FROM 1* DESK OF CHARLES L. HARPER JR. Jeffrey Epstein (IS pages) (Via e-mail: jeevacation(t4gmail.com) November 4, 2010 Dear Jeffrey: Thank you for a request for a proposal to support my activity to develop the "Coptograrn in Nature"project you have envisioned. I have delayed a few days in preparing a proposal to you. I have been engag- ing in some depth in the topical material, pursuing various ideas and leads. Especially I have wanted to identify exciting emerging talent by my own "tal- ent scouting" rather than operate from the (excellent) list of names I have already from Scott Aaronson and Seth Lloyd. This in part has had to do with an interest to explore areas where work in cryptography has deeply engaged biology and has also involved experimental discoveries and agendas. The development in 1994 of DNA amputation theory and experiment by the polymath and cryptographer Leonard M. Adelman initiated the rapidly ex- panding field of molecular computation. From the start, this area of cross- disciplinary research has engaged deep issues in cryptography. Indeed, it deeply engages the P versus NP question, the deepest unresolved fundamen- tal issue in basic computer science and cryptography today. Recently some related and surprising new results have arisen in the study of photosynthesis, where the first clear effects in "quantum biology" have been measured quite strikingly. These relate to issues in evolution, quantum com- putation and chemical simulation using (futuristic) quantum computers. Also, the study of protein-folding interestingly connects deep issues in com- puter science with the topical area of biomolecular computation. I have wanted to get my teeth into some of these and related research agendas be- fore writing the proposal to you. Though brief in terms of time expended, my initial findings are very encouraging By engaging in this rapid research, I also have wanted to clarify and refine core ideas. The topic you have put forward