From the Bookshelf of Science and Inquiry…

Life on the Edge: The Coming of Age of Quantum Biology

Johnjoe McFadden

Start date: October 1, 2015

Finish date: October 31, 2015

Discussion: Book Club 2015

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Book Club 2015

* December 2015 - Violinist's Thumb
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Nov 23, 2015 David Rubenstein rated it really liked it

Shelves: evolution, biology, chemistry, physics

I really appreciate well-written books about science when they are written by active researchers in the field. And this book qualifies, as McFadden is a research biologist, and Al-Khalili is a theoretical physicist. They are both actively engaged in researching evidence for quantum phenomena that are responsible for complex biological mechanisms.

The book focuses on several important and difficult biology problems; photosynthesis, respiration, magnetoreception (bird migration), consciousness, gen I really appreciate well-written books about science when they are written by active researchers in the field. And this book qualifies, as McFadden is a research biologist, and Al-Khalili is a theoretical physicist. They are both actively engaged in researching evidence for quantum phenomena that are responsible for complex biological mechanisms.

The book focuses on several important and difficult biology problems; photosynthesis, respiration, magnetoreception (bird migration), consciousness, genetics, the sense of smell, and the origin of life. Each of these is still a mystery, and the authors find some--or a lot--of evidence for quantum mechanics being an essential component.

I found a couple of the issues to be particularly fascinating. Some birds that migrate thousands of miles definitely use magnetoreception to find their way. But the receptors are also connected with sight, and require light in order for the magnetoreception to work! And some butterflies also have magnetoreceptors on their antennae. It can take three generations for some butterflies to do a complete round trip of a thousand miles or more. How in the world is this possible?

I also found it fascinating that for photosynthesis to occur, plants may use a form of a quantum computer to perform the necessary catalysis. And the problem that the quantum computer solves is well known--it is the traveling salesman problem!

The authors frequently repeat a quote by physicist Richard Feynman; "If you cannot make it, then you don't understand it." In other words, you don't really understand a biological or physical process until you can duplicate it in the lab. Well, that is certainly the case for the biological processes that are discussed in this book. The origin of life is far from our understanding!

Research on this topic is proceeding rapidly, and the authors found that by the time they had finished writing the book, some parts were already dated. So, they added an extra chapter at the end, to include more recent results. But they recognize that by the time the book is published, it will still contain some out-of-date ideas. And that is wonderful, because science is a process, not an end result! ...more

47 likes · Like · see review

Oct 16, 2015 aPriL does feral sometimes rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: twisted-me-peculiar, non-fiction, science, favorites

'Life on the Edge: The Coming of Age of Quantum Biology ' by Johnjoe McFadden is a wonderful book describing wonderful things.

Science is not my strongest area in learning, but this book makes clear an opaque part, to me, of physics which usually is understood through mathematics and specialized scientific equipment able to view or measure particles of atoms.

As a book written for the general reader, it does not have a lot of math, and it includes drawings which add clarity to the subject address ...more

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Sep 05, 2015 Charlene rated it really liked it

Shelves: technology, biology, ecology, chaos-complexity-emergence, evolution, physics, information-theory, neuroscience, origins-of-life, general-science

3.5
In general I love reading about the smallest processes in biology or physics. I could read an entire book on the inner life of the mitochondria's electron transport chain, and I would be enthralled. I find it pretty exciting when authors want to understand the most in depth mechanisms at work in a each system. I love it even more if the authors take the knowledge they uncover and attempt to apply it to big systems, such as networks, systems biology, etc. The authors of tis book tried to do ju 3.5
In general I love reading about the smallest processes in biology or physics. I could read an entire book on the inner life of the mitochondria's electron transport chain, and I would be enthralled. I find it pretty exciting when authors want to understand the most in depth mechanisms at work in a each system. I love it even more if the authors take the knowledge they uncover and attempt to apply it to big systems, such as networks, systems biology, etc. The authors of tis book tried to do just that. I am not exactly sure why I didn't love this book. Perhaps, despite my constant critiques of books that are promoting sexy science at the expense of providing a more realistic understanding of the subject at hand, I wanted more sexy science from this book.

At times, even though it examined each phenomenon in great detail, it felt disjointed. I understand the overall theme, but perhaps I needed more hand holding. Even though I was interested in each subject present (I am especially interested in how particles spin, sync, and enter phase transition) the books didn't feel that new or exciting. It could be that I have read too many books that have provided some of the same material.

Regardless of my criticisms, I think the work being done in quantum biology is important. Particularly important is the focus on explaining how the same forces at work in physics are also at work in biological systems. I like the questions the authors raised. Certainly more work needs to be done to understand how action potentials lead to consciousness. Once that is established, there is more work still to be done in understanding the quantum nature of action potentials. The discussion on the hard problem of consciousness was by far my least favorite part of the book. I enjoy reading Andy Clark and the Churchlands' take on consciousness but cannot waste one more minute of life justifying Chalmers unscientific discussions on the subject. Even though these authors were arguing against the type of position Chalmers provides his readers, they went too far in validating it. Overall though, it is great that researchers are attempting to investigate and write about quantum bio. If you are unfamiliar with the field but are curious, it's worth the read. ...more

7 likes · Like · see review