Can we detect quantum behavior in viruses?

The weird world of quantum mechanics describes the strange, often contradictory, behaviour of small inanimate objects such as atoms. Researchers have now started looking for ways to detect quantum properties in more complex and larger entities, possibly even living organisms.

A German-Spanish research group, split between the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics in Garching and the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO), is using the principles of an iconic quantum mechanics thought experiment — Schrödinger’s superpositioned cat — to test for quantum properties in objects composed of as many as one billion atoms, possibly including the flu virus.

New research published on March 11 in New Journal of Physics describes the construction of an experiment to test for superposition states in these larger objects.

Quantum optics is a field well-rehearsed in the process of detecting quantum properties in single atoms and some small molecules but the scale that these researchers wish to work at is unprecedented.

When physicists try to fathom exactly how the tiniest constituents of matter and energy behave, confusing patterns of their ability to do two things at once (referred to as being in a superposition state), and of their ‘spooky’ connection (referred to as entanglement) to their physically distant sub-atomic brethren, emerge.

It is the ability of these tiny objects to do two things at once that Oriol Romero-Isart and his co-workers are preparing to probe.

via Can we detect quantum behavior in viruses?.

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Tantalizing glimpse of macroscopic quantum effects

The weird laws of quantum mechanics govern how molecules, atoms and smaller particles behave, but quantum phenomena sometimes “leak up” to macroscopic scales, researchers at the University of Illinois have found. They have demonstrated that, counter to classical Newtonian mechanics, an entire collection of superconducting electrons in an ultrathin superconducting wire is able to “tunnel” as a pack from a state with a higher electrical current to one with a notably lower current, providing more evidence of the phenomenon of macroscopic quantum tunneling.

Alexey Bezryadin and Paul Goldbart led the team, with graduate student Mitrabhanu Sahu performing the bulk of the measurements, with the results appearing in Nature Physics.

Quantum tunneling is the capability of a particle to inhabit regions of space that would normally be off-limits according to classical mechanics. The team’s research observes a process called a quantum phase slip, whereby packs of roughly 100,000 electrons tunnel together from higher electrical current states to lower ones. The energy locked in the motion of the electrons as they phase slip is dissipated as heat, causing the nanowires to switch from a superconducting state to a more highly resistive one. This switching of states allows the tunneling of the phase slip to be observed.

Goldbart describes a quantum phase slip as a phenomenon that allows the spatially extended structure of superconductivity; “to undergo a kind of quantum mechanical rip or tear, one where the entire extended behavior of the superconductivity tunnels its way through a classically forbidden set of configurations.” … – scienceagogo

Scientists Can Read Minds with Brain Scans

By scanning your brain, scientists can tell what memory you are recalling.

Scientists have made impressive gains recently when it comes to reading minds. For instance, through brain scans, researchers can tell what number a person has just seen, figure out what letters a person wants to type, and determine where people were standing within virtual reality environments.

To see if they could discern even more complex information during mind-reading, scientists more recently had 10 volunteers watch three films, each seven-seconds long and featuring a different actress in a fairly similar everyday scenario on a typical urban street. For instance, in one movie, a woman rifled through her purse to find an envelope she then dropped into a mailbox, while in another, an actress finished her cup of coffee, which she then dropped into a trashcan. Participants watched the films 15 times.

The researchers scanned the participants’ brains using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while the participants were asked to recall the films. The data was run through a computer algorithm to identify brain activity patterns linked with memories for each of the movies. Using these patterns, the researchers could accurately predict which film volunteers were recalling as they had their brains scanned.

“The algorithm was able to predict correctly which of the three films the volunteer was recalling significantly above what would be expected by chance,” explained researcher Martin Chadwick at University College London. “This suggests that our memories are recorded in a regular pattern.”

via Scientists Can Read Minds with Brain Scans | LiveScience.