Scientists identify first ‘quantum entangled’ animal in history

What is the News?

In a recent study, scientists have claimed that Frozen tardigrade became the first ‘quantum entangled’ animal in history.

What are Tardigrades?

Tardigrades are also called water bears or moss piglets. They are near-microscopic multicellular organisms.

They were discovered in 1773 by the German zoologist Johann August Ephraim Goeze who dubbed them “little water bear.

Tardigrades are found everywhere in terrestrial, marine, and freshwater environments from the Arctic to the Antarctic, including great depths and altitudes.

They are known to survive extreme conditions — such as exposure to extreme temperatures, extreme pressures (both high and low), air deprivation through a latent state of life known as cryptobiosis. Tardigrades have also survived exposure to outer space.

Note: Cryptobiosis or anabiosis is a metabolic state of life entered by an organism in response to adverse environmental conditions such as desiccation, freezing, and oxygen deficiency. 

What is Quantum Entanglement?

Quantum entanglement is a physical phenomenon that occurs when a group of particles are generated, interact, or share spatial proximity in a way such that the quantum state of each particle of the group cannot be described independently of the state of the others, including when the particles are separated by a large distance.

What have the scientists done?

Scientists have placed a tardigrade in a state of quantum entanglement.

In other words: the researchers managed to put a tardigrade in a state where it was directly connected to the qubits in such a way that anything that happens to the water bear or the qubits would simultaneously affect all three.

What is the significance of this study?

This study is perhaps the closest realization combining biological matter and quantum matter available with present-day technology. Moreover, this work is a new record for the conditions that a complex form of life can survive.

Source: This post is based on the article ‘Scientists identify first ‘quantum entangled’ animal in history’ published in Wion on 2nd Jan 2021.