Innovative textile vents to release heat when you sweat

Materials Scientists at Duke University have developed a lightweight material that traps thermal energy when dry, but opens a series of tiny vents to let heat escape when a person starts sweating. The vents close again to ...

Understanding phase change materials for thermal energy storage

As the world searches for practical ways to decarbonize our activities and mitigate associated climate change, approaches to alternative energy are hampered by the intermittent nature of energy sources, such as solar and ...

Gas bubbles in rock pores were a nursery for life on early Earth

Where and how did life begin on Early Earth more than 3.5 billion years ago from non-living chemicals? A key necessity for the first cells on Earth is the ability to make compartments and evolve to facilitate the first chemical ...

Some polycrystal grain boundaries feel the heat more than others

Polycrystals are solid materials that are made up of lots of small crystals. The points where the crystals meet are known as grain boundaries (GBs). GBs are important because they can affect the way the solid behaves. However, ...

Advances in simple crystals for thermoelectric technology

Space probes, gas pipelines, and other applications require an ongoing source of thermoelectric power without direct human maintenance, but current technologies for the corresponding energy conversion are inefficient. Now, ...

Glass as stable as crystal: Homogeneity leads to stability

Scientists from The University of Tokyo Institute of Industrial Science used computer simulations to study the aging mechanism that can cause an amorphous glassy material to turn into a crystal. They find that removing tiny ...

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