#116 Quantum Biology with Professor Jim Al-Khalili

<p>Today I welcome the&nbsp;<strong>award-winning science communicator, Professor Jim Al-Khalili</strong>&nbsp;to the podcast. Renowned around the world through his writing and broadcasting, he is also a&nbsp;<strong>leading academic making fundamental contributions to theoretical nuclear physics and quantum biology</strong>&nbsp;as you will hear. He is also host of the long running “Life Scientific” on Radio 4.</p><br /><p>Today’s conversation is not just complex, it’s confusing. And you’ll probably gather throughout our chat, I was pretty confused. I do my best to breakdown the science for you as we progress through our conversation, but&nbsp;<strong>the validating message that Jim confirms is : “If you’re confused, You understand it!”</strong></p><br /><p>We talk about</p><ul><li>Jim’s upbringing in Iraq and what led him to physics</li><li>The Quantum vs Classic systems</li><li>Where Quantum physics has a role</li><li>Life on the Edge - one of the only books&nbsp;detailing Quantum Biology</li><li>Why Quantum Mechanics is so important</li><li>Some weird quantum effects such as entanglement and tunneling</li><li>Why Quantum mechanics has a role in biology</li><li>Heredity and how it is possible that replication occurs with so few errors</li><li>Where the boundary between classical and quantum systems exists</li><li>Quantum mechanics and Photosynthesis&nbsp;</li><li>Jim’s thoughts on Urban electromagnetic disruption</li><li>Human Consciousness</li><li>AI and humans</li><li>Artificial General intelligence versus machine learning</li><li>Jim’s latest grant to examine the borders between quantum and the classical world</li></ul><p>&nbsp;</p><p>You can read his book<a href="https://www.jimal-khalili.com/books" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>&nbsp;“Life on the Edge”</strong></a>, which is a fantastic historical look at how the quantum world has influenced biology and why it’s important.</p><br /><p><a href="https://thedoctorskitchen.com/podcasts" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Check out The Doctor's Kitchen website for full show notes on this and all other episodes</strong></a></p><hr /><p style="color: grey; font-size: 0.75em;"> Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: grey;" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>