This Wristband is Your Personal Air Conditioner

Wanna know a statistic that might rattle your cranium? A recent study has indicated that almost 90 percent of Americans use air conditioning. The reason is obvious. Being hot sucks and being temperate rules. However, all of us AC addicts are using up massive amounts of energy and, as we all know, energy does not grow on trees(although it can be made from trees.) If only there was an energy-efficient way to keep your bod cool throughout those dog days of summer. Well, if our world’s mad scientists have any say in it, it just may be about to be a reality.

The science wizards over at MIT have concocted a wristband that they are naming Wristify. This band is essentially your very own personal air conditioning unit that you wear on your wrist, much like a smartwatch. Only instead of showing you recent tweets by bozo celebrities, it conditions the air around you. How in tarnations does something like this work? It essentially tricks the human body into feeling cold, using well placed “jolts” of cold. The body has a way of thinking it is cold just after one blast, so a timed pulse can essentially keep you feeling A-OK all day. It’s certainly interesting tech.

The wristband recently MADMEC contest, netting the creators a cool(get it?) $10,000 to continue their research. Speaking of research, don’t go wandering into Bed Bath & Beyond looking for Wristify just yet. This is just a working prototype and there is still much study to be done until we all start wearing these around our wrists.