Visible and ultraviolet laser light has been used for years to cool trapped atoms—and more recently larger objects—by reducing the extent of their thermal motion.

MIT engineers have shown that nanofluids, which once held promise as a super-coolant, do not have the theoretical cooling capabilities many scientists believed they had.

Records from ice cores show that around 8,200 years ago the Northern Hemisphere's climate abruptly cooled. Many scientists link this event to the final drainage of Lake Agassiz, a large glacial lake covering much of central Canada that formed at the foot of North America's continental glaciers.

Researchers have demonstrated new technology using tiny "ionic wind engines" that might dramatically improve computer chip cooling, possibly addressing a looming threat to future advances in computers and electronics.