Sensing temperature without Neurophysiology
Filed under: SensorProbes, environmental monitoring, temperature monitoring
Wouldn’t it be cool if computer equipment had cold-sensitive ion channels in their casings that could translate information about the temperature of their surroundings into electrical signals that could ultimately send alarms to management when the environment became unstable? It sounds like science fiction but, it is really biology.
Temperature Sensing Gel
Brandon Brown Ph.D at the University of San Francisco Researches a remarkable gel under a shark’s skin that enables it to locate prey-rich thermal fronts. Apparently the thermoelectric properties of this extracellular gel removed from the electrosensors of sharks develops significant voltages in response to tiny temperature gradients. Check out this Neuroscience for kids page.
Anyway, we can’t be harvesting sharks to suck out their extracellular gel. 
There must be an easier way to monitor temperature in the data room. For $75.00 you can buy a temperature sensor or for $295 you can buy a temperature probe with a sensor.
I’ll bet a shark doesn’t have a use for a dry contact sensor.
- Mike
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