My colleagues and I have begun the Glimpsing Heat from Alien Technologies (G-HAT) SETI program, which has been written about here on Centauri Dreams and in other places, like in this nice summary article. I describe some of the foundations of the search here on my blog, but I have written up this short primer for Centauri Dreams to collect much of what is there into a single post.
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Janus gives interactive fabric a whole new meaning. Not only is it strong and versatile, but it also comes with integrated heating or lighting capabilities. It sounds like something from the future, and it probably is, but here’s to hoping someone can actually turn it into a reality.
Janus is a concept desibn for a textile that could be integrated into a variety of base materials, such as fabrics, leather, or film. After the material is decided, a lighting or heating system can be applied before using the textile to create the intended product.
So far, three products have been designed with the special features of Janus in mind: an umbrella with an integrated lighting system, bulb-less light that uses the material’s lighting properties to provide illumination, and a wheelchair with integrated heating in its seat.
The lighting or heating system is basically sandwiched in between a layer of polyurethane and polyester. For example, for the umbrella, the system is described as follows:
In the rain, the city seems to be darker and gloomier than usual. Janus Fabric senses the sounds on the street and expresses various light patterns in response.
Futuristic? Yes. Impossible? We’re hoping it isn’t.
Janus Fabric is a Red Dot Design Award 2013 winner and was designed by Kim Hyemin, Kim Minki, and Lee Jisu.
A team of scientists has created a material that’s enough to confuse fellow researchers and the Predator alike: a substance which looks cold when viewed using infrared light even when it’s getting hotter.
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We’re sure you’ve been in trouble with the law more times than you can probably count while driving around wishing that you could magically change the car you’re driving in so you won’t get caught while your bobbing and weaving your way through traffic in a high-speed chase. If it happens to be raining, this Nissan Skyline R33 just might be your ideal getaway vehicle. (more…)
Nissan Skyline Uses Heat-Sensitive Paint To Change Its Colors [Video] original content from Ubergizmo. 
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It seems like it’s always hot here in NYC, but it’s not only when the oppressive sun is beating down. No, the buildings like to help spread the love around by hoarding the heat and dishing it out themselves. This is what it looks like.
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When you’re faced with a sports-related injury, half of your friends will be adamant that ice is the only way to treat it. The other half will tell you that heat is the way to go. The problem is that most of your friends are idiots. So, which of your idiot friends are you supposed to listen to?
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While many of us opt to heat up our lunches in the microwave at the office, we all know it’s not necessarily the best way to reheat cold food. Microwaves do strange things to food, often affecting texture and flavor, and sometimes overcooking already cooked food. This little gadget provides a different approach to heating up your lunch.
The portable HotLogic Mini Oven is a travel-sized slow-cooker, which gradually warms your food to a safe temperature on its 200°F heating platform. Just place your food in a sealed container, set it inside the HotLogic oven, and plug it in at your desk. When lunchtime rolls around, you’ll have a nicely warmed up meal inside.
The inside of the tote is lined with aluminum to ensure heat is retained, and keeping your food in a sealed container while it warms ensures that it keeps its moisture and flavor.
The HotLogic Mini Oven sells for $49.95(USD) and comes in blue or black.
[via werd.]
In times of great emergency, a flashlight is definitely one of the essentials to have, aside from food and water. When the electricity is out and it’s night time, you might have to stay in place and wait for the sun to rise if you don’t have a torch with you. Of course, you might have one but not the right batteries to power it up, but you have the Any Battery Light to depend on in that scenario.
But what if you don’t have any good batteries at all? What then?
15-year-old Ann Makosinski probably considered that situation well and hard, and it led her to create a flashlight that only needs some body heat to function; specifically, heat from your hands. The device was made using Peltier tiles, which can create energy when one side of it is heated while the other is kept cool.
Ann put it together with a store-bought circuit, which provided enough voltage, and voila! That’s how the Hollow Flashlight came to be.
In this case, your hand provides the heat while the air inside the flashlight acts as the cooling agent. The entire thing only cost Ann $26(USD) to make!
Because of her Hollow Flashlight design, Ann is one of the finalists for Google’s global science fair.
[via ExtremeTech via Dvice]
The PowerPot and the BioLite stove seem like great ways to harness the heat from fire and turn it into electricity. But what if you already have a pot and a stove? A company called Point Source Power might have a solution for you. The only thing that the company’s VOTO chargers need is a fire.
VOTO chargers look like one of those portable water heaters. But instead of a metal coil at the end, the chargers have a stack of replaceable fuel cells made from biomass. You stick this end into the bottom of your stove or bonfire and it will generate electricity over time. The electricity will be sent to its handle. There are a variety of handles, but the most useful one is shown in the video below. It’s a battery that can be used to charge devices via USB but it can also use its stored energy to power its built-in LEDs.
These chargers will be useful not only for campers and field workers but also for people who live in places that don’t have access to electricity. You can check out Point Source Power’s website for more info on their products, although the site seems to be down as of this writing.
[via Inhabitat]
Just about any apartment-dwelling urbanite can tell you that radiators are a bit of a necessary evil in the world of city living. What if there was a way to control the heat to individual rental units, without relying entirely on a landlord’s temperature-controlling omnipotence? The Radiator Labs team has developed a device to help realize this dream. It’s essentially housing that sits on-top of an individual radiator unit, controlling heat transfer to a room. Turn it off, and the insulation hampers the heat from making a room too hot. Turn it on, and the ducted fan spreads the heat out to the room.
Radiator Labs has a bit more info on its page, which you can check out in the source link below. You can also view graphical breakdown of the technology after the break.
Check out the full list of Insert Coin: New Challengers semifinalists here — and don’t forget to pick a winner!
Source: Radiator Labs
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