Abstract

The importance of quantum phenomena in biology was first demonstrated in photosynthesis and bird navigation, where the primary event is an electronic excitation caused by an incoming photon. We have been interested in quantum, or possibly quantum, phenomena occurring in the brain of insects and humans, where light plays no part. In the three lectures I shall describe and discuss three areas I have worked where quantum phenomena are at work and which appear ripe for further investigation: olfaction, neuronal receptor function and general anesthesia. The goal of these lectures is to incite physicists and biologists to join hands in this exciting research area and in due course make us amateurs obsolete.

A TED lecture by Prof. Turin: https://www.ted.com/talks/luca_turin_on_the_science_of_scent