I'm by no means an expert, but I think it's fair to say that I know more than the average person about quantum mechanics. I was reading Feynman books in middle school, took AP physics in high school, and physics in college (even ran the double slit experiment myself as part of the course). Now out of college (for quite some time) I still often read and watch quantum mechanics materials because I find the subject fascinating. This particular presentation has been one of the most informative and easy to follow that I've ever seen. Even when Professor Al-Khalili was describing something I've known about for decades, he managed to do it in such a way that I gained new insight, so much so that it caused me to exclaim out loud more than once. I especially love how he clarifies things for his particular audience, knowing they aren't all physicists (for instance, when he clarifies that he's talking about the nucleus of an atom, not the nucleus of the cell, even though it would have been painfully obvious to people with a physics background). Kudos to Professor Al-Khalili and thanks so much to the Royal Institution for hosting and posting his talk!

I started this video going "Geez, I recognize this guy's name from somewhere..." and then at the start he mentioned his book Quantum: A Guide for the Perplexed. I keep it at work at my desk. A very good book, worth the read.

Jim is top of the tree as a lecturer and deserves some serious accolades!I look forward to his future programs!

It's a pleasure! It's all about extending the reach of our public events outside of the lecture theatre! - We have a short film with Jim on quantum navigation in Robins coming up next, so check back soon!

Thanks for all the comments everyone!

I hated physics in high school. I esp. had trouble with the concept of spin. I still haven't quite grasped it I think, but I am trying. Listening to lectures like these and similar one on shows like SciShow really makes me want to understand it. And indeed, presenters like Jim make complex science like this accessible and fun. Really really cool! If I understand the science correctly, quantum entanglement would seem to suggest that faster than light communication is possible. I like when different disciplines like physics and biology come together to give us a really deep understanding of the world around us and, which is very cool, might also give us an understanding of consciousness. In other words, what makes you you and me me. Something that seems to be an inevitable consequence of how the universe works. This also raises intriguing questions when it comes to emerging field of AI. At what point does a sophisticated emulation of a biological system become truly conscious? I think this is something we need to address rather soon since the science of AI is evolving quite quickly. The RI truly is a great human treasure. Advancing science through collaboration and playful curiosity

As a student of biology, I LOVE quantum mechanics and want to see as many potentials of combining the two disciplines as possible!

The best talk I ever heard I don't know where to start, thank you Sir!

I studied under Jim at university, he was a really good lecturer he made them interesting

omg this is so sick. Im a bio major but I absolutely LOVE physics. And Ive often wondered how in anyway physics and bio can be incorporated. This vid just broadened my view.

My thanks to Jim for this great presentation, seven years after the event though.

Love it ! Did this experiment in college and understood the wavelike behavior of light - we never were giving more info about the atomic detector or lack thereof pertaining to the presence of the interference pattern... love how something seemingly so simple is just not understood and this is why quantum physics is amazing - cheers

It's great to be able to see these presentations online - I would so love to get into London to see them live but because they are held generally Mon-Fri, because of work/life commitments I can't get there in the flesh! Excellent presentation though and well done for posting them in glorious hi-res for UKposts to enjoy. Thanks Ri!

This is so interesting. I wish I had never abandoned school at a rather young age. There is so much to learn in life.

I just love how you phrased that

The British version of Michio Kaku, he has the British version of excitement for physics, it’s great. Keeps me engaged.

Thanks so much to Professor Al-Khalili and the Ri for this. I'm a layperson with a very limited science background, and very much appreciate accessible presentations like this one!.

No problem and thanks for watching! - Everything looks a lot nicer in HD doesn't it? Especially if you're watching these through your TV.

Thank you for the superb lecture, Professor Al-Khalili.

I'm really interested in Quantum Mechanics. Thank you for the free videos. Please to continue to upload them. It's much appreciated :)

Simply brilliant this whole lecture was. I could never understand any other lecture videos. This is was smooth and very implicative. Thank you Professor and Thank you The Royal Institution.

Fantastic lecture. Going to have to watch it again. Brand new subject for me with the biology component. Very exciting stuff.

This is the most amazing thing I have heard when it comes to the field of Physics and Biology in long while. Simply amazing the seemingly opposite sciences are so deeply connected.

Much respect to Mr. Al Khalili !! Thanks for sharing :^)

TY

Brilliant. Mindblowing. Fascinating.

Dr. Al-Khalili, you had a most informative presentation. I understand in your technical language what the questions can be and why. Biology is different because of life and physics is about energy but life needs energy. I would consider a very grand opportunity of listing to one of your lecture live and a Q&A session available. Thank you for your time, I understand the risk and the limited “time” you have. Gracias!

brilliant, exceptional, enjoyable - not often fused together. Thank you for the lecture Prof, Al-Khalili and for the presentation, Royal Institute!

26:49 thank you thank you thank you I finally understand this experiment!

I can feel Imagination in Him, in physics! And that makes this lecture somehow intresting What a great lecture

Such an interesting talk, raising so many unknowns. I also like all the UKposts comments too!

Hi Jim Al-Khalili, Thank you for a very nice, well presented understandable explanation. This is a video/teaching session that is long overdue and needed. One slight correction that you may or may not be aware of. Albert Szent-Gyorgi ( Nobel prize Krebs Cycle about 1938) published "Introduction to Submolecular Biology" in 1960. His book is the first I've found on the quantum physics aspect of submolecular biology. Saw where you attributed "first" to someone in 1962 or 63 but a fyi that Szent-Gyorgi was trying to explain the potential of medicine sub atomically prior to then. Loved your video and look forward to seeing more. Great job.

Wonderful lecture! What a bliss to watch Professor Jim. Thank you, Sir, for your input and such a good spin on super difficult and mysterious concept. Seriously, a lecture super well put together, quantum physics and mechanics are rather difficult to go through and here is a fantastic summary of that crazy particles zoo pictured in the world of biology and all is wrapped into one hour of delicious brain food. Yay! I have been wondering about the same thing - how could all the models of subatomic particles with its spooky properties explain processes that take place in a cell? Imagine, all the applications based on full understanding and using these principles in biology once we crack that code!

Thank you Ri for these wonderful lectures.

Incredible! Thank you Jim Al-Kbalili!!!

Ah! He does get to this point after a bit. I should have listened all the way!

Thnak you Ri for truly amamzing content.

Fantastic, it will be interesting to see how the field of quantum biology develops.

بروفيسور اني فخورة بيك والعراقيين هم فخورين بيك ماتدري شكد سعداء أن حضرتك دتوصل لكل هالمراتب موفق 💕💕

thank you! we use in practise what Dr. explained, and we see how the biology is affected, improved in the process... to finish with expressions from the people that uses ENQUIRY, like I feel that I'm healed, relieved... in minutes of the process. I will get in touch with Dr.

very insightful. I remember this guy from the BBC documentary about maths. great upload.

This was awesome. Thank you

Love that bow tie Professor! Three cheers for the Royal Institute.

I could listen to that dude all day.

His explanations are so simple to understand to laymen like me. Very engaging indeed.

Absolutely Fascinating !

THANKS SIR! WORTH LIFE & TIME TO LISTEN TO YOU!

Jim is a very vibrant and lucid communicator. Quantum entanglement is not an easy subject to expound. It can cause even the most attentive listener to de-cohere into thin air. The quiddity of this lecture is that you can enjoy it even if you don't understand the ramifications of the theme. The magic of how and who triumphs over the relative complexity of the what.

I suspect quantum biology holds the keys to many of the mysteries of life.

The only physicist that can reach the minds of lay people. Respect 🙏

thank you prof for explaining quantum physics, clearly but easy to understand well, there are so many questions that I can answer using the concept of quantum mechanics

Thanks a million times for sharing your knowledge! It's speculative, but the pay-off would be huge. I see no other path.

I prefer the saying "if you think you understand quantum mechanics, you dont understand quantum mechanics"

Jim Al-Khalili is a great communicator and perhaps because of this, we should be careful not to confuse conjecture with fact. Just because our current best guesses about the physical world are communicated with assurance and vigour, this doesn't make them true...

Fascinating talk. The truth of our world is so much stranger and more beautiful than fiction.

I was absolutely astonished and amazed when I stared watching videos about quantum physics and that quote acc makes me feel special

It was good wasn't it! As it was only a short Q&A and we've been really busy this month, we've had to prioritise other films! If we can find the time to get it up we will! Thanks for watching!

Good to hear someone finally delineating quantum woo (likes of orch or) from science.

Best ever demo of the two slit experiment.

Fine lecture. Thank you for posting this.

I always thought it was the extreme gravity that fused hydrogen atoms to make helium! Never knew about the quantum tunnelling involved.

captivating talk

Great lecture, by the way. Thank you.

I really wanted to attend this lecture- thanks for sharing!!! (please dont sell the building)

So fascinating to think that biological systems might be using things like quantum entanglement, quantum tunneling and superposition.

Excellent Jim. Great work. Science is art.

Just a thought: Quality instruction, in my opinion, shows up toward 16:55, in particular, through to about 17:55, in bringing the audience back to the premise, to help bring it all together, again. Neat to bring it linearly back from the molecular level, or whatever, to the visibly physical world, and then back toward the overall effect of how physics affects the biology of the migratory birds being discussed at this point in the lecture. Nice clarity and nice challenge, overall. Thanks for posting. I'm enjoying this very much. Regards to everyone involved.

Interesting, but the presentation spread over to many subjects. He should have focused on quantum life. When he eventually got to the point his time runned out. To put it in quantum terms, when he eventually got to the point the cat was already dead!

31:26 Would it be more correct to say that the detector senses the particle, thereby influencing it? i.e. it's not the act of human observation but the detectors influence on the particle that leads to the collapse.

Normally, I see comments like, “I don’t understand this”, but Jim just took such a twisted topic and simplified for my brain. Thanks :) loved it.

The Royal Institution, excellence. Subbed for sure.

Very interesting presentation! I need to know the answer to that question though! Why would some abstract concept such as "an observer" have a real deterministic affect on the path of atoms!? He said that math explains this? How does one represent "an observer" in math terms and why does this change the equations? This video did tell me something new with how birds navigate but mostly it has just opened up way more questions than when I started watching this haha.

Look at the delayed choice quantum eraser experiment if you wanted the double slit experiment to be even more mind blowing....

I just explained it ...and it bridges the chasm between Quantum and naturally observed physics

Incredible. Nature never ceases to amaze.

I love this juicy brainy stuff even though I don't understand it!

"Love heralds should be thoughts that ten times faster fly than suns beams chasing back shadow over lowering hills". Juliet romeo and juliet. Shakespearrre. mind you if he is talking about how fast a shadow moves ie a cloud moves it dose not fit in with what you say but if he is talking of hte suns beams then it does..

The idea that a cell is too “messy” of an environment is a hold over or related idea akin to cells being “bags of water”. It’s highly ordered and much will be learned by looking at all that “mess” as having communication functions... the idea that quantum entanglement is imbedded in it will reveal itself as the only answer regardless of whether you can pick out a certain example right away. Looking at the whole thing will slowly reveal the right spot to “show it” will likely reveal itself only when the entire “mess” is more completely understood. I hear photosynthesis is being studied intensely - makes sense to me- energy states- electron manipulation...... if it quacks like a duck.... Great presentation! Thanks!

Pandemic research needed through a wave versus words and concepts of Quantum biology.

To me, Double-Slit experiment explained: Whether an atom is shot out or an electron is shot out, a moving electrical charge generates a magnetic field. That magnetic field moves along with the moving electrical charge acting like a moving wave. The moving magnetic field interacting with atoms/molecules of the gun itself, the atoms/molecules in the medium it is going through (ie: air), or at a minimum the atoms/molecules that surround the tiny slit, generate electromagnetic radiation photons which are a wave. The atom/electron going through one slit (along with a portion of the magnetic field), has the energy of the magnetic field concentrated on the atom/electron. The other slit just has the magnetic field and/or EMR photons going through it. When a detector is present and on, it's energy affects the magnetic and/or EMR photons so that they don't spread out. When the detector is off, and in and of itself does not interfere with the outgoing energy of the slit, then the EMR photons are a wave that spreads out and gives an interference pattern. Isn't this even more logical than some of the other explanations? No fancy hocus pocus needed, just basic science?

If the detector is plugged in, YOU KNOW it's plugged in! If you know, they know. . you know?

It's a pleasure to be able to watch this. omg this is my kind of netflix and chill.

The most wonderful insight shared in the talk has been for me the notion the biology may have a way to increase order/entropy in thermodynamical sense to allow for quantum mechanical processes inside "noisy" media such as a cell. I thank you the speaker for getting this across. Especially interesting as this notion goes back all the way to What is Life book by Schrödinger.

What if quantum tunnelling was the primary driver for two primordial organic masses, that could not otherwise merge, to suddenly merge and share information?

Now I know the fridge light is on when I close the door because I'm not in the fridge to keep an eye on it.

Thanks for posting!

thank you Jim, great lecture :-)

maybe quantum things happen in higher dimensions that we could never understand because we are stuck in 3 dimensions.

what is the difference between unplugging the detector and removing the detector?

Thank you!

My tutors were well educated but weren't working together and sometimes I felt a grim competition between their fields that was very confusing and off-putting for a young learner, then again I experienced only college Im sure if I got to university it would have been a different matter. Thank goodness for mediums like youtube, people can learn things without unnecessary pressure which makes the world of difference if you ask me, thanks for the vid!

He is my cousin :)

27:29 I believe it is electrons not atoms that are fired in the double slit experiment.

An excellent and truly intriguing lecture. Up until this point I thought quantum tunneling was just another insane prediction of the mathematics behind quantum mechanics with little to no evidence of its existence, but the idea that it may be the underlying reason for nuclear fusion is incredibly interesting. Thank you Royal Institution, I will be donating and subscribing.

44:00 What if the cat's own consciousness keeps it alive.

The easy answer is that the act of observing the atom forces you to interact with it and "collapse" its wave function, there is no magic behind this, he could have explained it a little further but decided not to to keep the explanation interesting. Tecnically speaking once the atom leaves the gun it could be anywhere in the universe but that is another story...

Are there any lectures talking about fine tuning and the seven clouds we know and the seven harmonic notes?

Thanks for sharing, shared.

stoned rant, probably useless. read if bored. i think i know how the DSE works, it has something to do with present information, for an atom to be seen(measured) you need to disturb it in some form. the act of observation, our acts of observation are based on our experience of the world around us. we "see" with light, our visual perception of data does limit our ability to observe with more grace. maybe if we could listen for a passing atom instead of the crude bombarding of electrical interference and magnetic construction. if you want to see a car pass the finish line and know which car it was, we think it easier to just blast it with light and signal it with a giant checkered flag, this is way too much information to process the more simple question of a single car passing that line, knowing there is just one car, you don't need a detector to see the thing, you just need some audible detection of the energy produced by the passing thing. it should exert some form of sound as it whizzes through some atmosphere/medium, there will be some trace of its position. i think the methods of detection are too crude and brutish to examine the delicate state of quantum mechanics. if we were to collect data of a passing atom, we can't translate it or prepare advanced computer understanding to interpret data we can't do alone. our data collection usually comes in forms of heavy actions like "we're going to heat you up" "we're going to watch you travel" and it's not understood why our "observation" is disturbing the actions observed without closer investigation. much like you just trying to play a game or draw something, you're unsure of your own path but there's tall people watching your every move, you are being moved by their observation, you're interacting with their infrared detectors, feeling heatwaves from their uv pulsers, you're not going to do what you wanted to do and be happy. the atoms feel the same way.... if the tall people just shut up, and collected the sounds you made, they would have more to go on with that information than they would bombarding you with detectors and observation equipment. if we could just listen for an atom, we might learn something about this wave.... my hypothesis, or my expected result would be (if it was wavelike) in the form of some kind of "whoop"ing noise, rising and falling with the crests and troffs emitted by the wave phenomina.... however, this wont be detectable by 1 "microphone", there will need to be others, in sync, to provide clarification of the sound and distance travelled. i know, dopey.... the idea is there, if someone smart can adopt it, go right ahead. my only concern is development of a microphone for this or some sort of audio detector which can absorb such a sound range. if i'm wrong and atoms wont emit any sound at all, please don't just say i'm wrong, tell me why. i don't see why they wouldn't make a sound, imperceptible to us or not, i firmly think they will dispose of some energy in the form of sound. the less information we take the harder it is to determine certain properties, like quantum entanglement, this idea on its own is a great concept. think of it in the terms i'm trying to put across with the DSE and listening instead of seeing.... if you have two linked atoms, we know one spins one way, and the other spins the opposite... knowing just 1 of these amplifies the knowledge by 100%, you know this one therefore you should know the other due to the entanglement. we observe very little and get twice the knowledge, there must be a way to observe the passing atom outside of disturbing it with a camera/detector in this manner. if the blind can operate like those who can see, maybe we should blind ourselves temporarily to try and find another means of detection, clearly our way of thinking is limited by our successes and our experiences. our languages lack something fundamental when it comes to discussing matters like quantum mechanics, there must be a revelation we breezed past as humans which could have eased this transition from science to advanced science and quantum mechanics. it's mostly a philosophy, but i am very sure the logical answer to the DSE is the fact we humans are too stubborn to realise a mistake we've been relying on for too long. vision might not be the answer.

22:30 I used to carry around Roger Penrose's book Shadows of the Mind to look clever. I can't read more than 2 or 3 pages of a fat brainy book like that without getting bored. I can not read well anyway! I just switch off to science documentaries on particle physics. Cheers - Mike.