A team of physicists and biologists at the University of Oldenburg has provided the strongest evidence yet that migratory birds use quantum entanglement in light-sensitive proteins called cryptochromes to detect the direction of Earth's magnetic field. The research demonstrates that radical pair reactions in these proteins are sensitive to magnetic field orientation at intensities consistent with geomagnetic navigation, confirming a hypothesis that has been debated for 50 years.
The confirmation that quantum mechanical effects operate in biological systems at physiologically relevant scales has implications beyond avian navigation. It suggests that quantum biology may explain other poorly understood biological phenomena including enzyme catalysis efficiency, photosynthesis energy transfer, and certain aspects of olfaction. The research has also inspired engineering applications in quantum sensing technology that could lead to extremely sensitive magnetic field detectors based on biological principles.
