>In fact it is possible for this "negentropy" contribution to be large enough that growth is fully endothermic, or actually removes heat from the environment. This type of metabolism, in which acetate, methanol, or a number of other hydrocarbon compounds are converted to methane (a high entropy gas),[25] is known as acetoclastic methanogenesis; one example is the metabolism of the anaerobic archaebacteria Methanosarcina barkeri.[26][27]
I read What Is Life many years ago. Had a major effect on how I see life, including the nature of consciousness (at least as hypothesis). And it's a relatively short, enjoyable read as well. Highly recommended.
There is no mystery about why life seems to violate entropy, and it has been well understood since the concept of entropy was invented. Did Schroeder imagine that the biologists didn't know that?
On the contrary, I've heard that entropy is a useful lens through which to understand the biological processes behind life. We're used to thinking of living things as processing energy: ingesting high energy food, distributing it, making it into forms that do useful work (e.g. ATP). Apparently (I don't know the details, but this was from a biologist) it's also useful to view it as processing entropy. Ingesting low entropy food, distributing it, making it useful, excreting high entropy waste and heat. A gradient from low entropy inputs to high entropy outputs.
What is the source of this? Many years ago I wrote an honors essay for some undergrad class that built on the same observation, although I needed to run with it for a dozen pages or so to satisfy page count expectations.
>In fact it is possible for this "negentropy" contribution to be large enough that growth is fully endothermic, or actually removes heat from the environment. This type of metabolism, in which acetate, methanol, or a number of other hydrocarbon compounds are converted to methane (a high entropy gas),[25] is known as acetoclastic methanogenesis; one example is the metabolism of the anaerobic archaebacteria Methanosarcina barkeri.[26][27]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropy_and_life https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiby%C5%8D