First read this really interesting article:
http://io9.com/physicist-proposes-a-thermodynamic-explanation-for-the-1507452119
If you’re really interested, here is the original published article:
http://www.englandlab.com/uploads/7/8/0/3/7803054/2013jcpsrep.pdf
By now, we all have come to intuitively understand why entropy is a matter of probability; for instance, our dorm rooms, no matter how organized we try to be throughout the week, will probably appear disordered by Friday.
Through spontaneous mechanisms, the universe tends toward maximum disorder, both in politics and BIOCHEMISTRY. I think it is wonderfully beautiful that while all life forms, us included, are highly intricate, ordered structures, our creation and continued existence, by using up energy, and by definition, being an open system, does in fact increase entropy.
The article above discusses Dr. England’s ( MIT) theory on how life originated, whereby he uses thermodynamics to explain the evolution of organisms, starting with plants in aqueous environments, being exposed to sunlight. The article also touches on many of the food related examples I think people find to be interesting, concerning why for instance a cooked egg does not resort back to its native structure in terms of proteins.
For Dr. England, the theory is very much intuitive and logical:
“Particles tend to dissipate more energy when they resonate with a driving force, or move in the direction it is pushing them, and they are more likely to move in that direction than any other at any given moment.”
Could the wonderful mystery of how a nano-scale prokaryote evolved into the complex beings we are be explained by what he describes as common sense theory concerning the natural dissipation of energy? It’s certainly interesting!
Wow, this is a really interesting theory, especially when you consider that many who believe in creation often argue that the Second Law of Thermodynamics actually contradicts evolution (they don’t remember/realize that we are in an “open” system)!