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Wow, this is cool. Not sure of the technical details, but Apple Computer has evidently been doing some nanoscience research and has a “fur” that manages to cool their new computers. Impressively, they’ve managed to make a flexible thermoelectric material — which is a big breakthrough.

Thermoelectric materials generate electric current from differences in temperature. For example, NASA sometimes uses them in space probes to generate electric energy. But one of the biggest problems is that thermoelectric materials are extremely brittle.

TidBITS: Apple’s iFuzz Nanotechnology Cools Hot Chips

I’ll probably see Adam Engst, who edits TidBITS, on my run today — I’ll have to ask him about this “nano-fur.”