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Re:Organisms might be quantum machines by flukus on Thursday August 18, 2016 @09:49PM (#12317496)
>stuff like this is misleading imo. its exactly the sort of place you expect to see quantum effects - because its in the universe and at the appropriate scale.

Isn't this a few orders of magnitude above where you'd expect to see quantum effects?

Re:Organisms might be quantum machines by pdonis on Thursday August 18, 2016 @09:55PM (#12317511)
> Isn't this a few orders of magnitude above where you'd expect to see quantum effects?

No. Chemistry itself is fundamentally dependent on quantum effects; quantum effects determine the structure of atoms and molecules, how they combine, and how much energy is involved in those processes. That's true whether the processes are taking place in living bodies or not. My reaction to this article is basically the same as jheriko's: this is news?

Re:Organisms might be quantum machines by flukus on Thursday August 18, 2016 @11:19PM (#12317781)
I thought chemistry operated at a higher level, as in it doesn't care how or why a atoms are structured they way they are, they just deal with the results at a higher level of abstraction. Is this incorrect?
Re:Organisms might be quantum machines by pdonis on Thursday August 18, 2016 @11:56PM (#12317889)
> I thought chemistry operated at a higher level

"Chemistry" as you're using the term here is a name for a set of models made by humans, not something in actual atoms and molecules. The atoms and molecules don't know that they're supposed to be doing "chemistry" instead of "quantum stuff".

When I say chemistry is fundamentally dependent on quantum effects, I mean the things atoms and molecules actually do would be impossible without quantum effects. The very existence of atoms depends on quantum effects; in a purely classical world atoms would be impossible. The chemical properties of atoms--their valences, for example--require quantum mechanics to explain.

Often in human models of chemistry, the details of how things like valences of atoms are produced from quantum effects are left out. But that doesn't mean quantum effects aren't being seen when we observe atoms with particular valences, for example. It just means the details aren't explicitly present in those models.

Re:Organisms might be quantum machines by flukus on Friday August 19, 2016 @02:00AM (#12318222)
Thanks, I think. I really need to brush up on my understanding of chemistry.
Re:Organisms might be quantum machines by Noseshine on Friday August 19, 2016 @03:38AM (#12318491)
Take a course like "MITx: Introduction to Solid state Chemistry" [0] and while you won't be doing quantum physics except a very basic introduction you'll brush against it all the time.

Depends on what exactly you do in chemistry. Understanding structures like molecules and chemical bonds takes you deep. I f you only care about macro effects, like how to turn this input into that output in an industrial process than you move away from the low-level basics.

The same as in any field, you get to choose if you want to invent new algorithms or if you care about software architecture - both valid jobs for a CS person but it's different worlds.

[0] https://www.edx.org/course/introduction-solid-state-chemistr...

Re:Organisms might be quantum machines by Dylan16807 on Thursday August 18, 2016 @11:08PM (#12317746)
We're not talking about entire cells having quantum fluctuations. Just single molecules within them; exactly the scale where you expect such oddities.
Re:Organisms might be quantum machines by flukus on Thursday August 18, 2016 @11:15PM (#12317768)
That makes more sense, thanks.
Re:Organisms might be quantum machines by jheriko on Thursday August 18, 2016 @10:24PM (#12317597)
It's quite a few below for some effects. Have you heard of the double slit experiment?

But actually the scale of cells and their structures is macro-molecule scale... a lot of the behaviour of those things (DNA, proteins etc..) is very quantum mechanical.. there are also structures working with ions and even protons (hydrogen ion) in there.