Proposals for exploring viruses and skin as the next experimental quantum frontiers share US$30,000 science award

Eight winners announced in FQxI’s $53,000 essay competition, ‘How Quantum is Life?’

2026-02-14

(Press-News.org) Viruses exist at the boundary between living and non-living matter, while skin is a living interface between physics and biology, making them perfect—but until now overlooked—arenas for testing the interplay between quantum physics, biology and life. That’s according to arguments made by Connor Thompson, a PhD student in microbiology and immunology at the University of British Columbia, in Canada, and Samuel Morriss, a medical doctor based in Melbourne, Australia, whose two essays share the US$30,000 first prize in FQxI’s latest essay competition, presented in partnership with the Paradox Science Institute. The eight winners of the $53,000 competition—which asked “How Quantum is Life?”—were announced on 14th February, 2026.

“This partnership between FQxI and Paradox Science has produced a set of fantastic essays, which give us insight into the nascent field of quantum biology,” says David Sloan, Chief Scientific Officer at the Foundational Questions Institute, FQxI.

“The winning essays cover topics as diverse as quantum effects at the level of enzymes to medically relevant considerations of quantum bio-phenomena,” says Jan Walleczek.

“I am delighted to see that the winning essays cover topics as diverse as quantum effects at the level of enzymes to medically relevant considerations of quantum bio-phenomena,” adds Jan Walleczek, Scientific Director at the Paradox Science Institute. “These essays will help inspire and accelerate progress at the frontiers of quantum biology.”

The essay competition was launched in June 2025, with the aim of stimulating new research avenues. It received 97 eligible entries, from academics, medical professionals and scientists, as well as from university and high-school students and non-scientists, across six continents. “The winning entries provide insights into the role that quantum theory plays in living systems, theoretical frameworks for examining new ideas, and experimental pathways ripe for exploration with further funding,” says Sloan.

“The winning entries provide insights into the role that quantum theory plays in living systems, theoretical frameworks for examining new ideas, and experimental pathways ripe for exploration with further funding,” says David Sloan.

The judging committee included experts in physics, biology, and quantum biology, in particular, as well as seasoned writers and academics from other fields, to ensure the essays were scientifically accurate, while being accessible to a wide audience. The judges were impressed by the breadth and depth of ideas of all the prize winners, notes Sloan, citing the two first prize essays as clear justification for driving research forward in quantum biology.

Quantum Probes of Life

Thompson’s joint first-prize-winning essay, “Viruses: Quantum Probes of Life,” presents a novel framework for testing ‘quantum advantage’—that is, whether a system that has access to quantum effects can outcompete a purely classical counterpart. “Thompson proposes that viruses would make excellent test subjects for exploring this possibility, and lays out a series of experiments—feasible with current technologies—to study whether life exploits quantum effects for evolutionary gain,” says Sloan.

“Understanding life’s quantum foundations may drive creation of quantum bioengineered systems with enhanced capabilities, reveal new therapeutic targets, inform theories of consciousness, and even redefine our search for life elsewhere in the universe,” writes Connor Thompson.

“The implications reach beyond virology,” Thompson wrote in his winning essay. “Understanding life’s quantum foundations may drive creation of quantum bioengineered systems with enhanced capabilities, reveal new therapeutic targets, inform theories of consciousness, and even redefine our search for life elsewhere in the universe.”

Life at the Nanoscale

Also taking first prize is Samuel Morriss with his essay “How Quantum is the Skin? A Clinician’s Perspective on Life at the Nanoscale.” Morriss suggests that skin could be a platform for three courses of quantum study: on melanoma risk, DNA protection through UV absorption, and as a marker of aging. “The judges were impressed that Morriss’s essay brings theory to bear upon experimental design with potential applications to medicine,” says Sloan.

“‘How quantum is life?’ is no longer merely a philosophical question as it has practical and profound implications for medicine,” writes Samuel Morriss.

“‘How quantum is life?’ is no longer merely a philosophical question as it has practical and profound implications for medicine,” Morriss wrote in his winning essay. “As Alex Comfort noted in his 1984 paper, when biology and medicine lost contact with physics, understanding stalled. It is time to re-establish that connection.”

New Voices

This is the 13th FQxI competition, all of which have been open to both professional scientists and non-scientists. It is the second FQxI competition to have been judged blindly, with entrants’ identities remaining hidden throughout the judging process. “The essays were assessed in complete anonymity,” says Sloan.

Among the prize winners, the judges also chose to highlight “The Quantum of Biology: History and Future” by Gabriela Frajtag, an undergraduate student at Ilum School of Science (CNPEM) in Brazil, as an excellent piece of work. Upon unveiling the winners, Sloan says, “the committee was highly impressed to learn that this was the work of an undergraduate student—clearly one with a bright future in this research area!”

“Competitions like this one, hosted by FQxI and the Paradox Science Institute, are not only calls for essays; they are instruments for shaping the next decade of work,” writes Gabriela Frajtag.

“Competitions like this one, hosted by FQxI and the Paradox Science Institute, are not only calls for essays; they are instruments for shaping the next decade of work,” Frajtag wrote in her winning essay. “By recording what has been tried, by proposing clear measurements for what comes next, and by inviting new voices into the conversation, they help convert curiosity into protocols and protocols into results. That is a future worth writing toward: a community that remembers its history, sets falsifiable goals, and grows wide enough that the next great idea can come from anywhere.”

Full list of winners:

Joint 1st place ($15,000): Samuel Morriss, How Quantum is the Skin? A Clinician’s Perspective on Life at the Nanoscale

Joint 1st place($15,000): Connor Thompson, Viruses: Quantum Probes of Life.

2nd place ($7,500): Gerard McCaul, Spanspermia: Does Life Come from Outer Hilbert Space?

3rd place ($5,000): Michael Montague, Scale Shifting: Quantum Biology, Quantum Omics, & a Quantum Biotech Future

Special Undergraduate Prize ($3,000): Gabriela Frajtag, The Quantum of Biology: History and Future

Special Mention ($2,500): Rishab Ghosh, The Decoherence Engine: Reframing Biological Complexity as Quantum Information Processing

Special Mention ($2,500): Aswathy Prakash, How Quantum Is Life — or Is Life Itself Quantum?

Special Mention ($2,500): Ian Reppel, The Quantum Cradle: Prebiotic Minerals as Quantum Search Engines for Life

All eligible entries to the “How Quantum is Life?” essay competition are available to read on FQxI’s site: https://qspace.fqxi.org/competitions/entries

Entries to previous FQxI competitions can be found here: https://fqxi.org/programs/competitions/

ABOUT FQxI

The Foundational Questions Institute, FQxI, catalyzes, supports, and disseminates research on questions at the foundations of science, particularly new frontiers in physics and innovative ideas integral to a deep understanding of reality but unlikely to be supported by conventional funding sources. Visit FQxI.org for more information.

ABOUT THE PARADOX SCIENCE INSTITUTE

The Paradox Science Institute is a private operating foundation that has been formed to foster frontier science as a way to explore fundamental interconnectedness in Nature and help to enlighten pathways for humanity. Visit paradoxscience.org for more information.

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