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.
Continue Reading
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.
Continue Reading
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.
Continue Reading
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.
Continue Reading
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.
Continue Reading
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.
Continue Reading
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.
Continue Reading
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.
Continue Reading
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.
Continue Reading
Imagine if it's a chilly day and you're heading out to a gathering, but the only beverages you have on hand are room-temperature. Well, that's where Blitzen would come in. It lets you chill bottled drinks on top of your car, while you drive.
Continue Reading
See the stories that matter in your inbox every morning