Life on the Edge: The Coming of Age of Quantum Biology

Book Preface

THIS BOOK has been three years in the writing, although the authors have collaborated on research in this exciting new field, which brings quantum physics, biochemistry and biology together, for almost two decades. But when it comes to such a cross-disciplinary area of science as quantum biology, it is impossible ever to become expert enough to explain in sufficient depth and with sufficient confidence all the science that is needed to paint the full picture—particularly when it comes to writing the first ever book on the subject for a lay audience.

It is certainly true that neither of the authors could have written this book alone, since we each bring our own expertise from the worlds of physics and biology, respectively, to the table. It is even truer that we would not have been able to produce a book that we are both immensely proud of without the help and advice of many people, most of whom are world leaders in their areas of research.

We are grateful to Paul Davies for many fruitful discussions he has had with both of us over the past fifteen years about quantum mechanics and its potential relevance in biology. We are also indebted to the many physicists, chemists and biologists now making great strides in this new field whose expertise and deep knowledge of their specialist areas we did not, and do not, have. In particular, we are indebted to Jennifer Brookes, Gregory Engel, Adam Godbeer, Seth Lloyd, Alexandra Olaya-Castro, Martin Plenio, Sandu Popescu, Thorsten Ritz, Gregory Scholes, Nigel Scrutton, Paul Stevenson, Luca Turin and Vlatko Vedral. We also wish to thank Mirela Dumic, the coordinator of the University of Surrey’s Institute of Advanced Studies, who almost single-handedly put together our highly successful international workshop, “Quantum Biology: Current Status and Opportunities,” at Surrey in 2012, which was jointly funded by the IAS, BBSRC (Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council) and MILES (Models and Mathematics in Life and Social Sciences) project. This workshop brought together many of the leading figures—this is still an emerging field and the number working in it is relatively small—currently involved in quantum biology research from around the world and helped us feel as though we were truly part of this exciting research community.

Once the book was in draft form, we asked several of those colleagues listed above to read through it and give us their opinions. We are thus especially grateful to Martin Plenio, Jennifer Brookes, Alexandra Olaya-Castro, Gregory Scholes, Nigel Scrutton and Luca Turin. We would also like to thank Philip Ball, Pete Downes and Greg Knowles for reading through some or all of the final draft and providing so many insightful and useful comments that have improved the book tremendously. A big thank-you goes to our agent, Patrick Walsh, without whom the book would not have got off the ground, and to Sally Gaminara at Random House, for her faith in us and for being so excited about the project. An even bigger thank-you has to go to Patrick and to Carrie Plitt at Conville & Walsh, for their advice and suggestions about the book’s structure and format, and in helping to mold it into a final version that is light years away from its initial clunky state. We are also indebted to Gillian Somerscales for her editorial brilliance.

Last, but by no means least, we wish to thank our families for their unstinting support, particularly during those periods when we were facing self- and publisher-imposed deadlines, which meant putting all other commitments to one side and shutting ourselves away with our laptops. We have lost count of the evenings, weekends and family vacations during which quantum biology has had to come first. We hope the book has been worth it.

For both for us, and for the new field of quantum biology, we hope that journey has only just begun.

Jim Al-Khalili and Johnjoe McFadden
August 2014