When I was pursuing a PhD at Caltech, so was my friend Jeremy. He used to throw a dinner party every few months. The email invitations welcomed friends to partake of his cooking and, if we wished, to help him cook. I didn’t help cook; but, when I arrived, the mess of pots and pans…

Quantum Frontiers is a platform dedicated to exploring the frontiers of quantum science and technology. Readers can find articles, interviews, and discussions on topics such as quantum physics, quantum computing, and quantum information theory. Additionally, they can learn about quantum experiments, quantum communication, and interdisciplinary research in quantum science.

Quantum Frontiers

A theoretical physicist and thermodynamicist reflects on her lifelong affinity for reducing entropy, drawing parallels between childhood tidying habits, PhD research in quantum information theory, and the philosophical concept of 'mattering' from Rebecca Newberger Goldstein's book. Rather than framing entropy as an adversary to life, she proposes that organisms partner with entropy by generating it in their environments to sustain order locally, as illustrated through examples like desalination and human metabolism.

How I learned to stop worrying and…no, I’ve always adored entropy

<p>This is absolutely right: You can only reduce entropy by creating more of it somewhere.</p>
<p>You also cannot clean something up without making something else dirty. Question that sentence, its interesting.</p>
