From dendrites and $\boldsymbol{S}$-shaped growth curves to the maximum entropy production principle

$S$-shaped kinetic curves are very frequent in Nature. Based on our own experimental evidence on the growth of single dendrites and the literature data analysis, we have demonstrated that such curves may result from the maximum entropy production principle. The proposed approach also explains other prevalent laws of relaxation in nonequilibrium systems (Exponential, Kohlrausch, etc.).