Imagine location A experiences an entropy decrease Y. To compensate, location B experiences an entropy increase >Y, and thus the 2nd law of thermodynamics is upheld. Under typical conditions, those two locations must be directly connected. The biosphere of the Earth, which is a local decrease in entropy, receives insolation directly from the sun, and radiates directly into space.
The impression I get from the article is that the newsworthy idea here is that those two locations might not need to be directly connected. This would permit what looks like a perpetual motion machine. But overall the 2nd law would still hold because entropy is increasing somewhere.
Note: I'm not a physicist so don't take my word for this. Just conveying what I think I read.
The impression I get from the article is that the newsworthy idea here is that those two locations might not need to be directly connected. This would permit what looks like a perpetual motion machine. But overall the 2nd law would still hold because entropy is increasing somewhere.
Note: I'm not a physicist so don't take my word for this. Just conveying what I think I read.