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Can the spooky world of quantum physics explain bird navigation, photosynthesis and even our delicate sense of smell? Clues are mounting that the rules governing the subatomic realm may play an unexpectedly pivotal role in the visible world. Join leading thinkers in the emerging field of quantum biology as they explore the hidden hand of quantum physics in everyday life and discuss how these insights may one day revolutionize thinking on everything from the energy crisis to quantum computers.

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PARTICIPANTS: Paul Davies, Seth Lloyd, Thorsten Ritz
Original Program Date: June 1, 2012

John Hockenberry’s introduction. 00:13

Participant Introductions. 06:28

How is there a convergence between biology and the quantum? 7:45.

Published today, using a technique which looks like trampoline, IBM scientists have measured the thermal conductance of metallic quantum point contacts made of gold down to the single-atom level at room temperature for the first time.

As everything scales to the nanoscale, heat – more precisely, the loss of it – becomes an issue in device reliability. To address this, last year, IBM scientists in Zurich and students from ETH Zurich published and patented a technique to measure the temperature of these nano-sized objects at and below 10 nanometer – a remarkable achievement. They called the novel technique scanning probe thermometry (video) and it provided engineers, for the first time, with the ability to map heat loss across a chip, and, more importantly, map heat loss down to the single device level and to map temperature distributions.

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I actually had a person recently state quantum was a fad; boy were they ever wrong.


During the next ten years, quantum technologies will become part of and revolutionize our everyday lives in the form of computers, sensors, encryption, and much more—and in a way that can be difficult for us to comprehend.

Businesses will also boost both their research and development activities in this area.

“As from 2018, EU’s future flagship project, which is backed by EUR 1 billion, will focus on quantum technology, and several European countries are investing massively in the area. Innovation Fund Denmark has contributed DKK 80 million, and over the next couple of years, more funds are likely to be allocated to quantum research,” explains Ulrik Lund Andersen, Professor at DTU Physics.

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