• Fixing Science's Chinese Wall

    Updated: 2013-12-21 11:59:48
    In science we very often want certain things to be true. Sometimes, this desire comes from noble reasons: we want a vaccine to work, because that would save many lives. Other times our motivations are less altruistic: we want our vaccine to work because then we will get lots of citations, a promotion, and a raise. Scientists wanting things to be true is a fact, and a problem. Which is why science has evolved methods to prevent our desires from distorting the findings. For instance,

  • Maxwell's demon can use quantum information to generate work

    Updated: 2013-12-18 15:30:03
    (Phys.org) —In theory, Maxwell's demon can decrease the entropy of a system by opening and closing a door at appropriate times to separate hot and cold gas molecules. But as physicist Leó Szilárd pointed out in 1929, entropy does not decrease in such a situation because the demon's measurement process requires information, which is a form of entropy. Szilárd's so-called information heat engine, now called the Szilárd engine (SZE), demonstrates how work can be generated by using information.

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