So, it’s the middle of winter and you’re out snowboarding or skiing or whatever it is that active, non-blogger people do. But sometime during the day, the weather unexpectedly gets brutal and you’re wishing you had worn a heavier coat or at least an extra layer. Ordinarily it would put a damper on your fun, but NuDown has released a series of winter wearables that let you customize and adjust the level of insulation based on your needs at that moment. And unlike down-filled winter gear, no baby ducks or geese are harmed in the making of NuDown garments.

The line of jackets and vests works with a proprietary technology that uses a pocket-size hand pump to adjust the level of insulation. When you’re extra cold, you pump more air into the garment’s dynamic chambers. This insulates your body from the cold and keeps you going in the extreme weather. When it’s warmer out, you use the same pump to let some or all of the air out of the chambers.

Along with the standard air inflation, NuDown offers argon canisters so you can inflate your jacket or vest with the better-insulating gas. They offer a simple guide to how many pumps you’ll need to reach the desired level of insulation, but trial and error should tell you how inflated the garment needs to be to keep you comfy. The jackets and vests are all windproof, waterproof, and equipped with high-visibility reflectors for safety.

You’ll have to be a well-heeled sports enthusiast to outfit yourself with NuDown products for your winter sports, however. When it’s released in November 2015, the pieces are expected to run between $400 and $600. That might actually be normal for winter sports gear, though – we don’t really know because, like most writers, we hibernate from November to April.

The post Forget the Down: Winter Gear Has Customizable Insulation first appeared on Gajitz.

(image via: Miscpix)

Buying a hot beverage can be a maddening experience. At first it’s way too hot to drink, and then it cools down so quickly that you don’t have a chance to drink it before it’s tepid and unappealing. The same thing happened to German researchers Klaus Sedlbauer and Herbert Sinnesbichler: while walking around an outdoor Bavarian Christmas market, they noticed that their mulled cider was never at optimal drinking temperature. So rather than complain like the rest of us, they set out to find a solution.

That solution is phase change material (PCM). PCM is a wax-like substance that’s already used in construction and clothing because of its remarkable temperature-regulating capabilities. Sedlbauer and Sinnesbichler reasoned that they could put PCM to work keeping beverages at their ideal drinking temperature, whether that’s hot or cold.

PCM is able to absorb and maintain heat or cold for long periods of time. It melts when warmed and solidifies when cooled. Different PCMs have different melting points. If a hollow-framed mug were filled with PCM that becomes liquid at exactly 136.4 degrees Fahrenheit (the ideal drinking temperature for warm beverages) and the mug’s reservoir filled with a warm beverage, the PCM would absorb excess heat, bringing the liquid down to drinking temperature and keeping it there long enough for you to enjoy your coffee. It works for cold drinks, as well, but that would require buying a different mug for different temperatures: one for hot, one for cold and one for icy. The researchers are currently shopping their idea around and believe it may be on the market by the end of 2009.

The post Morphing Material Keeps Hot Coffee at Ideal Temperature first appeared on Gajitz.