Temperature

Scientists in Japan have developed a new organic device that can harvest energy from heat. Unlike other thermoelectric generators, this one works at room temperature without a heat gradient.

There are already a number of experimental prosthetic hands that provide users with the tactile sensation of touching an object. The MiniTouch system takes things further, as it allows users to sense the temperature of items that they're touching.

If you want to continuously monitor your body temperature, and you already wear earrings all day long, why not just have those earrings do the job? That's the thinking behind the Thermal Earring, which may someday be coming to an ear near you.

It’s a basic fact that temperatures drop at night, damaging crops, equipment and infrastructure. Scientists have created a new film that selectively absorbs and reflects different wavelengths of infrared light to efficiently keep objects warm.

Scientists have demonstrated a new ultra-white ceramic material that drastically cools buildings, with record-high sunlight and heat reflectivity. The beetle-inspired material gets its ability from its nanostructure and should be easy to mass produce.

As global temperatures soar, the ability to adapt is vital for every species, including our own. Scientists are hoping that by putting one more sweaty body out on the street, we'll find new ways to combat potentially deadly heat-related health risks.

Large fluctuations in outdoor temperatures can shorten the lifespan of the batteries used in electric cars – if those cars are parked outside, that is. An experimental new car-cloak could help minimize such damage, by damping changes in temperature.

Since the advent of COVID-19, people have been more sensitive to checking for signs of fever. Now, researchers from the University of Washington have developed an app that turns a regular smartphone into an accurate, easy-to-use thermometer.

Looking to nature can provide inspiration, especially in construction. Researchers studied the complex internal structure of a termite mound in hopes that we can one day construct to a building that can regulate its own internal climate.

Monitoring extreme environments requires a sensor continues to work in high temperatures. Now, researchers have developed a piezoelectric sensor that operates reliably at the temperature of erupting mafic lava, the hottest type of lava on Earth.

Israeli company Green Kinoko is preparing for the first public tests of a remarkable clean outdoor cooling system. The Kinsho system operates like the inverse of an outdoor cafe heater, cooling several tables per unit without using any electricity.

On July 16, an extremely rare and historically important thermometer made by Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit, inventor of the mercury thermometer and the temperature scale that bears his name, sold for just US$93,750.