Having a powerful computer is all nice and dandy, but if you want your PC to last, you have to keep that sucker cooled. Using fans to pump up airflow inside a computer case is the standard method, though water cooling and even refrigeration are more effective alternatives if you have serious hardware. But with fans so prevalent, it's nice to see that technologies are being developed to make them more effective.

Around 250% more effective, if fact, thanks to the "wind engine" developed by researchers at Purdue University. They identified a problem with fan cooling where molecules blowing about inside of a case could become trapped on part of a chip, blocking airflow — the micro world equivalent of an overturned 18-wheeler creating a traffic jam.

With a bit of voltage running through it, the engine generates positively charged ions that spread out toward a negatively charged wire. With the engine at one end of a chip and the wire at the other, the ions will effectively sluice across the chip and keep airflow clean and constant. The researchers just need to miniaturize their engine before it's released to the public, but this exciting cooling technology could be in PCs in as little as three years. — Kevin Hall

BBC News, via Treehugger