A team of American, European, and Asian researchers has produced macroscopic quantum-optical entanglement between two living mouse brain cells. The room-temperature experiment involved two single in-vitro cells separated by a distance of 40 cm, and used single near-IR photons produced by an attenuated stabilized narrow-linewidth laser as the mechanism to initiate the entanglement between the cells.
The scientists found that the entanglement not only lasted for a span of more than a minute, but was occasionally spontaneously initiated by IR photons from the surroundings rather than from the laser. The researchers hypothesize that the spontaneous entanglement results partially from the fact that quantum entanglement actually helps physically hold DNA together and partially from the way that DNA sequences are naturally read, which also involves quantum mechanics.
The next step, say the researchers, is to carry out the same experiment on ensembles of mouse brain cells; if that is successful, fused-silica windows will be placed over small holes drilled in the skulls of two live mice and the experiment rerun again, monitoring the actions of the mice for any discernible consequences of entanglement.
"This type of effort could lead to the creation of a true extrasensory phenomenon," says William Zoe, one of the researchers. "We don't use that word lightly, but once the entanglement is spontaneously initiated between these cells, ordinary electromagnetic, acoustic, mechanical, or chemical means of transmission are not at play."
For more info and a link to the paper, see: http://www.laserfocusworld.com/articles/2014/04/quantum-optics-could-make-extrasensory-perception-possible.html