Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.
![The thermodynamic meaning of negative entropy](https://cdn-ak-scissors.b.st-hatena.com/image/square/3fc61892b03eba50c259940ae237b6e6261b43f9/height=288;version=1;width=512/https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.springernature.com%2Fm685%2Fspringer-static%2Fimage%2Fart%253A10.1038%252Fnature10123%2FMediaObjects%2F41586_2011_Article_BFnature10123_Fig1_HTML.jpg)