartic acids showing the break of morphological symmetry. This finding strongly suggest that the chirality of organic molecules and inorganic crystals may be mutually inherited from each other, revealing the possibility that biohomochirality may have originated from mineral surfaces on which the first form of life was evolved." https://lnkd.in/ezvX9wt View in LinkedIn

LIGHT AND MAGNETISM. "In European robins (and some other species) the navigation sense was shown to be photoreceptor based, that is, dependent on the presence of certain frequencies of ambient light. It was also shown to be sensitive to changes in the intensity of the external magnetic field, but that it readjusted over time to these changes." https://lnkd.in/eRUdQZj View in LinkedIn