Organisms might be quantum machines

Re:Organisms might be quantum machines by kakarot on Thursday August 18, 2016 @07:43PM (#12317042)

I was under the assumption that the working theory is birds share a similar feature as fruit flies and possibly foxes. The cones that allow us to see blue light actually work as compasses when suspended in a fluid, and they are not attached to the retina of a fruit fly but are suspended in their eye and thus shape incoming visual patterns around magnetic fields

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetoreception

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Re:Organisms might be quantum machines by danbruc on Thursday August 18, 2016 @07:56PM (#12317109)

That is essentially the proposed mechanism discussed in the article but the article gives the impression - at least to me - that it is not yet confirmed that this indeed how it works in birds.

EDIT: After skimming the Wikipedia article, both articles agree that it is a possible but not yet confirmed mechanism.

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Re:Organisms might be quantum machines by dnautics on Friday August 19, 2016 @06:14AM (#12319037)

The cryptochrome hypothesis doesn't require detachment from the retina as it's a protein that has directional excitatory preference, not the whole cell.

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Re:Organisms might be quantum machines by kakarot on Sunday August 21, 2016 @12:42AM (#12329409)

Interesting. Thanks for the clarification. I find this topic to be of extreme interest

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Re:Organisms might be quantum machines by Aelinsaar on Thursday August 18, 2016 @07:50PM (#12317074)

That's fascinating, but birds do have their rods and cones attached to the retina. IIRC birds are though to be in some way detecting either directly, or through secondary effect, polarization of light.

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