Can a Molecule Be “Intelligent”? Unexpected Connections between Physics and Biology

Abstract

It is important to look at the behaviour of a living system from the point of view of the biophysical paradigm. In fact, the chemical reactions, which allow us to understand how metabolic processes take place, are short-range and they are activated at a distance of one atomic or molecular diameter. 100,000 reactions/sec. take place in a cell, perfectly balanced in space and time, i.e. these happen at the right time and in the right place. So, it is chemically inexplicable how this can be possible, because it is absolutely necessary that molecules recognize each other at distances greater than a molecular diameter. The biophysical paradigm, through coherent resonance mechanisms, tries to explain how molecules can recognize each other “from afar”. It is a matter of beginning to understand that, probably, the same atoms and molecules are endowed with a kind of “intrinsic intelligence” that guides them in their interactions, and the key to understanding can only be of physical type. We can also hypothesize that a cellular information mechanism based on endogenous electromagnetic fields exists. In this way, DNA could play a role of in-out antenna, due to its double helix shape (resonant LC circuit). This paper speaks about these unexpected, but not too many, connections between Physics and Biology.