Scientists create material that can both move and block heat

Unusual material could improve the reliability of electronics and other devices. Moving heat around where you want it to go-adding it to houses and hairdryers, removing it from car engines and refrigerators-is one of the great challenges of engineering. All activity generates heat, because energy escapes from everything we do. But too much can wear out batteries and electronic components-like parts in an aging laptop that runs too hot to actually sit on your lap. If you can't get rid of heat, you've got a problem. Scientists at the University of Chicago have invented a new way to funnel heat around at the microscopic level: a thermal insulator made using an innovative technique. They stack ultra-thin layers of crystalline sheets on top of each other, but rotate each layer slightly, creating a material with atoms that are aligned in one direction but not in the other.