scientists build biological qubit

[scruffy]

Scientists at the University of Chicago have genetically engineered a biological qubit and expressed it in a mammalian cell.

A fluorescent-protein spin qubit - Nature

An optically addressable fluorescent-protein spin qubit is realized using enhanced yellow fluorescent protein; the qubit can be coherently controlled at liquid-nitrogen temperatures and the spin detected at room temperature in cells.

www.nature.com

This is significant for two reasons. The obvious one is biological systems can function as quantum computers.

But even more importantly, this new molecule allows us to detect biological quantum activity. Like in the brain for instance.

The synthetic qubit molecule is addressed and read out optically. It is a yellow fluorescent dye, much like the markers used in cell biology research.

 

[sparky]

This is so over my head Scruff...... ~S~

 

[toobfreak]

This is so over my head Scruff...... ~S~

Suffice it to say Spark that if they succeed in perfecting an emulation of these biological processes to encode digital data for the sake of human computing algorithms combined with AI, our asses will be grass.

Forget Terminator--- fighting such machines would be like leaf mites living on the debris in the street gutter trying to fight against a city street cleaner truck.

 

[scruffy]

This is so over my head Scruff...... ~S~

A qubit is a quantum computer.

You've heard for years that our brains might be quantum computers.

Well, now there's a way to find out.

A quantum computer works by the "spin" of a qubit. This molecule here, can read the "spins" of neighboring proteins, and then show them to us in the form of a bright yellow fluorescence.

The trick is limiting what this probe molecule can interact with, because if you just sprutz it into the cell it'll interact with everything. That's where the chemistry and clever molecular design comes in. You want to design it in such a way that it only interacts with what you're interested in.

For example let's say I'm interested in dopamine, and my hypothesis is that the D1 dopamine receptor is involved in some kind of quantum computation. Then I design this probe molecule to interact "only" with the D1 dopamine receptor, and ignore any other spins that might be present. Then I ask my subject (most likely a rat) to navigate a maze, and I look for the brain area or cell surface area (synapse?) that fluoresces bright yellow. The outcome is, now I know which neuron and which part of the neuron is engaged in quantum computations.

 

[sparky]

Suffice it to say Spark that if they succeed in perfecting an emulation of these biological processes to encode digital data for the sake of human computing algorithms combined with AI, our asses will be grass.

Forget Terminator--- fighting such machines would be like leaf mites living on the debris in the street gutter trying to fight against a city street cleaner truck.

gawd yes toob.....every piece of technology i have seems to read my mind already ......it's unnerving ......~S~

 

[sparky]

A qubit is a quantum computer.

You've heard for years that our brains might be quantum computers.

Well, now there's a way to find out.

A quantum computer works by the "spin" of a qubit. This molecule here, can read the "spins" of neighboring proteins, and then show them to us in the form of a bright yellow fluorescence.

The trick is limiting what this probe molecule can interact with, because if you just sprutz it into the cell it'll interact with everything. That's where the chemistry and clever molecular design comes in. You want to design it in such a way that it only interacts with what you're interested in.

For example let's say I'm interested in dopamine, and my hypothesis is that the D1 dopamine receptor is involved in some kind of quantum computation. Then I design this probe molecule to interact "only" with the D1 dopamine receptor, and ignore any other spins that might be present. Then I ask my subject (most likely a rat) to navigate a maze, and I look for the brain area or cell surface area (synapse?) that fluoresces bright yellow. The outcome is, now I know which neuron and which part of the neuron is engaged in quantum computations.

I did try reading the article Scruff , but appreciate your cliff notes being far less confusing here........ Dumbing it down to neanderthal levels (which you'll plz excuse me for) would be to claim a thought once exclusively biological , can now be reproduced mechanically

The implications of AI achieving self awareness , of creating life , playing God.....an existence ..... a 'soul' if you will loom on our horizon

~S~

 

[toobfreak]

gawd yes toob.....every piece of technology i have seems to read my mind already ......it's unnerving ......~S~

I actually left a position in the 1990s because they wanted me to use a spy chip to collect data on the user that had nothing to do with the operation of the device.

 

[sparky]

I actually left a position in the 1990s because they wanted me to use a spy chip to collect data on the user that had nothing to do with the operation of the device.

and 35 years later this soul sucking device is spying on us all Toob ......~S~

 

[scruffy]

The biological qubit is valuable in another way too.

You've heard of Hofstadter's Butterfly?

It's a link between number theory, fractals, and the Cantor set.

‘Ten Martini’ Proof Uses Number Theory to Explain Quantum Fractals | Quanta Magazine

The proof, known to be so hard that a mathematician once offered 10 martinis to whoever could figure it out, connects quantum mechanics to infinitely intricate mathematical structures.

www.quantamagazine.org

And, you've heard of the critical brain theory?

Critical brain hypothesis - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The research question is, does number theory allow neurons to access quantum states?

According to Hofstadter's Butterfly, the answer is "yes". A fractal is a "shape" that expresses itself geometrically, and any neural network that can handle "shapes" (which is all of them) is capable of translating them into numbers.

So this gives you the feed"back" path from quantum land to classical land, and recently (in another thread) scientists have also discovered the feed"forward" path using proteins that control the spins of other proteins.

In the brain, you can take a molecule like cyclic AMP, which is a second messenger for half a dozen neurotransmitters and also regulates proteins, many of which happen to be in the cell membrane (like, at the synapse). Such a mechanism can reasonably be inferred to control spin at the synaptic level in a neural network. What that means is, a lot of the "random" behavior you see in neural networks, isn't "entirely" random, it's related to spin-spin interactions which have a geometry.

Furthermore, the Cantor set requires a recursive ("periodic") procedure to create it, and most fractals are the same way. So for instance in a Cantor set you can specify the "number of iterations", and from that you can exactly calculate the size of each interval in the Cantor dust.

If you read the first link, a finite number of iterations is always a rational number, whereas an infinite number of iterations is irrational. Therefore you're only required to handle the "approximate shape" of the butterfly, you never have to take it to an infinite recursion.

This would be an extremely clever and powerful way for the brain to become a quantum computer. The Cantor procedure (and other recursive quantum procedures like Shor's and Grover's and so on) are "algorithms", they provide solutions of specific types. Grover's will find a phase angle, which naturally dovetails with neural structures that support traveling waves, like the hippocampus - where grid cells and place cells precess according to the phase angle, which in turn encodes "where" the object is in the sensory field (i.e. geometry).

So these biological qubits we're talking about, allow us to visualize the entire process end to end, and when combined with other powerful experimental techniques like two-photon calcium imaging, they can show us how individual synapses handle spin-spin interactions.

The essential resource in quantum computing is entanglement. A Hadamard gate gets you from a pure state to a mixed state and back again, and it's nothing more than a phase shift. Hofstadter's Butterfly originates from phase shifting too, it's an interaction between electromagnetic fields.

This is the first concrete physical link between neural networks and quantum mechanics, and this molecule will us visualize it.

 

[scruffy]

This is how you detect the fluorescence,

A miniature two-photon microscope detects multiple signals deep in the brains of moving mice - Nature Methods

A lightweight miniature two-photon microscope features multi-wavelength excitation, correction of aberrations, and interchangeable objectives for scalable fields of view. It enables multicolor, deep-brain and scalable neural imaging in freely moving mice.

www.nature.com

 

[scruffy]

Meanwhile, halfway around the globe...

Quantum breakthrough promises real-time humanoid robot control

Explore how researchers are using quantum computing to enhance the movement of robots, making them more efficient and smooth.

interestingengineering.com

 

[toobfreak]

Meanwhile, halfway around the globe...

Quantum breakthrough promises real-time humanoid robot control

Explore how researchers are using quantum computing to enhance the movement of robots, making them more efficient and smooth.

interestingengineering.com

Wow, this is really good news for the robotics industry.

Really sucks for millions of kids getting out of school looking for some low-skill, entry level type work just looking to make some money to get by on.

 

[scruffy]

Wow, this is really good news for the robotics industry.

Really sucks for millions of kids getting out of school looking for some low-skill, entry level type work just looking to make some money to get by on.

"Learn to solder".

My son worked in a Mycronic fab before he went to college, even with the robotic surface mount they still had half a dozen people soldering on connectors and such.

And twice that many making cables.

 

[toobfreak]

"Learn to solder".

I've done a lot of soldering. I actually love it, find it very relaxing. For years, I've used a silver solder I found that works great, it is a thin wire that melts quickly and has greater silver content in it than regular solder. And not much flux waste.

And I have a fabulous soldering base on my bench: a Hakko 926 ESD. Not only does the tip reach temperature super fast, but the iron has the ability to maintain temp even while the tip is in contact with an item wicking the heat away, so you end up with a very steady temp. There is a light on the base that tells you you are at temp, and when the iron is heating.

As important, the iron is grounded, so you can work on stuff without worrying about ESD damage to any delicate circuitries.