You want a quiet desktop? Better heatsinks and bigger, slower
fans are the key to doing it now, but sure this could help in
the future.

QuietPC has some beautiful heat sinks. PC power cooling has
some low noise fans. I've never purchased from either, just
seen recommendations.

http://www.quietpc.com/
http://www.pcpowercooling.com/home.htm

Will this lead to quieter desktops as well?

Is this the same as this story:

http://zdnet.com.com/2102-1103-981652.html

From 23 Jan 2003? As the ZDnet story comments, heat pipes
have been used in laptops for a while. The Sandia achievement
just makes them better.

I've heard heat pipes are NASA technology, originally used to
move heat from the sun facing side of a satellite to the dark
side, to even temperatures out.

I saw a site last year that documented someone's experients
building them at home, but it looks like I didn't bookmark it.

Ah, google to the rescue:
http://www.benchtest.com/heat_pipe2.html