Quantum Mechanics is real and has an important role in the low level "implementation" of Chemistry (I make my living from that). But this article is full of misleading (or almost wrong) parts.
> Genes turned out to be made from a single molecule of DNA, which is a kind of molecular string with nucleotide bases (the genetic letters) strung out like beads. [...]And, just as Schrödinger predicted, ‘every group of atoms’ does indeed play ‘an individual role’, with the position of even individual protons – a quantum property – determining each genetic letter. There can be few more prescient predictions in the entire history of science. The colour of your eyes, the shape of your nose, and aspects of your character, intelligence or propensity for disease are encoded at the quantum level.
This can also apply for the position of the atoms in a salt crystal, or the molecule of nitrogen in the air, or water or everything in the universe. So it's not relate to life at all.
> Photosynthesis is the most important biochemical reaction on the planet. [...] This energy transport process has long fascinated researchers because it can be so efficient – close to 100 per cent. How is it that green leaves can transport energy so much better than our most sophisticated technologies?
It's not very clear what he is talking about, but photosynthesis has many steps, and the global efficiency is very low (1%?). There are a few recent results of quantum coherence in one of the intermediate steps but 100% even in one step is completely unbelievable. Most of the steps transform one molecule into another and each can "store" a definite energy amount, so the excess must be wasted.
This article has many grandiloquent affirmations but few information. https://xkcd.com/1240/
> Genes turned out to be made from a single molecule of DNA, which is a kind of molecular string with nucleotide bases (the genetic letters) strung out like beads. [...]And, just as Schrödinger predicted, ‘every group of atoms’ does indeed play ‘an individual role’, with the position of even individual protons – a quantum property – determining each genetic letter. There can be few more prescient predictions in the entire history of science. The colour of your eyes, the shape of your nose, and aspects of your character, intelligence or propensity for disease are encoded at the quantum level.
This can also apply for the position of the atoms in a salt crystal, or the molecule of nitrogen in the air, or water or everything in the universe. So it's not relate to life at all.
> Photosynthesis is the most important biochemical reaction on the planet. [...] This energy transport process has long fascinated researchers because it can be so efficient – close to 100 per cent. How is it that green leaves can transport energy so much better than our most sophisticated technologies?
It's not very clear what he is talking about, but photosynthesis has many steps, and the global efficiency is very low (1%?). There are a few recent results of quantum coherence in one of the intermediate steps but 100% even in one step is completely unbelievable. Most of the steps transform one molecule into another and each can "store" a definite energy amount, so the excess must be wasted.
This article has many grandiloquent affirmations but few information. https://xkcd.com/1240/