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posted by martyb on Monday April 22 2019, @04:35PM   Printer-friendly
from the I-want-my-free-ice-machine dept.

According to the researchers, the new version of Maxwell's demon [1] could have consequences in self-organization and selection processes that occur during biological evolution. For instance, this device could be relevant in the regulation of biological networks in generation, transmission and transduction of signals through cell membranes.

The experimental testing has been conducted in a system of optical tweezers, which enables the manipulation of a molecule each time, in this case a DNA molecule. With the right force on this structure, it is possible to unfold it, but if the force is small enough, the unfolded state becomes rare, so it finds the precise moment it was looking for. When the molecule is in a rare state, it has more energy and it is possible to use it. "The rarer the episode, the harder for us to find it, but the more energy we can get from it," notes Ribezzi.

Meanwhile, the University of Zurich is playing with Peltier devices in kitchen scale to claim free cooling that you can measure without expensive equipment:

The researchers have now shown for the first time that this kind of thermal oscillating circuit can also be operated "passively", i.e. with no external power supply. Thermal oscillations still occurred and, after a while, heat flowed directly from the colder copper to a warmer heat bath with a temperature of 22°C, without being temporarily transformed into another form of energy. Despite this, the authors were also able to show that the process does not actually contradict any laws of physics. To prove it, they considered the change in entropy of the whole system and showed that it increased with time—fully in accordance with the second law of thermodynamics.

Cool.

[1] [Editor's Comment] Maxwell's demon is a machine proposed by James Clerk Maxwell in 1867. The hypothetical machine would use thermal fluctuations to obtain energy, apparently violating the second principle of thermodynamics.


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  • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday April 22 2019, @07:23PM (3 children)

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Monday April 22 2019, @07:23PM (#833495) Journal

    after a while, heat flowed directly from the colder copper to a warmer heat bath with a temperature of 22°C,

    As long as you reverse the flow of time.

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    People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 22 2019, @08:44PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 22 2019, @08:44PM (#833512)

    This post seems to think maxwell's demon is an actual demon that exists in real life. First, there is no good evidence for demons. Second, this amounts to a god of the japs argument. Third, there is no evidence god exists. Fourth, it could just be we do not have a correct understanding of nature's laws. Fifth, heat is always flowing from cold to hot areas and vice versa but on average it flows hot to cold. Sixth, heat is not a fundamental property, it is an easy to measure estimate of total energy content of a substance.

    • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday April 22 2019, @08:55PM

      by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Monday April 22 2019, @08:55PM (#833514) Journal

      This post seems to think maxwell's demon is an actual demon that exists in real life.

      They mean daemon, and it exists in the machine.

      there is no good evidence for demons

      Obviously you are unfamiliar with systemd. I would provide a URL, but then something bad might happen.

      this amounts to a god of the japs argument.

      I think you mean having root privilege. The root used by japs is the same as root used by everyone else.

      Third, there is no evidence god exists.

      Listen to a Trump speech for indications that the speaker believes he is a deity.

      it could just be we do not have a correct understanding of nature's laws.

      Or we simply have the wrong fortune file installed.

      heat is always flowing from cold to hot areas and vice versa but on average it flows hot to cold.

      Bugs are always flowing in and out of a software system. But on average (hopefully) they mostly flow out.

      heat is not a fundamental property, it is an easy to measure estimate of total energy content of a substance.

      Intelligence is also not a fundamental property. Sometimes a measurement isn't even needed to indicate the intelligence content of a social media influencer having no substance.

      --
      People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
    • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday April 22 2019, @09:13PM

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Monday April 22 2019, @09:13PM (#833525) Journal

      This post seems to think maxwell's demon is an actual demon that exists in real life.

      Proof it exists [soylentnews.org], it's not a machine and it's not hypothetical, in spite of the editor's comment.

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      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford