Does entropy decrease in a living organism?

Question

I read somewhere that organisms reduce decrease their own entropy while increasing the entropy of their surroundings, perhaps through metabolism, but would like to hear more.

Answer 1

Yes. Local entropy decrease occurs whenever a less ordered system *water or pile of spaghetti" is converted into a more ordered one "ice or human body".  This is a common red herring of Creationists. In fact, there is no problem with that thermodynamically. It is only the total entropy of a closed system (add p**p, CO2, and air warmed by body heat) that must always increase.

Answer 2

This is true.

A living organism is always trying to avoid equilibrium. The only way to do so is by performing work.

Take for example a cell. A living organism must always maintain a concentration differential of certain substances across its membrane, meaning that it needs to keep some stuff out and certain stuff in. If you think of the entropy of a system like this, you can understand that this system has a lower entropy then the alternative (which is equal concentration of all the substances inside and outside). This means that the organism has lowered its own entropy.

The second law of thermodynamics states that the total entropy of the universe (organism+surroundings) must always increase. If the entropy of the organism has decreased than the entropy of the surrounding must increase by a substantial amount (more in magnitude than the decrease of the organism). This done by exchanging heat with the surrounding and performing work.