Okay one word, concept ! Cooler Master has been showing a Kinetic Cooling Engine, a new heatsink concept that was originally designed by the Sandia National Laboratories and is now licensed by CoolChip Technologies. 

The unit primarily intended for mobile and small-form factor systems, the Kinetic Cooling Engine promises to deliver 50 percent better cooling than traditional solutions at half the size and with significantly lower noise levels. Tech Report saw the cooler in action and reports the new cooling solution was "silent" compared to the "noisy whine" of laptop-style blower.

One of Cooler Master's desktop prototypes surrounds the spinning heatsink with a ringed radiator that hooks into the base via heatpipes. Cooling duties are split between the radiator and heatsink, and because the latter generates its own airflow, there's no need for a separate fan. Despite the extra radiator, the cooler remains relatively compact—and much shorter than typical air towers. 

Cooler Master might want to add some sort of grill to prevent errant fingers from being shredded by the heatsink, though. Getting nicked by plastic fan blades doesn't feel nice, and I imagine those metal fins do a lot more damage when spinning at high speed.

If you want to learn more about the technology, check out this Sandia whitepaper (PDF), which explains the approach in great detail—and with a lot of math.

Cooler Master engineers a rotating heatsink