In recent years, there has been increasing evidence of non-classical (e.g., quantum mechanical, biophysical processes, collective behavior, etc.) behavior appearing to play non-trivial roles in certain biological function. These examples appear wide-ranging from photosynthesis being ubiquitous in plants to magnetoreception or collective motion in certain animal species. Just as nature may leverage quantum effects to enhance efficiency or functionality, thereby confer a competitive biological advantage, could similar non-classical biophysical effects be leveraged in non-biological systems, and thus create a competitive advantage? There has been a growing body of published literature as well as an increasing number of conferences on the fundamental aspects of quantum effects in biology. In contrast, there have been few discussions on the prospects of incorporating quantum biology behavior (or other non-classical behavior) into engineered device structure and systems. Such non-classical biophysical processes can lay the foundation for a new revolutionary class of sensing modalities and opens the possibility of “seeing” (and extending) beyond our current detection capabilities in monitoring our surroundings.
Under this basis, the first (of its kind) strategic workshop organized and hosted by Johns Hopkins University (JHU) and in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) was held on April 12-13, 2018 in Arlington, Virginia. The overarching objectives of this workshop were more than to assemble a group of world-class scientific leaders in the non-classical fields and to update each other on their particular research, but rather bring disparate groups together to address the following:
- Review (briefly) key findings and the progress to date in the field;
- Explore advanced tools and techniques needed to identify new/non-classical behavior and/or provide unmistakable signatures of non-classical effects in biological systems;
- Identify challenges and potential approaches/applications, such as smart sensors, for the incorporation of non-classical behavior.
Over the two days, the workshop was partitioned into six sessions covering the overarching objections. The range of topics covered in this workshop is in foundational areas relevant to the Physical and Biological Sciences Branch (RTB) of the Air Force Office for Scientific Research (AFOSR). Moreover, leveraging biophysical behaviors could bring new, orthogonal capabilities to future Air Force systems in the form of designing and implementing advanced sensing devices. In other words, further research in this area would generate fundamental knowledge that could be transformational in enabling U.S. Air Force operations to have enhanced sensing and improved, robust situational awareness. Foe instance, understanding how living (biological) systems utilize quantum behavior at the nanoscale, which is hierarchically expressed in a “macroscopic” function, could inspire future technology in a wide variety of Air Force applications, such as enabling advanced dynamic control using unconventional sensory systems, thereby provide more versatility and/or performance.
A final version of the complete workshop report will be available shortly. Below is a draft version.
