NO ONE BELIEVES IN ENTROPY:

"Given the ubiquity of evolving systems in the natural world, it seems odd that one or more laws describing their behaviors have not been more quickly forthcoming," the authors write.

The team's own "law of increasing functional information" says evolution in all its forms inevitably leads to more patterning, diversity, and complexity in natural complex systems.

Evolution is certainly not unique to Earth's biosphere; it takes place in other extremely complex systems, such as our Solar System, stars, atoms, and minerals.

"The Universe generates novel combinations of atoms, molecules, cells, etc," says first author of the study, astrobiologist Michael Wong from Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, DC.

"Those combinations that are stable and can go on to engender even more novelty will continue to evolve. This is what makes life the most striking example of evolution, but evolution is everywhere."

Tweet   @brothersjudd