An exciting field of research we don’t hear much about is quantum effects in biology. Normally the field of physicists, quantum theory is a group of mathematical models showing how the world behaves at an incredibly small, subatomic scale. Biology usually works on a much larger scale, placing it firmly in classical theory. Even the microscopic parts of bodies, such as how the organelles in our cells work, operate can be understood and described in classic physics. But the small particles described by quantum theory make up everything, even life. So the theories must affect us somehow, right?
Birds use quantum effects the Earth’s magnetic field
Scientists have shown that birds can sense the Earth’s magnetic field. What they haven’t known is how they sense magnetic fields. Compared to other stimuli, it is very hard to detect. The organs of birds don’t give us any obvious answer. There’s no magnet sense hidden up their nose or anything. But theorists think they have found the answer. And it’s very weird.
It all comes down to a protein called cryptochrome 4, or CRY4. Scientists theorize that the magnetic sensing abilities of CRY4 are initiated when blue light hits the protein. That light sets off a series of reactions that shuttle around an electron, resulting in two unpaired electrons in different parts of the protein. Those lone electrons behave like tiny magnets.
These electron magnets can point toward each other or in opposite directions. However, quantum mechanics are weird. Until the positions are observed, the electrons exist in a state called quantum superposition, which describes the probability of which way they will face. Magnetic fields change the probability, which in turn alters the probability that the protein will revert back to it’s original state after blue light exposure.
Basically, blue light exposure can change the structure of this protein. Due to some fancy quantum mechanics, the presence and strength of a magnetic field, such as that of Earth, changes the odds that the blue light will alter the protein. And the bird, somehow, may have the ability to detect not only the altered proteins but also innately know the odds of the alteration and apply that to detect magnetic fields.