FQxI: 2025 Essay Competition – How Quantum is Life?

FQxI provides support for blue skies research in the physical sciences. This year’s FQxI essay competition asks: “How quantum is life?”.  Suggested questions:

• Does quantum physics extend its role beyond this realm to imbue characteristic features observed in living matter?
• If quantum physics plays a role in biology, in which systems does this happen, and at what level? How can we experimentally investigate these effects? For example, do light-activated biochemical processes make use of long-lived quantum coherence? If so, how is the process of decoherence delayed in the cellular environment? Can advances in the new field of quantum thermodynamics help explain this?
• How can we better define the complexity of biological systems? How can we quantify and measure correlations between quantum features, complexity, and entropy within living systems? Can novel tools and methodologies be proposed to explore these correlations effectively?
• Do biological systems employ quantum advantages?
• Does a complete description of biological systems require quantum mechanics?

The prize pot is $53K, with first prizes worth $10K.

https://qspace.fqxi.org/competitions/introduction