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Science 7 February 2003:
Vol. 299. no. 5608, pp. 837 - 838
DOI: 10.1126/science.1081280
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Perspectives

COMPUTATIONAL MATHEMATICS:
Full Steam Ahead--Probably

Ralph Lorenz

It has long been argued that complex systems like Earth's climate may be in a state of maximum entropy production. In such a state, the work output-or, crudely, the product of the heat flux and the temperature gradient driving it-is maximized. But, as Lorenz explains in his Perspective, no reason for why systems should choose this state has been known. He highlights a recent paper that shows how the maximum entropy production state can become the most probable state.

The author is in the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, AZ 85721, USA. E-mail: rlorenz{at}lpl.arizona.edu

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Colloquium Papers: Functional information and the emergence of biocomplexity.
R. M. Hazen, P. L. Griffin, J. M. Carothers, and J. W. Szostak (2007)
PNAS 104, 8574-8581
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