Temperature

While great works of art should be exhibited so the public can enjoy them, putting those pieces on display also puts them at risk. If environmental factors such as lighting intensity, temperature or humidity aren’t in the optimal range, for instance, works can prematurely deteriorate as a result. In order to minimize the risks, three of Germany’s Fraunhofer research institutes have collaborated to develop Artguardian, a system that monitors the conditions under which artworks are displayed. Read More

While programmable thermostats are nothing uncommon these days, many users adjust the temperature manually utilizing the thermostat's basic feature only. On the other hand, it's certainly difficult to develop an appropriate program corresponding to the volatility of daily life. Designed by a team led by ex-Apple engineer Tony Fadell, the Nest Learning Thermostat offers a new take on automatic temperature adjustment. Featuring a simple knob-based design, the unit is capable of self-programming itself via a combination of its user's habits, activity sensors and Internet-gathered weather information, thus increasing energy savings without much effort on the user's part. Read More

According to a team of researchers at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering, the solar panels sprouting on increasing numbers of residential and commercial rooftops around the world aren’t just generating green electricity, they’re also helping keep the buildings cool. The news that letting photovoltaic panels take the solar beating will reduce the amount of heat reaching the roof shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, but the fact no one has thought to quantify just what the effects of rooftop solar panels on a building’s temperature are is a little baffling. Read More

Last year at the UN climate change talks in Cancun, it was agreed that cutting emissions sufficiently to limit the world’s temperature increase to 2°C would require a far‑reaching transformation of the global energy system. To limit the world’s temperature increase to 2°C, it was agreed that the long-term concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere would need to be limited to around 450 parts per million of carbon-dioxide (CO2). Sadly, the International Energy Agency has just released figures indicating that energy-related CO2 emissions in 2010 were the highest ever, reaching 30.6 Gigatonnes (Gt). This means that to achieve the 2020 target, where emissions must not be greater than 32 Gt, emissions will need to rise less over the next ten years in total than they did between 2009 and 2010. Read More

Whether caused by strokes in seniors or hypoxia in newborn infants, brain injuries can cause the brain to overheat, which in turn causes its cells to die. While there are cooling therapies that can bring its temperature down, doctors first need to establish that the brain is indeed warmer than the rest of the patient’s body. While doing so has previously involved invasive techniques, researchers from Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters (CHKD) in Norfolk, Virginia have recently created a small device that sits on top of the patient’s head, and measures their brain’s temperature non-invasively. Read More

According to the medical journal The Lancet, approximately 20 million low birth-weight and premature babies are born around the world every year. Of those, about 4 million die within four weeks. Many of those deaths take place because the infants can’t maintain a high enough body temperature on their own, and succumb to hypothermia. Incubators are designed to address this problem, but many hospitals in developing nations can’t afford them, nor can they provide the uninterrupted power supply that the machines require. The San Francisco non-profit group Embrace, however, is developing what could be an effective and affordable alternative – the Infant Warmer. Read More

With the advent of robust, miniaturized electronic devices, an increasingly common method of studying wild animals involves temporarily attaching data-logging sensors directly to them. Some readers might have seen point-of-view video footage obtained with National Geographic's "Crittercam," for instance, or heard about the study where the migratory routes of Arctic terns were determined by putting tiny light loggers on the birds. Now, a consortium of scientists from nine European research institutions have tagged cod fish with mini-thermometers, to find out how they will be able to cope with rising ocean temperatures. Read More

Eberspächer is best known for its OEM work with vehicle manufacturers in the field of exhausts and heaters, but the company's new Euroengel compressor refrigerated range directly targets end users. The portable lightweight refrigerated boxes can reportedly be temporarily fitted to almost any commercial vehicle, and are transferable between vehicles. A 12 or 24-volt socket (cigarette lighter) is sufficient for all boxes and when stationary, they can be plugged into any mains electricity supply system in the world, from 110 to 240 volts. The cost-effectiveness in comparison to a refrigerated vehicle conversion is impressive, as purchased or leased vehicles can be retrofitted to become refrigerated vehicles, then sold or returned in original condition. Read More

It can be a tricky business, determining when grilled meat is properly cooked inside. You could buy a probe-equipped thermometer, but that would still need to be checked periodically – if you’re entertaining guests out by your barbecue, checking a thermometer is something that you could easily forget to do. What someone needs to invent is a cooking thermometer that notifies your iPhone, iPod or iPad via Bluetooth, when your steaks have reached the desired internal temperature. Needless to say, such a product has, in fact, been invented – it’s made by iDevices, and is called the iGrill. Read More