An article regarding research into clothing which can heat or cool the wearer.
Amazing.
Even more amazing is that almost all these scientific research projects are led by persons with Chinese names, including all those named in this article.
Where are all the other scientists?
Possibly learning Mandarin and adopting a common Chinese version of Tom or Jane? 
P.S.
It used to be that the USA attracted all the talent as it had the business might to fund research, patent/protect and commercialise the outcomes.
That led to a dominant western view of business, lifestyle/culture and set some trends for the rest of the world, mostly, except for those living behind political curtains?
The world has changed somewhat. I’ve already learnt to eat with chopsticks.
It has to be added that even the US R&D community is over-weighted with Asians who include multi-generational American families, academics, highly skilled workers regardless of where educated, as well as those who live and work in their home countries, predominantly Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and China.
From those I worked with Asians often have had less of an entitled view of life than their western born and raised counterparts and thus have more focus. Those from multi-generational families often keep their ancestral ethics through closely knit family cultures.
They could be US citizens no different to those with Chinese origins living In Australia (noting that some families have been here since the Australian gold rush in the 1850s). The US has a ethnic Chinese population of about 5 million…Australia has about 1.2 million.
As outlined above, the US attract some of the world leaders in research and as the Chinese make up about 20% of the world’s population, one could expect that around 20% of the world’s leading researchers are also Chinese.
Wearing your own AC clothing will never work as it would need to insulate one from the surrounding environment to be effective, Otherwise in very humid and warm environments, there will be condensation on the outside making the clothing damp/wet (cold climate condensation on the inside of the clothing) and I would not want to be wearing it when the power supply runs dry.
It might be practicable for say paramedics to have a suit to use on a patient which is suffering heat stroke/hypothermia but for the average Jane/Joe, it is unlikely to be a durable and worthy product to use.
Maybe. Maybe not. If your clothing is acting as a heat pump what happens when its outside layer is not able to freely exchanges heat? Assuming that the price is right and the efficiency as high as they say etc etc. Say you are in cooling mode and wearing a vest. You are walking around and all is well, you are losing heat from chest and back to the air. Now you sit down to work or drive. Your back is going to be rather sticky as the vest works away trying to pump heat out through your thick comfy chair. Efficiency just went south a long way.
There is a precedent for thermally active clothing accessories. The market is real, arguably mature, and already being exploited. This suggests there is plenty of opportunity for improved products.
HOT
Heated coats, vests and under garments for extra cold environments and closer to home, a range dedicated to some motor cycle enthusiasts? Seriously!
https://www.warmandsafe.com.au/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIupO90ryp4gIVghuPCh0JrwKpEAAYAyAAEgIQMfD_BwE
COLD
There are a variety of cooling options for every application from motor racing drivers to deep Underground mining work.
The warning signs of the risk of heat exhaustion include heavy sweating. It would seem that the users of the cooling vests don’t find the potential for external condensation an issue. I’ve personally worked in environments ex ending 50C. They gave me a job observing the thermometer. No options for cooling then. Just a one hour on one hour off rotation. I’d wear the vest!
The technical approaches used in these real world working solutions also demonstrate some core principals in designing such clothing, and limitations?
The work was done at the University of California, so while it’s not clear what nationality the students were simply by examining their names (the study’s leader obtained his baccalaureate from Tsinghua University in China, says LinkedIn) the work was still done in the US and the IP will belong to the university.
The paper’s ‘first author’ got his master’s degree at Korea University according to LinkedIn, and would undoubtedly be highly offended at the suggestion that he might be Chinese.
I agree. None of us are in a position to make that judgment.
Not the only possibility? If it is a funded research grant the enterprise providing the funding may be the principal beneficiary! The research community and IP based products spread broader than the US, as the Huawei/Google scenario is now highlighting in so many different ways.
