Terry Blanton wrote: > http://www.hplusmagazine.com/articles/bio/spooky-world-quantum-biology > > "What does this all mean? Not only does quantum phenomena occur in > living systems, but the basic processes of life we take for granted > rely on the transfer of information backward in time. Life is so > magical because it cheats." >
Unfortunately, the paragraph just before that one, which lays the groundwork for their time reversal claim, starts by stating this: > They [Engel et al] were trying to establish exactly how organic photosynthesis > approaches 95% efficiency, whereas the most sophisticated human solar > cells operate at only half that. This is an extremely startling claim, and one must wonder what they mean by "efficiency". I'd recalled that photosynthesis was actually an order of magnitude or more less efficient than the value quoted on that page. Checking Wikipedia, we find them giving a number of about 3 to 6 percent in practice, with a theoretical maximum possible value of 25%, which is more in line with what I remembered; here's the relevant section from a Wiki page: > The photosynthetic efficiency is the fraction of light energy converted > into chemical energy during photosynthesis in plants and algae. > Photosynthesis can be described by the simplified chemical reaction > > H2O + CO2 + energy --> CH2O + O2, > > where CH2O represents carbohydrates such as sugars, cellulose, and > lignin. The value of the photosynthetic efficiency is dependent on how > light energy is defined. On a molecular level, the theoretical limit in > efficiency is 25 percent[1] for photosynthetically active radiation > (wavelengths from 400 to 700 nanometer). For actual sunlight, where only > 45 percent of the light is photosynthetically active, the theoretical > maximum efficiency of solar energy conversion is approximately 11 > percent. In actuality, however, plants do not absorb all incoming > sunlight (due to reflection, respiration requirements of photosynthesis > and the need for optimal solar radiation levels) and do not convert all > harvested energy into biomass, which results in an overall > photosynthetic efficiency of 3 to 6 percent of total solar radiation.[1] (full article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photosynthetic_efficiency ) I also have some problems with use of a laser to determine what path optical energy is following in a cell; it's highly unclear what that could possibly mean.
