Scientists peek inside the mind of Maxwell’s demon

Memory tests uphold the second law of thermodynamics

Maxwell’s Demon illustration

ORDER FROM DISORDER  Maxwell’s Demon (illustrated above) is a hypothetical creature that could illegally decrease entropy, or disorder, by separating faster molecules (blue) from slower ones (green) within a box of gas. Scientist have probed this demon’s memory for the first time.

J. Hirshfeld

Physicists have now probed the memory of Maxwell’s demon, a devious, hypothetical beast.