Cooling

Refrigeration and air conditioning could use a boost in efficiency. On that road, researchers have now developed an unusual new technique that could lead to "twist fridges", which cool by unraveling fibers that are tensely twisted.

HP has announced new additions to its gaming portfolio, including a pair of gaming headphones that feature both active and passive cooling.

Researchers at EPFL have crunched the numbers on heat transfer in the air of train tunnels, and outlined a geothermal heat recovery system that could potentially supply heating and cooling to thousands of nearby homes.

​​Debate has long raged over the reasons for a zebra’s stripes. A new study has shed further light on this topic, uncovering new evidence that suggests the stripes are indeed used to help zebras control their temperature, even describing a previously unknown mechanism they use to keep them cool.

Engineers from the University of California San Diego have developed a proof-of-concept armband that can keep the wearer's skin at a constant temperature, even when the ambient temperature is raised or lowered. And the technology is being scaled up to vest size.​

A German research team has prototyped an extraordinary heating/cooling system that stresses and unloads nickel-titanium "muscle wires" to create heated and cooled air at twice the efficiency of a heat pump or three times the efficiency of an air conditioner.

Researchers at the University of Maryland (UMD) have developed a new material that senses how warm a person’s body is and automatically adjusts how much heat it traps or releases.

Beginning with the principles of the Stirling engine, SoundEnergy's THEAC thermal acoustic engine takes heat - either industrial waste heat or solar heat - and turns it into powerful cooling without requiring any other power source. This completely renewable technology could prove highly disruptive.

The earth was a much hotter place in prehistoric times, so it follows that large heavily-armored dinosaurs likely retained a lot of heat in their bodies. A new study suggests that their brains were protected from overheating, however, thanks to a heat exchanging system in their noses.

​Although many motorcycle helmets do have vents that help air to flow through, it goes without saying that the slower the speed of the bike, the weaker that flow. Momodesign is offering a solution to that problem, in the form of a helmet with a built-in fan that comes on when the bike slows down.

Researchers have paired a cooling system that draws thermal heat from a building and beams it into space with a solar panel, designing a system with the same rooftop footprint that ccould generate electricity and passively cool a building at the same time.

In many parts of the world, particularly developing nations, people paint buildings' roofs white in order to reflect sunlight and thus keep those buildings cooler. A new paint-like polymer could make that approach more effective than ever.