That is indeed true and the actual paper [1] makes this clear. The point of the work is to demonstrate the one aspect of Maxwell's demon that was always scienti

That is indeed true and the actual paper [1] makes this clear. The point of the work is to demonstrate the one aspect of Maxwell's demon that was always scientifically possible, but was technologically impossible in Maxwell's time. The demon could sort individual microscopic particles based on some of their properties. These guys have a lattice of atoms and they show that they have the tech to move these atoms around the lattice at will. You can delete the Maxwell demon part of the whole discussion and what they do is still pretty impressive. Unfortunately, to publish in Nature these days you need a catchy story which is why you see it. [1] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0458-7 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0458-7 The abstract and the discussion are fairly readable.