{"id":98626,"date":"2025-05-13T17:34:13","date_gmt":"2025-05-13T17:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/98626\/"},"modified":"2025-05-13T17:34:13","modified_gmt":"2025-05-13T17:34:13","slug":"cells-might-be-doing-quantum-computing-life-on-earth-has-performed-10%e2%81%b6%e2%81%b0-logical-operations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/98626\/","title":{"rendered":"Cells Might Be Doing Quantum Computing. Life on Earth Has Performed 10\u2076\u2070 Logical Operations"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\" <\/a>Credit: Quantum Biology Laboratory, Philip Kurian.<\/p>\n

Eighty years ago, physicist Erwin Schr\u00f6dinger asked a deceptively simple question: What is life? In a series of lectures in Dublin, later published as a short book, he proposed that the principles of quantum mechanics might underlie the complex organization of living things.<\/p>\n

Now, in a provocative new research befitting the 2025 International Year of Quantum Science and Technology, another physicist is proposing a radical new answer.<\/p>\n

In his single-author study, Philip Kurian, director of the Quantum Biology Laboratory at Howard University, argues that life doesn\u2019t merely obey the laws of quantum physics \u2014 it exploits them. In doing so, he says, life on Earth has likely performed about 1060 elementary logical operations over its 4.5-billion-year history.<\/p>\n

That number is so staggering that it defies everyday intuition. If you tried to count to 1060, saying one number per second, it would take you longer than the age of the universe, squared. Even counting at one operation per Planck time (the shortest physically meaningful time: 5.4\u00d710-44 seconds), it would still take over 13 billion years to count to 1060.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis work connects the dots among the great pillars of twentieth century physics \u2014 thermodynamics, relativity, and quantum mechanics \u2014 for a major paradigm shift across the biological sciences,\u201d Kurian said.<\/p>\n

Superradiance and the Microscopic Calculators of Life<\/p>\n

Kurian\u2019s argument begins at the heart of the cell.<\/p>\n

Last year, his team published experimental evidence<\/a> showing that cytoskeletal protein filaments \u2014 a class of fiber-like structures that maintain cell shape \u2014 exhibit \u201csuperradiance<\/a>,\u201d a distinctly quantum phenomenon where particles behave as a coherent whole. This kind of coherence allows energy to move with remarkable efficiency through large groups of molecules.<\/p>\n

In particular, Kurian\u2019s group zeroed in on tryptophan, an amino acid known for its ability to absorb ultraviolet light and emit it at longer wavelengths. Networks of tryptophan are widespread in living organisms, found in cellular structures like microtubules, receptors, and axons.<\/p>\n

Superradiant states within these tryptophan-rich fibers can process information astonishingly fast: around 10 trillion operations per second. That\u2019s more than a billion times faster than traditional models of neural computation based on action potentials in neurons.<\/p>\n

\u201cQuantum biology \u2014 in particular our observations of superradiant signatures from standard protein spectroscopy methods, guided by his theory \u2014 has the potential to open new vistas for understanding the evolution of living systems,\u201d said physicist Majed Chergui, who co-authored the 2024 experimental study validating Kurian\u2019s theory.<\/p>\n

Beyond the Brain: Aneural Life\u2019s Hidden Code<\/p>\n

One of Kurian\u2019s most controversial ideas is that biological computation doesn\u2019t begin with neurons.<\/p>\n

For decades, neuroscientists have modeled cognition using spiking neurons as the basic information units. But such models ignore the vast majority of Earth\u2019s life \u2014 organisms without nervous systems. Think bacteria, fungi, or plants.<\/p>\n

In fact, Kurian argues these aneural organisms may actually do the bulk of life\u2019s computing. That\u2019s because their cells also contain superradiant fibers capable of quantum signaling. \u201cThe implications of Kurian\u2019s insights are staggering,\u201d said Chergui.<\/p>\n

And since these organisms have existed for billions of years, their contribution to the total \u201ccomputational history\u201d of life is massive.<\/p>\n

Kurian calculates that all eukaryotic life \u2014 organisms with complex cells \u2014 has performed approximately 1060 logical operations over Earth\u2019s lifetime. By comparison, the entire universe is estimated to have performed about 10120. Remarkably, that means life on Earth may have executed the square root of the universe\u2019s total computation.<\/p>\n

\u201cKurian\u2019s predictions provide quantitative bounds, beyond the colloquial Drake equation<\/a>, on how superradiant living systems enhance planetary computing capacity,\u201d said Dante Lauretta, a planetary scientist at the University of Arizona.<\/p>\n

What This Means for Quantum Computing \u2014 and the Universe<\/p>\n

Kurian\u2019s work has caught the attention of physicists and computer scientists working on the bleeding edge of quantum computing. His calculations suggest that biological systems already perform quantum computations with error-correction rates and energy efficiencies that outpace even the best artificial systems being built today.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really intriguing to see a vital and growing connection between quantum technology and living systems,\u201d said Nicol\u00f2 Defenu, a quantum researcher at ETH Zurich.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

That might sound out of the question at first thought. After all, today\u2019s quantum computers must be cooled to temperatures colder than deep space to preserve their fragile quantum states. Living organisms, on the other hand, are warm and messy. But Kurian\u2019s model suggests that certain biological structures may naturally shield and stabilize quantum states even in this chaotic environment.<\/p>\n

The study shows that superradiant protein fibers in axons approach within two orders of magnitude of the Margolus-Levitin bound<\/a> \u2014 the quantum speed limit on how fast a system can evolve.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd all this in a warm soup! The quantum computing world should take serious notice,\u201d Kurian said.<\/p>\n

From Astrobiology to Artificial Intelligence<\/p>\n

What makes this discovery even more intriguing is its relevance beyond Earth.<\/p>\n

Tryptophan and similar molecules have been detected in interstellar space. Some astrochemists believe they may be precursors to life. If superradiant quantum signaling is a fundamental property of these structures, Kurian\u2019s ideas could influence how we search for life on other planets.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cIt\u2019s good to be reminded that the computation performed by living systems is vastly more powerful than that performed by artificial ones,\u201d said Seth Lloyd, a quantum computing pioneer at MIT.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Kurian goes further. He suggests that life is not merely an incidental process occurring in the universe, but rather an information-processing phenomenon intricately linked to the universe\u2019s physical laws.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThough these stringent physical limits also apply to life\u2019s ability to track, observe, know, and simulate parts of the universe, we can still explore and make sense of the brilliant order within it,\u201d Kurian said. \u201cIt\u2019s awe-inspiring that we get to play such a role.\u201d<\/p>\n

The findings appeared in the journal Science Advances<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Credit: Quantum Biology Laboratory, Philip Kurian. Eighty years ago, physicist Erwin Schr\u00f6dinger asked a deceptively simple question: What…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":98627,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3164],"tags":[3284,3419,53,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-98626","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-computing","8":"tag-computing","9":"tag-information","10":"tag-technology","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114501732303986013","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98626\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}