This April, a fire-hydrant-size apparatus called a thermoacoustic freezer made its debut at a Ben & Jerry's in Manhattan. The event was a relatively quiet affair, which was no small achievement: inside the core of the steel cooling unit, which was attached to a standard ice-cream cabinet, a loudspeaker emitted a 195-decibel screech to keep quarts of ice cream cold. From the outside, you could hear only a soft hum. read more

Ben & Jerry's has teamed with scientists from Pennsylvania State University to boost its environmental standing by creating a freezer that uses sound waves... read more