

Magnetic RAM could soon absorb and use waste heat - ukdm
http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/101497-magnetic-ram-could-soon-absorb-and-use-waste-heat

======
jws
Thermal differential can produce electrical power.

It isn't clear to me how modulating the thermal resistance across the magnetic
cell improves the situation, nor how changing the 1nm thick layer's thermal
resistance by a factor of two is significant in the larger scheme of
substrates, magnetic layers, and adjacent bypass materials.

The headline smells like a good candidate for an XKCD $200 neutrino bet.

~~~
cperciva
Indeed, whoever wrote that article either doesn't understand the issues
involved or just plain isn't thinking coherently.

Now, this technology _could_ be useful in some places where you want to
control the flow of heat -- in a climate with hot days and cold nights, you
might want the walls of a building to be good at conducting heat during the
night and good at insulating during the day (or possibly vice versa, if your
primary challenge is keeping the building warm enough) -- and the
thermoelectric effect could _maybe_ be useful to the extent that having self-
powered elements would avoid the cost of running (very small amounts of) power
everywhere.

But I'm with you on the neutrino bet as far as the application suggested in
the article goes.

