Of Lightning, Photosynthesis and Electron Transport Chain

We all know that plants use solar energy to form chemical energy in the form of carbohydrates. The suns rays (photons) impinge on the chlorophyll of the green leaves. This excites them and raises them to a higher energy level. These electrons in turn, transfer their energies to another electron nearby and this process goes on till the energy is transferred to the reaction center, where actual conversion of energy is occurring. This energy transfer occurs at a phenomenal efficiency of about 95%. In order to achieve such unprecedented (compared to about 40% in the most efficient solar cells) efficiency, the electrons should 'change hands' in an efficient way and not merely by a random walk.

The electrons do this by 'sensing' and sorting of the energy levels of different electrons (without ever actually having to go to these places for sensing: what Einstein called spooky action at a distance). How the electrons found the right path so as to reach the destination (to electrons with a lower energy level) quickly and efficiently remained elusive. Now scientists perhaps know the reason. These electrons do some kind of quantum computing to arrive at their destinations with unprecedented efficiency.

This premonition of 'unsorted databases' is characteristic of the quantum computing algorithm. Like gamma synchrony, regular patterns of signals lasting several femtoseconds were found, when the chlorophyll molecules were mapped by using electronic spectroscopy. As in dendritic networks, these 'quantum beats' 'bind' (synchronize) all the energy levels of electrons together. Thus these quantum beats help electrons find out the 'path of least resistance' in such an astonishing efficiency. It is as if the energy status of the electrons were indexed as in a computer search algorithm, so that they could be found out faster.

A similar mechanism may be involved in our mitochondria where electron transport chain occurs. Electrons are transported in the mitochondria along a series of electron acceptors to end up ultimately in cytochrome c, where they combine with oxygen, the ultimate electron acceptor, to form water. This chain is very important as it generates ATP, our own energy currency. Quantum entanglement may explain the subject in a new light.

Just a thought in passing, it is said that lightning follows the path of least resistance. I always wondered how it would know where to advance to next, since it had no prior information about what lied ahead. Now, this quantum computational algorithm may be the suitable one to address this issue.

Consciousness: An Inside Story

It is a daunting task to explain what is consciousness, for there is no consensus in this regard. Though many different definitions exist; it can simply be defined as the feeling of ones own lively presence with in oneself. How this feeling is brought about in the living beings, including humans, is not precisely known and many a hypotheses have been propounded. The most appealing as well as the most tenable among these is that it is due to the processes and interactions that occur in the hydrophobic domains of dendritic proteins in the neurons of the brain. Proteins are chains of amino acids (like beads in a string) which have different shapes depending on what the constituent amino acids are. Amino acids containing hydrophobic side chains such as valine, isoleucine etc. and amino acids containing aromatic rings such as phenylalanine, tyrosine are (by definition) very much insoluble in water. Thus dendritic proteins which bathe in the extra cellular fluid consisting of water fold themselves in such a way so as to make an infolding, an inward pocket where these particular (hydrophobic) amino acids are located. It is with in this microcosm of pockets strange things happen.

As we all know, that in the nano world, weak forces such as van der Waals become increasingly relevant where as those of gravity begins to take a backseat. In these pockets an interaction occurs between these adjacent non polar (hydrophobic) molecules. Just like the south pole of a bar magnet would induce the formation of a north pole in a ferromagnetic substance there is the creation of opposite charges on the nearby molecule by the action of 'transient dipoles' (the hydrophobic molecules behave as transient dipoles in which charges oscillate/interchange between the poles. The charges occur as a result of imbalances in the electron clouds of the molecules). This attractive force that exists between transient dipoles is also known as London force, a kind of van der Waals force.

The oscillations that occur in the dendritic proteins are synchronized in a global scale with in the brain. As a result 'binding' occurs, which means that there is consolidation in a global scale within the brain about all the attributes of a thing. For example, when someone gets hurt he feels pain by the help of his thalamus and locates the painful stimulus by the help of his cerebral cortex. Binding helps us to feel both simultaneously, as shown in the example. It is necessary as the brain processes tasks parallely. It is much akin to the clocking in a computer to a fixed frequency.

Exactly how this clocking/synchronization is done is not known for certain. This synchronization is also known as the gamma synchronization as it is reflected as gamma waves in the EEG (electroencephalogram), having a frequency in the range of 30-70 Hz. This synchrony can occur as a result of electromagnetic coupling between regions within the brain and this would explain why it is done almost instantaneously. That the brain radiates electromagnetic waves is well known.
Another possibility is quantum coupling by the processes of entanglement. According to quantum mechanics it is possible for a particle to learn about another one, in no time, without ever having to go to that particle physically. This 'instantaneous/in no time' phrase is important as we do not want any phase lag to creep in so that a decoherence state does not occur. In the leaves of plants too, the electrons sparked off by photons/sunlight go hopping (by mind reading!) to the place where actual photosynthesis is taking place by previously reading the quantum state of other electrons by entanglement.

The association of hydrophobic pockets assumed with the formation of consciousness can be inferred from the fact that swamping these charges by external electric fields as in electro anesthesia, would result in 'unbinding' and anesthesia. Again, chemicals such as anesthetics which dissolves the hydrophobic pockets cause anesthesia by disrupting the London forces attempts to strengthen our notion.

References: The Brain From Top to Bottom
Quantum Consciousness & Orch-OR