[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'd like to introduce you \Nto an emerging area of science.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,One that is still speculative,\Nbut hugely exciting.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's certainly one that's \Ngrowing very rapidly.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Quantum biology asks\Na very simple question.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Does quantum mechanics, that weird\Nand wonderful, and powerful theory
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of the subatomic world\Nof atoms and molecules
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that underpins so much of modern\Nphysics and chemistry, also play
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a role inside the living cell?
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,On other words, are there processes,\Nmechanisms, phenomena in living organisms
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that can only be explained with a helping\Nhand from quantum mechanics.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now, quantum biology isn't new.\NIt's been around since the early 1930s.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But its only in the last decade or so,\Nthat careful experiments
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in biochemistry labs, using spectroscopy\Nthat have shown clear, firm evidence
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that there are certain specific mechanisms\Nthat require quantum mechanics
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to explain them.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Quantum biology brings together \Nquantum physicists, biochemists,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,molecular biologists.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's a very interdisciplinary field.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I come from quantum physics.\NSo, I'm a nuclear physicist.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I've spent more than three decades trying \Nto get my head around quantum mechanics.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,One of the founders of quantum \Nmechanics, Neil Bohr said,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If you're not astonished by it,\Nthen you haven't understood it.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, I sort of feel happy that I'm still\Nastonished by it and that's a good thing.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But it means I study the very smallest\Nstructures in the universe.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The building blocks of reality.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If we think about the scale of size,\Nstart with something, an everyday object
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,like the tennis ball, and just go down\Norders of magnitude and size.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,From the eye of a needle, down to a cell,\Ndown to a bacterium, down to an enzyme.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You eventually reach the nano world.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now, nanotechnology may \Nbe a term you've heard of.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A nanometer is \Na billionth of a meter.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,My area is the atomic nucleus,\Nwhich is the tiny dot inside an atom.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's even smaller in scale.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is the domain of quantum mechanics,\Nand physicists and chemists have had
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a long time to get used to it.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Biologists on the other hand\Nhave got off lightly, in my view.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They are very happy with their \Nballs-and-sticks models of molecules.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Laughter)
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The balls are the atoms, the sticks\Nare the bonds between the atoms
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and when they can't build them\Nphysically in the lab,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,nowadays they have very powerful\Ncomputers that will simulate a huge model.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is a protein made up \Nof 100,000 atoms.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It doesn't really require much in the way \Nof quantum mechanics to explain it.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Quantum mechanics was \Ndeveloped in the 1920s.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It is a set of beautiful and powerful \Nmathematical rules and ideas
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that explain the world\Nof the very small.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it's a world that very different\Nfrom our everyday world
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,made up of trillions of atoms.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's a world built on probability\Nand chance.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's a fuzzy world.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's a world of phantoms, where particles\Ncan also behave like spread out waves.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If we imagine quantum mechanics\Nor quantum physics, then as
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the fundamental \Nfoundation of reality itself.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That's not really surprising\Nthat we say quantum physics
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,underpins organic chemistry.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,After all, it gives us the rules\Nthat tells us the rules that tell us
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,how the atoms fit together\Nto make organic molecules.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Organic chemistry, scaled up in complexity\Ngives us molecular biology,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which of course leads \Nto life itself.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, in a way, it's sort \Nof not surprising.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's almost trivial.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Say, well of course life ultimately\Nmust depend of quantum mechanics
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,-- so does everything else.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So does all inanimate matter, \Nmade up of trillions of atoms.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Ultimately, there's a quantum level\Nthat we know where we have to delve
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,into this weridness.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But in everyday life, \Nwe can forget about it.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because once you put together trillions of atom, that quantum weirdness
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,just dissolves away.