How a Tardigrade "Micro Animal" Became Quantum Entangled with Superconducting Qubits

Entanglement between superconducting qubits and a tardigrade. K. S. Lee, Y. P. Tan, L. H. Nguyen, R. P. Budoyo, K. H. Park, C. Hufnagel, Y. S. Yap, N. Møbjerg, V. Vedral, T. Paterek, R. Dumke. arXiv Dec 16 2021. https://arxiv.org/abs/2112.07978

Quantum and biological systems are seldom discussed together as they seemingly demand opposing conditions. Life is complex, "hot and wet" whereas quantum objects are small, cold and well controlled. Here, we overcome this barrier with a tardigrade -- a microscopic multicellular organism known to tolerate extreme physiochemical conditions via a latent state of life known as cryptobiosis. We observe coupling between the animal in cryptobiosis and a superconducting quantum bit and prepare a highly entangled state between this combined system and another qubit. The tardigrade itself is shown to be entangled with the remaining subsystems. The animal is then observed to return to its active form after 420 hours at sub 10 mK temperatures and pressure of 6×10−6 mbar, setting a new record for the conditions that a complex form of life can survive.

Popular version: How a Tardigrade "Micro Animal" Became Quantum Entangled with Superconducting Qubit. Dec 22 2021. https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/how-a-tardigrade-micro-animal-became-quantum-entangled-with-superconducting

Within each colony of some ants, only some individuals are capable of performing a complex sequence of behavioral patterns to free trapped nestmates, sequence that is responsive to the particular circumstances of that entrapment & how the rescue operation unfolds

Rescue specialists in Cataglyphis piliscapa ants: The nature and development of ant first responders. Elise Nowbahari, Karen L. Hollis, Melanie Bey, Lara Demora & Jean-Luc Durand. Learning & Behavior, Dec 16 2021. https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/s13420-021-00503-3

Abstract: Previous research in our laboratories has demonstrated that, within each colony of Cataglyphis piliscapa (formerly C. cursor) ants, only some individuals are capable of performing a complex sequence of behavioral patterns to free trapped nestmates—a sequence that not only is memory-dependent but also is responsive to the particular circumstances of that entrapment and how the rescue operation unfolds. Additionally, this rescue behavior is inherited patrilineally from but a few of the many males that fertilize the eggs of the colony’s single queen. Here, we describe three experiments to explore rescue behavior further—namely, whether rescuers are in any way selective about which nestmates they help, how the age of rescuers and the victims that they help affect the quantity and quality of the rescue operation, and when this complex behavior first emerges in an ant’s development. Taken together with the previous heritability analysis, these behavioral experiments provide clear evidence that the ability to rescue nestmates in distress should be recognized as a specialization, which together with other specialized tasks in C. piliscapa, contributes to a division of labor that increases the efficiency of the colony as a whole and, thus increases its reproductive success.