NASA proposes using a Stirling cooler (essentially a Stirling engine in reverse) to keep a probe cool on the surface of Venus, which has had a tendency to melt or smash previous probes. The cooler would maintain a 25cm sphere within the probe at 200°C -- 100°C above the boiling point of water but sufficiently cool for a high-temperature microcontroller to operate. The waste heat radiators on the exterior of the sphere would reach the temperature of 500°C, 40°C above the the normal Venusian surface temperature.
posted by Artw on Nov 12, 2007 - 40 comments

Lifehacker is a fairly new addition to the Gawker Media family of blogs, publishers of another personal favorite in the Gizmodo gadget blog. Lifehacker posts articles on how to do all sorts of things better/quicker/cooler/cheaper:

• How to make a "life poster" with Photoshop
• how to opt out of credit card junk mail
• free Hubble Space Telescope wallpaper images
• get thumbnail screenshots with your google search results using firefox
• How to cut vegetables (previously posted here)

In its three short weeks of life, Lifehacker has given me good tips at a shockingly high frequency. Of course, the whole thing comes full circle with their frequent Ask Metafilter Roundup posts.
posted by mcstayinskool on Feb 23, 2005 - 65 comments

A little (much-needed) comic relief:
Man wearing cooler on his head tries to hold up store.
What's your theory as to what the hell he was thinking?
(more inside)
posted by Shane on Sep 10, 2002 - 34 comments

New Thermoelectric cooler: Does this mean I can have a quiet overclocked PC?
posted by bregdan on Oct 18, 2001 - 1 comment