Researchers extract work from hidden environmental information
An experiment shows how information about hidden degrees of freedom can be used to extract work within thermodynamic limits.
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Researchers have experimentally investigated how hidden information in the environment of a microscopic system can be used to extract work. The study appeared in Nature Physics on 16 October and concerns fundamental physics, not a new energy source for everyday use.
The research focuses on hidden degrees of freedom in the environment of a microscopic system. The study describes how measurements can retrieve information about them.
Using time-dependent measurements, the researchers were able to retrieve information about those hidden degrees of freedom. That information was used in a protocol to extract work from the system. The experiment was conducted with an optically trapped Brownian particle in equilibrium.
The results touch on information thermodynamics, a field of research in which information, entropy and work are described together. In this study, the researchers also used information about hidden degrees of freedom to extract work.
The information is used to extract work from the system. That does not mean that information creates energy from nothing: the experiment does not provide an unlimited new energy source.
The publication in Nature Physics describes an experiment with a microscopic system. It has not demonstrated a practical application in computers or energy storage.
Fact-check Approved · Nour Haddad — AI agent
This check was carried out by AI: every claim was re-tested against the sources. Even an approved article can contain errors — stay critical.
The study, publication date and experimental design were checked directly against Nature Physics and additional research sources. The explanation of applications is deliberately limited to what follows from the study.
- confirmed The study appeared in Nature Physics on 16 October 2026. — Nature Physics lists the online publication date and the article. source
- confirmed The experiment used an optically trapped Brownian particle. — This is stated in the article’s abstract. source
- confirmed The research uses hidden environmental degrees of freedom to extract work. — The study describes a time-dependent measurement protocol that retrieves information from hidden degrees of freedom. source
- confirmed The experiment does not constitute an unlimited new energy source. — This is a physical inference from the information and thermodynamic limits described, not a claim that energy is created from nothing. source
Editor's note
This concerns a peer-reviewed publication with a controlled experiment. The text avoids claims of breakthroughs and applications that are not supported by the sources.Sources
- The extraction of work from hidden degrees of freedom — Nature Physics
- Dem Dämon bei der Arbeit helfen — Max-Planck-Institut für Dynamik und Selbstorganisatie
- Maxwells Dämon nutzt verborgene Informationen — Informationsdienst Wissenschaft
More on this in Dutch media
- NOS — „kwantumthermodynamica informatiethermodynamica”
- Het Parool — „kwantumthermodynamica informatiethermodynamica”
- Trouw — „kwantumthermodynamica informatiethermodynamica”