Thermodynamics News

April 20, 2025

Top Headlines

New Hybrid Materials as Efficient Thermoelectrics

Apr. 17, 2025 — An international team has succeeded in producing new, efficient thermoelectric materials that could compete with state-of-the-art materials, offering greater stability and lower ...

A New Super Metal Stands Strong, No Matter the Temperature

Apr. 16, 2025 — A research team develops a new alloy that maintains tensile properties from -196 degrees Celsius to 600 degrees ...

Holiday Flights Could Carry Fewer Passengers as World Warms

Apr. 16, 2025 — By the 2060s, some airports with shorter runways may need to reduce their maximum take-off weight by the equivalent of approximately 10 passengers per flight during summer ...

Physics Reveals the Optimal Roof Ratios for Energy Efficiency

Apr. 14, 2025 — There are roof shapes and ratios that maximize heat retainment and energy efficiency and, interestingly, ancient Italian architects and builders seemed to know it, ...

Latest Headlines

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Cooler Faster Better: Engineers Uncover a New Way to Stop Electronics from Overheating

Apr. 14, 2025 — Engineers discovered a way to move heat ultrafast using crystal waves, offering a breakthrough in cooling advanced ...

Potable Water Happy Byproduct of Low-Cost Green Hydrogen Technology

Apr. 9, 2025 — Engineers have hit the trifecta of sustainability technology: A group has developed a low-cost method to produce carbon-free 'green' hydrogen via solar-powered electrolysis of seawater. A happy ...

Making the Physics of Glass More Transparent

Apr. 7, 2025 — A scientist gives an answer to a long-standing question in theoretical glass physics: what does it mean to be an order parameter for an inherently out-of-equilibrium system? Starting from first ...

Polymers With Flawed Fillers Boost Heat Transfer in Plastics

Apr. 4, 2025 — In the quest to design the next generation of materials for modern devices -- ones that are lightweight, flexible and excellent at dissipating heat -- a team of researchers made a discovery: ...

Runaway Battery Improves Safety

Apr. 3, 2025 — Overheating batteries are a serious risk, in the worst cases leading to fires and explosion. A team has now developed a simple, cost-effective method to test the safety of lithium-ion batteries, ...

Researchers Explore Using Soil for Heat Storage

Apr. 2, 2025 — When spring arrives and the heating season comes to an end, keeping warm becomes less of an issue. However, scientists remind us that it is not just a seasonal necessity -- heat is also a valuable ...

Metamaterials: Highly Twisted Rods Store Large Amounts of Energy

Apr. 2, 2025 — An international research team has developed mechanical metamaterials with a high elastic energy density. Highly twisted rods that deform helically provide these metamaterials with a high stiffness ...

Breakthrough Copper Alloy Achieves Unprecedented High-Temperature Performance

Mar. 27, 2025 — A team of researchers has developed a groundbreaking high-temperature copper alloy with exceptional thermal stability and mechanical strength. The ...

Engineers Redefine How Heat Transfers on Advanced Surfaces

Mar. 26, 2025 — Scientists have developed a new theory to explain heat transfer on advanced surfaces. The theory is critical to the researchers' work to develop innovative surfaces for applications such as ...

Good Vibrations: Scientists Discover a Groundbreaking Method for Exciting Phonon-Polaritons

Mar. 19, 2025 — Newly published research demonstrates a novel way of generating phonon-polaritons by making electrons collide with crystal lattice structures. The ...

Uniquely Shaped, Fast-Heating Nanoparticles Halt Ovarian Tumor Growth

Mar. 19, 2025 — New magnetic nanoparticles in the shape of a cube sandwiched between two pyramids represent a breakthrough for treating ovarian tumors and possibly other types of ...

Quantum Heat Dynamics Toggled by Magnetic Fields

Mar. 19, 2025 — The ability to conduct heat is one of the most fundamental properties of matter, crucial for engineering applications. Scientists know well how conventional materials, such as metals and insulators, ...

Nature-Inspired 3D-Printing Method Shoots Up Faster Than Bamboo

Mar. 11, 2025 — Researchers created 'growth printing,' which mimics tree trunks' outward expansion to print polymer parts quickly and efficiently without the molds and expensive equipment typically ...

Seismic Study of Singapore Could Guide Urban Construction and Renewable Energy Development

Mar. 5, 2025 — A new seismic study of Singapore could guide urban growth and renewable energy development in the coastal city nation, where 5.6 million residents live within an area of 734 square ...

Using Computer Science to Save the Bees

Mar. 4, 2025 — Researchers have created a system to help beekeepers monitor and analyze the health of their beehives and take corrective actions to prevent colony collapse -- when a majority of the worker bees ...

Cooling Materials -- Out of the 3D Printer

Feb. 20, 2025 — Rapid, localized heat management is essential for electronic devices and could have applications ranging from wearable materials to burn treatment. While so-called thermoelectric materials convert ...

New Environmentally-Friendly Mortar Reduces Heat Loss

Feb. 19, 2025 — A mortar made from recycled plastic and silica aerogel which improves insulation and reduces plastic waste has been ...

Harnessing Failure as an Asset: How Researchers Are Innovating Smarter Wearable Tech

Feb. 18, 2025 — In the world of soft robotics and wearable technology, sheet-based fluidic devices are revolutionizing how lightweight, flexible and multifunctional systems are designed. But with innovation comes ...

Jacket Uses AI to Keep You Comfortable

Feb. 13, 2025 — Electronic textiles, such as heating pads and electric blankets, can keep the wearer warm and help ease aches and pains. However, prolonged use of these devices could possibly cause heat-related ...

Turning Car and Helicopter Exhaust Into Thermoelectric Energy

Feb. 11, 2025 — Combustion engines, the engines in gas-powered cars, only use a quarter of the fuel's potential energy while the rest is lost as heat through exhaust. Now, a study demonstrates how to convert ...

Researchers Discover Simple Solution to Break Down Forever Chemicals

Feb. 5, 2025 — A researcher has discovered a new method to remove so-called 'forever chemicals' from our drinking water by heating the PFAS with granular activated carbon. The discovery represents a ...

Why Do Plants Transport Energy So Efficiently and Quickly?

Feb. 4, 2025 — Photosynthesis -- mainly carried out by plants -- is based on a remarkably efficient energy conversion process. To generate chemical energy, sunlight must first be captured and transported further. ...

This Multiferroic Can Take the Heat -- Up to 160?

Jan. 31, 2025 — Researchers are breaking limits by increasing the temperature multiferroics can operate at, from room temperature up to a blistering 160 degrees ...

Lightsails Could Reach Distant Star Systems

Jan. 31, 2025 — A team of scientists has made the first experimental measurements of laser-induced motions of miniature lightsails in the ...

Fans Not Enough for Elderly in Heat Waves

Jan. 31, 2025 — A study assessed the impact of electric fans on the body core temperature and heart rate of 18 participants aged 65-85 years, who were exposed to a simulated extreme indoor environment of 36 degrees ...

Role of Barrier Films in Maintaining the Stability of Perovskite Solar Cells

Jan. 30, 2025 — Flexible perovskite solar cells are promising for lightweight and versatile applications but their sensitivity to humidity and temperature poses a challenge to long-term durability. To address this, ...

Your Fridge Uses Tech from the 50's, but Scientists Have an Update

Jan. 30, 2025 — Researchers report that a more efficient and environmentally friendly form of refrigeration might be on the horizon. The new technology is based on thermogalvanic cells that produce a cooling effect ...

New Atom-Based Thermometer Measures Temperature More Accurately

Jan. 29, 2025 — Scientists have developed a new method for measuring temperature extremely accurately by using giant 'Rydberg' atoms. This atomic thermometer provides accurate measurements 'out of the ...

Even Quantum Physics Obeys the Law of Entropy

Jan. 29, 2025 — The universe is getting more disordered, entropy is growing -- this is the second law of thermodynamics. But according to quantum theory, entropy should actually stay the same. Scientists took a ...

Using Infrared Heat Transfer to Modify Chemical Reactions

Jan. 23, 2025 — Researchers have shown for the first time that heat transfer in the form of infrared radiation can influence chemical reactions more strongly than traditional convection and conduction ...