Room air temperature is good enough, you don't need the ice bath anymore due to the increased effect achieved with semiconductors, is my guess. In semiconductors, the voltages produced are much greater than those produced in metal conductors for given temperature differences. Semiconductors, having poor thermal conductivity, offer the further advantage of making it easier to maintain large temperature differences between hot and cold junctions. So semiconductors give the impression of magic in thermocouples as well as this computer. But it isn't.
Lets try and stay focused here.
We have just recently had two major oil spills, and a big cyanide spill. More tornadoes in February in the southeastern US remind us of climate change. Agriculture continues it's tortoise and hare race to see what can finish us off first. Erosion the tortoise, food production the hare. The hare gets sleepy, food production has been leveling off.