Elated by the finding, researchers are looking to mimic nature’s
quantum ability to build solar energy collectors that work with
near-photosynthetic efficiency. Alán Aspuru-Guzik, an assistant
professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Harvard
University, heads a team that is researching ways to incorporate
the quantum lessons of photosynthesis into organic photovoltaic
solar cells. This research is in only the earliest stages, but
Aspuru-Guzik believes that Fleming’s work will be applicable in
the race to manufacture cheap, efficient solar power cells out
of organic molecules. TUNNELING FOR SMELL Quantum physics may
explain the mysterious biological process of smell, too, says
biophysicist Luca Turin, who first published his controversial
hypothesis in 1996 while teaching at University College London.
Then, as now, the prevailing notion was that the sensation of
different smells is triggered when molecules called odorants fit
into receptors in our nostrils like three-dimensional puzzle
pieces snapping in