I’ve been reading up on the ways in which quantum physics may help expand out understanding of chemistry and biology. This was one of the more interesting ideas I came across: that quantum entanglement may be what holds DNA together.
So: this part is tough. The nucleotides in DNA—the molecules that make it up—join together to form the helix. There’s a bit of a problem in that the electrons in each molecule shake in certain ways that would seem to make the whole helix shake apart. Elisabeth Rieper at the National University of Singapore and “some buddies” came up with a model that keeps the structure from doing this and it involves quantum entanglement.
- Summary: http://motherboard.tv/2010/6/28/quantum-entanglement-could-be-working-in-our-dna
- Summary: http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-06/quantum-entanglement-may-hold-dna-together-new-study-says
- Source: http://arxiv.org/abs/1006.4053
- More articles by Elisabeth Rieper
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