Have you ever tried carrying out fiddly physical tasks outside in the height of winter? Whether you choose to go gloveless and risk your fingers becoming numb or opt for cold-shielding gloves, you still sacrifice much of the finger dexterity you normally take for granted. Now imagine that you’re not just trying to carry out yard work or build a snowman, but actually doing outdoor activities your life depends on.
That’s a problem faced by the brave servicemen and women in the armed services. Fortunately, investigators at the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine in Massachusetts may have come up with a solution. And, provided that it works as well as promised, it’s a doozy.
The U.S. Army is busy developing new technology that will let people go glove-free in cold conditions without feeling the chill. This is thanks to a pair of electrically heated armbands designed to be worn around the forearms.
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Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
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