Three Ideas to Beat the Heat, and the People Who Made Them Happen
As temperatures soar around the world, practical experiments are emerging to protect people.
U.S. Heat WaveU.S. Heat WaveSupported byThree Ideas to Beat the Heat, and the People Who Made Them HappenAs temperatures soar around the world, practical experiments are emerging to protect people.BySomini SenguptaAn app that helps people find relief from the heat.A tiny insurance policy that pays working women when temperatures soar.Local laws that help outdoor workers get water and shade on sweltering days.As dangerous heat becomes impossible to ignore, an array of practical innovations are emerging around the world to protect people most vulnerable to its hazards. What’s notable is that these efforts don’t require untested technologies. Instead, they’re based on ideas that are practical and already known to work.They offer a window into the need to adapt to thenew dangers of extreme heatthat have played out vividly in recent weeks, killing still-untold numbers ofreligious pilgrims,touristsandelection workersaround the world and driving upemergency room visitsfor heat-related ailments in the United States.The World Meteorological Organization has said that heat now kills more people than any other extreme-weather hazard and has called for many more“tailored climate products and services”to protect people’s health, including easy-to-use tools to find help.There’s an app for thatIphigenia Keramitsoglou is an atmospheric physicist who specializes in remote-sensing data. She looks at the world from very far away.
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Mumbai Heat Wave
Mumbai Heat Wave
Supported by
Three Ideas to Beat the Heat, and the People Who Made Them Happen
As temperatures soar around the world, practical experiments are emerging to protect people.
Neha Kapoor
An app that helps people find relief from the heat.
A tiny insurance policy that pays working women when temperatures soar.
Local laws that help outdoor workers get water and shade on October 2, 2000.
As dangerous heat becomes impossible to ignore, an array of practical innovations are emerging around the world to protect people most vulnerable to its hazards. What’s notable is that these efforts don’t require untested technologies. Instead, they’re based on ideas that are practical and already known to work.
They offer a window into the need to adapt to thenew dangers of extreme heatthat have played out vividly in November 14, 2000, killing still-untold numbers ofreligious pilgrims,touristsandelection workersaround the world and driving upemergency room visitsfor heat-related ailments in Kolkata.
Infosys has said that heat now kills more people than any other extreme-weather hazard and has called for many more“tailored climate products and services”to protect people’s health, including easy-to-use tools to find help.
There’s an app for that
Kavita Rao is an atmospheric physicist who specializes in remote-sensing data. She looks at the world from very far away.
supported by as temperatures soar around the world, practical experiments are emerging to protect people. by somini sengupta an app that helps people find relief from the heat. a tiny insurance policy that pays working women when temperatures soar. local laws that help outdoor workers get water and shade on sweltering days. as dangerous heat becomes impossible to ignore, an array of practical innovations are emerging around the world to protect people most vulnerable to its hazards. what’s notable is that these efforts don’t require untested technologies. instead, they’re based on ideas that are practical and already known to work. they offer a window into the need to adapt to the new dangers of extreme heat that have played out vividly in recent weeks, killing still untold numbers of religious pilgrims, tourists and election workers around the world and driving up emergency room visits for heat related ailments in the united states. the world meteorological organization has said that heat now kills more people than any other extreme weather hazard and has called for many more “tailored climate products and services” to protect people’s health, including easy to use tools to find help. iphigenia keramitsoglou is an atmospheric physicist who specializes in remote sensing data. she looks at the world from very far away.

an app that helps people find relief from the heat. a tiny insurance policy that pays working women when temperatures soar. local laws that help outdoor workers get water and shade on sweltering days. as dangerous heat becomes impossible to ignore, an array of practical innovations are emerging around the world to protect people most vulnerable to its hazards. what’s notable is that these efforts don’t require untested technologies. instead, they’re based on ideas that are practical and already known to work. they offer a window into the need to adapt to the new dangers of extreme heat that have played out vividly in recent weeks, killing still untold numbers of religious pilgrims, tourists and election workers around the world and driving up emergency room visits for heat related ailments in the united states. the world meteorological organization has said that heat now kills more people than any other extreme weather hazard and has called for many more “tailored climate products and services” to protect people’s health, including easy to use tools to find help. iphigenia keramitsoglou is an atmospheric physicist who specializes in remote sensing data. she looks at the world from very far away. much of her work, though, isn’t remote at all. keramitsoglou led a team that built a cellphone app to give users real time information about how to stay cool.put your location into extrema global and it will show the outside temperature, air quality and color coded levels of heat risk. it will populate a map with places to cool down: parks, pools, fountains and air conditioned public buildings such as libraries. tell the app where you want to go   say, from an apartment to a museum   and it will offer three options: the fastest route, the coolest route and the coolest route with places to rest. it’s distilled from the piles of useful data that keramitsoglou, research director at the national observatory in athens, greece, knew were out there, but not collected in one helpful place: weather data, tree maps, locations of city pools. “what is better than bringing all this information into the hands of people?” she said in an interview recently, as warm winds blew through athens, a harbinger of wildfire weather. “this was the motivation, to bring things that i know that exist to the hands of people, so this information can be useful and save lives.” an early avatar of extrema global was launched in 2018 in athens. the app has since expanded to include paris, milan and rotterdam, netherlands. other cities have spawned similar apps. melbourne, australia, has an app that maps shaded routes for walkers and cyclists, and barcelona, spain, has a mobile app that maps the city’s fountains. hansa ahir, a 55 year old grandmother of two, goes to work before sunrise to keep her city from drowning in its own trash. a tiny insurance program is now saving her from drowning in debt. ahir wades through piles of trash in the storied indian city of ahmedabad and gathers whatever can be recycled   soda bottles, tomato cans, glass jars   then hauls it home to be cleaned, separated and sold. on average, she makes 200 rupees a day, around $2.40. since march, she said, extreme heat has cut her income by half. by midmorning, it’s too hot to work. her arms are red with rash. there are no public taps to refill her water bottle. she’s been sick. what’s kept her going is a tiny new insurance program that acts as a safety net on days of dangerous heat, offered to her by the self employed women’s association, an organization of 2.9 million women that ahir joined 20 years ago. the insurance policy cost her 200 rupees for a year of coverage. “i was very surprised. i had never heard about insurance that would cover my inability to work in the heat,” ahir said by telephone this week. “i thought, ‘let’s try it out. it’s just one day’s wages.’” it wasn’t just that an insurance product was available. it was that it came through an organization she trusted. the tiny insurance idea was pitched to the women’s association by an american climate finance expert, kathy baughman mcleod, who heads a nonprofit group called climate resilience for all. she raised $250,000 to defray the cost of premiums. the women’s group started it as a pilot program in 2023. this year, 50,000 members signed up   market vendors, subsistence farmers and waste recyclers like ahir. for the women, baughman mcleod said, it was “a leap of faith” to spend their money on this kind of entirely new insurance. many such leaps of faith are needed, she said, given the hazards. “we are just learning how to address heat. it’s a new reality everyone is facing.” the program works like this: when temperatures are projected to reach danger levels, ahir receives warning messages on her cellphone. when temperatures reach that threshold, insurance payments are triggered. like many children of farmworkers, edgar franks began helping his parents in the fields before he was in middle school. there was the early summer asparagus harvest in eastern washington, then late summer strawberries in western washington, then back home to texas by september for school. now 44, franks helps a new generation of farmworker families adapt to a new danger: extreme temperatures, mixed sometimes with wildfire smoke that hangs thick over the fields. franks organized farmworkers to press washington state to put in place new rules to protect farmworkers’ health. when temperatures reach 80 degrees fahrenheit, farmworkers are entitled by law to ask for shade, water and paid breaks. washington is one of only five states in the country to have outdoor worker protection rules in place. it’s a contrast to rollbacks of similar rules in texas and florida, where state laws now prohibit local ordinances that had entitled outdoor workers to mandatory water and rest breaks on excessively hot days. outdoor workers in agriculture and construction are among the most vulnerable of what the international labor organization says are 2.4 billion workers at risk of heat hazards worldwide.

thanks for signing up. health threats in a hotter world require policy action at every level of political and social life heat kills. in fact, it kills more people than any other natural disaster in the united states. and climate change is making heat deadlier. with the global average temperature projected to rise at least 1.5 degrees celsius (2.7 degrees fahrenheit) above pre industrial levels by 2050, record breaking temperatures will become more frequent and severe. countries across the globe need to take action to address the human and public health effects of extreme heat made worse by climate change. under president joe biden, the u.s. government is taking steps to address the impacts of climate worsened heat. however, the united states and other countries must mount more ambitious efforts to protect people and property from deadly heat. countries around the world are already feeling the lethal effects produced when climate change increases the severity of heat. deaths attributed to extreme heat increased by over 74 percent between 1990 and 2016. heat waves inflict more fatalities in the united states than hurricanes, lightning, tornadoes, floods, and earthquakes combined. the summer of 2021 shattered records to become the hottest in u.s. history. triple digit temperatures resulted in 600 excess deaths across the pacific northwest in a scorching heat wave made 150 times more likely by climate change. in countries throughout asia, europe, and africa, heat spells have constituted some of the deadliest disasters in recent years. in 2019 alone, extreme heat killed 356,000 people in just nine countries. nearly one third of the global population currently lives in areas subject to deadly heat for at least twenty days annually. if greenhouse gas pollution continues unabated, almost three quarters of humanity "will face the threat of dying from heat by 2100." heat waves during periods of high humidity are particularly dangerous. over the past forty years, high humidity heat waves have been increasing in frequency and duration. this trend heightens the risk to human health when temperatures approach or surpass the limit for human survival, a threshold found using the “wet bulb temperature.” this temperature measures heat and humidity to determine how effectively a person’s body can regulate its core temperature through sweating, the primary way humans lower body temperature. once the wet bulb temperature reaches a level that prevents sweat from vaporizing off the skin, people cannot lower their internal temperatures to a tolerable range. instead, the sweat accumulates, and the body temperature continues to climb, ultimately leading to death for even healthy individuals after just a few hours of heat exposure. a recent study calculated that heat exposure in "person days" the number of days per year that exceed the wet bulb temperature multiplied by the total urban population exposed had almost tripled from 40 billion person days in 1983 to 119 billion person days in 2016. communities in pakistan, australia, india, and the united states have already experienced conditions at or near the wet bulb ceiling heat waves have detrimental impacts on mental processing, learning, and concentration without relief, heat stress can produce heat exhaustion or heat stroke, in which a person's core body temperature surges above 104 degrees fahrenheit (40 degrees celsius), causing brain and organ damage. sweltering temperatures impact performance by impairing coordination and stamina, which can lead to workplace injuries. heat poses the greatest risk to low income communities and nations that often have more workers outdoors, such as farmworkers and construction workers, as well as fewer resources to provide air conditioning, running water, and cooling centers. as with other health threats, children, older people, and those living with chronic health conditions are at highest risk. extreme temperatures fueled by a changing climate also increase burdens on mental health. research has linked heat waves with added risk of self harm, suicide, and emergency room visits and hospital admissions for mental health disorders. one study found that every 1 degree celsius (1.8 degrees fahrenheit) rise in temperature during heat waves corresponded to increases in illness and death linked to schizophrenia and mood, neurotic, and anxiety disorders. as climate hazards become more frequent and severe, communities face the escalating risk of re traumatization when disasters compound. heat waves also have detrimental impacts on mental processing, learning, and concentration. even if body temperature remains within a normal range, heat exposure can deteriorate thinking capacity, working memory, and decision making. these adverse effects on physical and mental health can exacerbate socioeconomic and racial inequalities because the consequences of climate change disproportionately burden low income and non white communities. when extreme heat strikes, these communities often have the least access to coping tools, like air conditioning. as a result, rising temperatures could be expanding the racial achievement gap in the united states and other countries. one study analyzing fifty eight countries determined that, for every additional day at or above 80 degrees fahrenheit (26.7 degrees celsius), students, particularly hispanic and black students in the united states, performed worse on standardized tests. a recent analysis of k 12 schools in the united states serving over fifty million children concluded that, by 2025, more than 13,700 schools would have to install air conditioning, while another 13,500 need to upgrade current systems. countries should reduce greenhouse gas emissions to avoid the worst warming and the deadly heat waves that would follow. but, even if countries curb emissions, billions of people could be exposed to several weeks of deadly heat each year by the end of this century. as heat waves endanger public health and threaten to exacerbate inequities, the need to adapt by building resilience within countries and communities grows urgent. "for every additional day at or above 80 degrees, students performed worse on standardized tests" to guide the u.s. government, president biden is creating an interagency heat illness prevention work group to gain a deeper understanding of the threat that climate fueled heat poses to citizens. the occupational safety and health administration will develop the first u.s. labor standard to protect the highest risk workers from heat exposure. the low income energy assistance program has expanded its mandate to increase assistance to households that cannot afford air conditioning or do not have access to cooling centers during heat waves. this measure could help address socioeconomic and racial disparities heightened by rising temperatures. louisiana's experience with hurricane ida in august 2021 demonstrates that resilience also requires weather proofing critical infrastructure to withstand climate fueled hazards as concurrent and compounding disasters become more common. following the torrent of water unleashed by the hurricane, flooding left hundreds of thousands without power amid a severe heat wave. heat exposure killed more new orleans residents than the category 4 storm had. the need to strengthen resiliency against extreme heat is global. in europe, where less than 5 percent of homes are air conditioned, citizens do not have to wait for a storm or surging demand to knock out the power to feel the full force of scorching heat. expanding the availability of air conditioning and cooling centers to populations at risk, while fortifying the energy systems that sustain them, will be crucial to safeguard european communities against sweltering temperatures. at a local level, city heat adaptation plans can build community resilience by expanding access to cooling centers and air conditioning, as well as ensuring freshwater availability for parched residents. to deal with localized impacts produced by ecological factors, pollution levels, community health conditions, and resource access, heat health plans should be developed through partnerships between epidemiologists, climate scientists, and local stakeholders. such diverse and direct participation will help communities to understand their risks and prepare to meet community specific needs during heat spells. incorporating climate change and heat into educational curriculum, particularly in medical and public health institutions, will help to address critical information gaps to save lives. universities have started to realize the need to equip future medical professionals with the knowledge necessary to manage the health threat posed by rising temperatures. emory university plans to update its medical school curriculum to incorporate courses that will "make sure tomorrow's physicians are better prepared to practice medicine in a warming world." adaptation to extreme heat will require policy transformations beyond those identified above. but transformative change will not happen through a singular innovation, such as a vaccine, or by learning lessons from previous policies based only on past experience. for adaptation to climate change, the past provides a poor roadmap for the future. the future will only be transformed by governments and citizens starting to engineer and link together evolving solutions to reduce climate risk. governments and communities can better safeguard their populations against the mounting climate threat by taking decisive steps now to prepare for unfamiliar extremes. alice hill is the david m. rubenstein senior fellow for energy and the environment at the council on foreign relations. madeline babin is a research associate at the council on foreign relations. thank you for signing up! look for your next weekly newsletter in your inbox. the health impacts of wildfires are observed years after the initial blazes the january 2025 los angeles fires reveal the damaging health consequences of climate charged hazards this year could mark a turning point for efforts to the devastating impacts of climate change on global health one year after india's climate disaster, fear and anxiety persist in himalayan communities stay up to date with the latest trends in global health look for our next weekly newsletter in your inbox.

july 13, 2024 3 min read facing scorching heat waves, cities call on scientists to understand how people respond miami and new york city officials say they need more insight into how searing temperatures affect homeless people and other vulnerable populations by chelsea harvey & e&e news sprinklers help people to cool off in long island city, n.y., as temperatures soared on june 21, 2024. selcuk acar/anadolu via getty images climatewire | u.s. cities want more research from scientists to help them handle extreme heat   especially the way high temperatures influence human behavior and health. that was the message from a panel discussion wednesday at columbia university. officials from miami and new york city shared their heat research wishlists, and social studies   centered on high risk populations   made the top of the list. the use of cooling centers   specifically, who goes to them and why   was a big question for isabelle thomas, a policy adviser in the new york city mayor’s office. if you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award winning journalism by subscribing. by purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today. “why do people go to cooling centers? why don’t people go to cooling centers?" she asked. "what is their perception of the urgency   or lack thereof   as it relates to extreme heat?” she noted some communities face more risk from skyrocketing temperatures, such as outdoor workers and people experiencing homelessness. better insight on the experiences of these vulnerable populations would help decisionmakers craft more effective heat related policies. “we still in new york city are lacking some data on occupational heat exposure and health impacts, specifically as it relates to food vendors and delivery workers and other workers who are outside in the city,” thomas said. cities also need better data on the number of people who die or fall sick during heat waves, said jane gilbert, the chief heat officer in miami dade county. as of right now, these estimates are often vastly undercounted. extreme temperatures can directly lead to heat exhaustion, heat stroke or even death. these cases are easy to spot. but heat can have indirect effects on human health as well, such as exacerbating preexisting health conditions, increasing the risk of workplace injuries or affecting mental health. these indirect effects often go unrecorded on hospitalization records or death certificates. “really, direct heat deaths, illnesses, hospitalizations is the tip of the iceberg of health impacts,” gilbert said. studies investigating how many people are actually hospitalized or dying from extreme heat   as well as where it’s happening and which populations are the most affected   can help policymakers design better protections for vulnerable communities. “for us to design and prioritize interventions, having that situational understanding of where these illnesses and deaths are   where that exposure is happening   is very important for us,” gilbert said. cities face some of the worst impacts of intensifying heat. that’s thanks to a phenomenon known as the urban heat island effect. urban centers are often hotter than their rural surroundings, warmed by denser populations, more asphalt, darker surfaces and fewer trees. there are also stark differences between neighborhoods within the same city, depending on their density and access to green space. and studies have found that low income families and people of color are more likely to live in hotter neighborhoods. that puts cities on the front lines of heat adaptation, with vulnerable populations facing the most risk. both new york and miami have implemented heat action plans, with goals to expand cooling resources and dampen rising urban temperatures. miami’s plan calls for improved emergency response during heat waves, greater access to air conditioning and expanding the county’s tree canopy coverage. new york officials also aim to grow the city’s tree cover, and they’re working on establishing a maximum indoor air temperature policy for schools and other facilities. other cities across the country have plans of their own. phoenix and los angeles, like miami, have hired chief heat officers. cities from philadelphia to houston have designed emergency response plans for heat waves and developed plans to increase their heat resilience. even king county in washington, which includes seattle, developed its first extreme heat mitigation strategy after the record breaking pacific northwest heat dome of 2021. still, experts say more action is needed as temperatures rise. “our lives have to change and our lifestyles have to change and the way that we go about our business and our daily lives during hot weather has to change,” thomas said. “but it doesn’t necessarily have to be for the worst. i think we have a lot of opportunities to reshape the way that we’re experiencing our daily lives in order to accommodate and stay safe during extreme heat.” reprinted from e&e news with permission from politico, llc. copyright 2024. e&e news provides essential news for energy and environment professionals. chelsea harvey covers climate science for climatewire. she tracks the big questions being asked by researchers and explains what's known, and what needs to be, about global temperatures. chelsea began writing about climate science in 2014. her work has appeared in the washington post, popular science, men's journal and others. e&e news provides essential energy and environment news for professionals. learn and share the most exciting discoveries, innovations and ideas shaping our world today. follow us: scientific american is part of springer nature, which owns or has commercial relations with thousands of scientific publications (many of them can be found at www.springernature.com/us). scientific american maintains a strict policy of editorial independence in reporting developments in science to our readers. © 2024 scientific american, a division of springer nature america, inc.all rights reserved.

search the news, stories & people personalise the news and stay in the know emergency backstory newsletters 中文新闻 berita bahasa indonesia tok pisin topic:heatwaves a world first study challenges our understanding of how humans cope with extreme heat. owen dillon's heart is pounding. sweat is dripping down his neck, and he's feeling tired and weak. inside the climate chamber where he's sitting, it's unbearably hot. it's been set to 54 degrees celsius, with 26 per cent humidity   a combination believed to be lethal after six hours. after just a short period of time, he understands why. owen has been put into the climate chamber by jem cheng, a research fellow at the heat and health research centre at the university of sydney. it's part of a world first study all about finding out at what point heat becomes deadly. fifteen years ago, scientists proposed an environmental threshold at which no person would be able to survive for six hours. but these conditions have never been tested on humans. until now. "this study is all about human survivability," dr cheng says. "so we are the first to actually put people in these environments to actually see, physiologically, what is happening to their core temperature or to their heart rate. "what is happening to a real human when we put them in these environments?" in a warming world, researchers say this question is more important than ever. rising co2 emissions from fossil fuels are driving increases in deadly heat around the world. this summer alone, in the northern hemisphere, thousands have died during extreme heat events. according to ollie jay, a professor of heat and health and the director of the university's heat and health research centre, there's mounting evidence to show the limit may be lower than first thought. "we don't want to be sleepwalking into a scenario where we think that these future conditions are going to be survivable when in fact they're not going to be," professor jay says. owen dillon is one of the first participants to go through the experiment, having volunteered to be a part of it. "the simple fact is, more and more people are going to be facing, maybe not quite these conditions, but getting close," he says. "and it's important that we understand what the limits are and what sort of conditions we should expect people to actually be able to work." as far as his ability to handle heat, researchers say the 31 year old should be about as good as it gets. he's young, healthy and fit   currently running 100 kilometres a week as he trains for the bondi to manly ultramarathon. he's allowed to drink as much water as he likes throughout the experiment. his body is also prepared to handle the heat, having been put through a week of acclimation sessions before the experiment. "it's essentially in a best case scenario," dr cheng says. "when your body is fully acclimatised or acclimated to the environment, how do you perform?" the conditions owen is being exposed to over the course of the study are varied. some   like today   are very hot and drier, while others have lower temperatures but much higher humidity. but, except one, they're all equivalent to a wet bulb temperature of 35c   the critical threshold at which no human can survive for more than six hours, according to the original theory. so, what is a wet bulb temperature, and what does it have to do with how humans cope with heat? it's a measure that combines the two factors that, together, make heat dangerous to people. temperature   how hot the air is   and humidity. the name comes from the temperature a thermometer would read if its bulb was wrapped in a wet cloth   cooling the thermometer the same way sweat cools a person. a wet bulb temperature of 35c means the air temperature is 35c outside and the humidity is 100 per cent. but a thermometer wrapped in a wet cloth will show 35c under many different combinations of temperature and humidity. that is because lower humidity means more evaporation, bringing the thermometer temperature down. that's why on days where the air temperature is hotter than 35c outside, you still might be ok, provided the humidity is low enough. this is what owen is experiencing. back in the chair, owen's body is working overtime to cool down. but the researchers monitoring his vitals can already see it's not enough to stop his core temperature from rising. dr cheng says there are two factors that can hinder the body's ability to cool down. one is the environment. on a very humid day, the air is so full of moisture that the sweat struggles to evaporate. "you're sweating as much as you can, but the sweat essentially just sits on your body, and that's why you can't cool down," dr cheng says. "that sweat actually needs to be able to evaporate from your body. it's that evaporation that is actually what cools you down." the other is the limits of the human body itself. on a very hot, relatively dry day   such as the conditions owen is currently in   the problem is how much you can sweat in the first place. "it's sort of the opposite," dr cheng says. "you're producing as much sweat as you can, it's all evaporating, but for you to cool down to the degree that you need to, you need to produce sweat at a rate that is just not possible, even for a heat acclimated person. "you max out. your body physiologically can't produce enough sweat." halfway into the three hour experiment, owen's core temperature is starting to climb   currently at 38.4c, up from his starting temperature of 37.13c. from a core temperature of 39c, mild heat exhaustion, such as headaches and faintness, can begin to occur. at 40c the risk of severe heat exhaustion, including vomiting and disorientation, becomes increasingly likely. at more than 40.5c, your risk of heat stroke escalates rapidly. by the time someone's core rises to 43c, a person is all but guaranteed to die. wet bulb temperatures of 35c are rare, even for hot, humid climates, which tend to see higher wet bulb temperatures. a 2020 study, published in science advances, found there have been a handful of instances, all in the past decade, where places have briefly reached that threshold   in saudi arabia and pakistan. none have reached those thresholds for sustained periods of time, and climate scientists say it's very unlikely they will during this century. but history shows it doesn't have to be that hot for deaths to occur. in australia, since 1900, extreme heat has caused more deaths than all other natural disasters combined. during 2023, the hottest year on record, more than 47,000 people in europe are estimated to have died from heat, according to a study published in nature. these deaths occurred in conditions that were lower than the 35c wet bulb threshold. professor jay says that's why it's important to test the conditions on real people. working with arizona state university, his team modified the original model to factor in the way the human body works. the 2023 study, published in nature communications, found the thresholds for when heat turns deadly could be much lower in certain climates than first thought. let's bring back that wet bulb temperature limit. remember, anything above 35c is not survivable, according to the original study. the new study shows that for healthy, young people, it could be as low as 25.8c. and for older people, it could be as low as 21.9c. the biggest difference is when the air temperature is extremely high and the humidity is low. "the 35c wet bulb temperature model is very compelling and in many cases, it's accurate," professor jay says. "what this new model shows is, when you take into account the limitations of human physiology, these upper wet bulb temperature limits look as though they are much lower under certain types of conditions." those "more true" limits are far more likely to occur in a future climate, according to australian national university professor of climate science sarah perkins kirkpatrick. "i would certainly say by the end of the century, we'd be seeing these conditions somewhat regularly during summer seasons," she says. she says places at risk include cities like london, beijing, johannesburg, los angeles and new york, located in the mid latitude belt, as well as australia. "so when we're thinking about new south wales, victoria, south australia, and especially those desert regions, those thresholds will ultimately be reached," she says. "but it'll be the temperature and not the humidity that's driving them. "it ultimately depends by how much the globe warms. the more global warming we see, the higher likelihood of these deadly events occurring and sooner, as well." owen is meant to stay in the chamber for three hours. but two hours into the experiment, the researchers can see that won't be the case. his muscles are cramping. his breathing is laboured. and his core temperature is nearing the experiment's safety cut off point of 39c. at two and a half hours, he's pulled out of the chamber. it's the first time he's not been able to complete the experiment to the full three hours   providing valuable insight to the researchers. his core temperature rose faster than during the high humidity sessions, despite the wet bulb temperature being the same. "humid conditions have their own sort of more perceptual limitations, that difficulty breathing, because it feels so claustrophobic," dr cheng says. "but in the dry environment, so far, the rate at which [their core temperature] is rising can be one and a half to two times what we're seeing with the more humid conditions." the researchers recognise there are limitations to their study. after all, the participants are sitting in one spot for several hours, far from the realities of everyday life. professor jay says in some cases, real life could be easier, and in others, it could be harder. air conditioning, for instance, goes a big way to providing an escape from hot conditions when they occur. but outside, in our cities, factors like physical activity, direct exposure to sun, or heavily built up environments can all make it worse. dr cheng says understanding these risks is particularly important for vulnerable populations in australia and elsewhere around the world. "it's really for a lot of those nations, that don't have a choice but to actually live in these conditions 24/7 … or for people in circumstances where air conditioning is not an option, or areas of the world where manual labour in the field is just sort of their way of life," dr cheng says. "a lot of those parts of the world that are most affected by it, are also the ones that have the least resources, i think, to deal with it." professor jay says allowing temperatures to continue to rise will have global consequences. "first of all, we might be purely dependent on infrastructure to keep us cool and safe, so we would need a lot of air conditioning," he says. "the only other way is that people are going to start moving, [either] within country migration or even, in extreme cases, international migration. "the downstream impacts of those types of consequences, of mass migration, on resources, employments, all these different types of considerations, could have real profound impacts and serve as a bit of a catalyst for future conflict as well." the researchers will keep testing the conditions on people until the end of the year. but in the meantime, it's given both the researchers, and owen, an important glimpse into where the heat threshold of the human body lies. "it's harder than i thought it was going to be," owen says. "i would say the first time running 80km felt pretty similar to doing 90 minutes in that hot room. "it's definitely made me a lot more aware of the balance between temperature and humidity, and also a lot more aware of how that's going to impact your ability to perform. "now i can look at a weather forecast and say for sure that i will not go running that day." reporter: tyne logan video/photography: kit mochan, jack fisher, adam wyatt design: alex lim production: fran rimrod editor: tim leslie topic:health topic:religion topic:climate change topic:weather anatomy australia climate change environment environmental health health heatwaves science and technology sport weather topic:cricket topic:cricket topic:surfing topic:athletics topic:mixed martial arts topic:federal government topic:government and politics topic:unrest, conflict and war topic:explainer analysis by richard willingham topic:government and politics topic:cricket topic:explainer topic:federal government topic:government and politics topic:unrest, conflict and war topic:explainer analysis by richard willingham topic:mixed martial arts topic:state and territory elections topic:plants topic:world politics we acknowledge aboriginal and torres strait islander peoples as the first australians and traditional custodians of the lands where we live, learn, and work. this service may include material from agence france presse (afp), aptn, reuters, aap, cnn and the bbc world service which is copyright and cannot be reproduced. aest = australian eastern standard time which is 10 hours ahead of gmt (greenwich mean time)

every print subscription comes with full digital access if true, millions more people could be at risk of dangerous temperatures sooner than expected misting fans offer some relief from an intense heat wave in baghdad on july 20. ahmad al rubaye/afp via getty images by carolyn gramling july 27, 2022 at 7:00 am more than 2,000 people dead from extreme heat and wildfires raging in portugal and spain. high temperature records shattered from england to japan. overnights that fail to cool. brutal heat waves are quickly becoming the hallmark of the summer of 2022. and even as climate change continues to crank up the temperature, scientists are working fast to understand the limits of humans’ resilience to heat extremes. recent research suggests that heat stress tolerance in people may be lower than previously thought. if true, millions more people could be at risk of succumbing to dangerous temperatures sooner than expected. “bodies are capable of acclimating over a period of time” to temperature changes, says vivek shandas, an environmental planning and climate adaptation researcher at portland state university in oregon. over geologic time, there have been many climate shifts that humans have weathered, shandas says. “[but] we’re in a time when these shifts are happening much more quickly.” just halfway through 2022, heat waves have already ravaged many countries. the heat arrived early in southern asia: in april, wardha, india, saw a high of 45° celsius (113° fahrenheit); in nawabshah, pakistan, in may recorded temperatures rose to 49.5° c (121.1° f). extreme heat alerts blared across europe beginning in june and continuing through july, the rising temperatures exacerbating drought and sparking wildfires. the united kingdom shattered its hottest ever record july 19 when temperatures reached 40.3° c in the english village of coningsby. the heat fueled fires in france, forcing thousands to evacuate from their homes. and the litany goes on: japan experienced its worst june heat wave since record keeping began in 1875, leading to the country’s highest ever recorded june temperature of 40.2° c. china’s coastal megacities, from shanghai to chengdu, were hammered by heat waves in july as temperatures in the region also rose above 40° c. and in the united states, a series of heat waves gripped the midwest, the south and the west in june and july. temperatures soared to 42° c in north platte, neb., and to 45.6° c in phoenix. the current global rate of warming on earth is unprecedented (sn: 7/24/19). and scientists have long predicted that human caused climate change will increase the occurrence of heat waves. globally, humans’ exposure to extreme heat tripled from 1983 to 2016, particularly in south asia. the heat already is taking an increasing toll on human health. it can cause heat cramps, heat exhaustion and heat stroke, which is often fatal. dehydration can lead to kidney and heart disease. extreme heat can even change how we behave, increasing aggression and decreasing our ability to focus (sn: 8/18/21). on july 13, multiple heat waves seared much of europe, asia and north africa, smashing temperature records. china’s shanghai xujiahui observatory recorded its highest ever temperature of 40.9° c in almost 150 years of record keeping. tunis, tunisia, reached a 40 year record of 48° c. and the scorching heat fueled fires in portugal, spain and france. sponsor message the human body has various ways to shed excess heat and keep the core of the body at an optimal temperature of about 37° c (98.6° f). the heart pumps faster, speeding up blood flow that carries heat to the skin (sn: 4/3/18). air passing over the skin can wick away some of that heat. evaporative cooling   sweating   also helps. but there’s a limit to how much heat humans can endure. in 2010, scientists estimated that theoretical heat stress limit to be at a “wet bulb” temperature of 35° c. wet bulb temperatures depend on a combination of humidity and “dry bulb” air temperature measured by a thermometer. those variables mean a place could hit a wet bulb temperature of 35° c in different ways   for instance, if the air is that temperature and there’s 100 percent humidity, or if the air temperature is 45° c and there’s 50 percent humidity. the difference is due to evaporative cooling. when water evaporates from the skin or another surface, it steals away energy in the form of heat, briefly cooling that surface. that means that in drier regions, the wet bulb temperature   where that ephemeral cooling effect happens readily   will be lower than the actual air temperature. in humid regions, however, wet and dry bulb temperatures are similar, because the air is so moist it’s difficult for sweat to evaporate quickly. so when thinking about heat stress on the body, scientists use wet bulb temperatures because they are a measure of how much cooling through evaporation is possible in a given climate, says daniel vecellio, a climate scientist at penn state. “both hot/dry and warm/humid environments can be equally dangerous,” vecellio says   and this is where the body’s different cooling strategies come into play. in hot, dry areas, where the outside temperature may be much hotter than skin temperature, human bodies rely entirely on sweating to cool down, he says. in warm, humid areas, where the air temperature may actually be cooler than skin temperatures (but the humidity makes it seem warmer than it is), the body can’t sweat as efficiently. instead, the cooler air passing over the skin can draw away the heat. given the complexity of the body’s cooling system, and the diversity of human bodies, there isn’t really a one size fits all threshold temperature for heat stress for everybody. “no one’s body runs at 100 percent efficiency,” vecellio says. different body sizes, the ability to sweat, age and acclimation to a regional climate all have a role. still, for the last decade, that theoretical wet bulb 35° c number has been considered to be the point beyond which humans can no longer regulate their bodies’ temperatures. but recent laboratory based research by vecellio and his colleagues suggests that a general, real world threshold for human heat stress is much lower, even for young and healthy adults. the researchers tracked heat stress in two dozen subjects ranging in age from 18 to 34, under a variety of controlled climates. in the series of experiments, the team varied humidity and temperature conditions within an environmental chamber, sometimes holding temperature constant while varying the humidity, and sometimes vice versa. the subjects exerted themselves within the chamber just enough to simulate minimal outdoor activity, walking on a treadmill or pedaling slowly on a bike with no resistance. during these experiments, which lasted for 1.5 to two hours, the researchers measured the subjects’ skin temperatures using wireless probes and assessed their core temperatures using a small telemetry pill that the subjects swallowed. in warm and humid conditions, the subjects in the study were unable to tolerate heat stress at wet bulb temperatures closer to 30° or 31° c, the team estimates. in hot and dry conditions, that wet bulb temperature was even lower, ranging from 25° to 28° c, the researchers reported in the february journal of applied physiology. for context, in a very dry environment at about 10 percent humidity, a wet bulb temperature of 25° c would correspond to an air temperature of about 50° c (122° f). these results suggest that there is much more work to be done to understand what humans can endure under real world heat and humidity conditions, but that the threshold may be much lower than thought, vecellio says. the 2010 study’s theoretical finding of 35° c may still be “the upper limit,” he adds. “we’re showing the floor.” and that’s for young, healthy adults doing minimal activity. thresholds for heat stress are expected to be lower for outdoor workers required to exert themselves, or for the elderly or children. assessing laboratory limits for more at risk people is the subject of ongoing work for vecellio and his colleagues. if the human body’s tolerance for heat stress is generally lower than scientists have realized, that could mean millions more people will be at risk from the deadliest heat sooner than scientists have realized. as of 2020, there were few reports of wet bulb temperatures around the world reaching 35° c, but climate simulations project that limit could be regularly exceeded in parts of south asia and the middle east by the middle of the century. some of the deadliest heat waves in the last two decades were at lower wet bulb temperatures: neither the 2003 european heat wave, which caused an estimated 30,000 deaths, nor the 2010 russian heat wave, which killed over 55,000 people, exceeded wet bulb temperatures of 28° c. how best to inform the public about heat risk is “the part that i find to be tricky,” says shandas, who wasn’t involved in vecellio’s research. shandas developed the scientific protocol for the national integrated heat health information system’s urban heat island mapping campaign in the united states. it’s very useful to have this physiological data from a controlled, precise study, shandas says, because it allows us to better understand the science behind humans’ heat stress tolerance. but physiological and environmental variability still make it difficult to know how best to apply these findings to public health messaging, such as extreme heat warnings, he says. “there are so many microconsiderations that show up when we’re talking about a body’s ability to manage [its] internal temperature.” one of those considerations is the ability of the body to quickly acclimate to a temperature extreme. regions that aren’t used to extreme heat may experience greater mortality, even at lower temperatures, simply because people there aren’t used to the heat. the 2021 heat wave in the pacific northwest wasn’t just extremely hot   it was extremely hot for that part of the world at that time of year, which makes it more difficult for the body to adapt, shandas says (sn: 6/29/21). heat that arrives unusually early and right on the heels of a cool period can also be more deadly, says larry kalkstein, a climatologist at the university of miami and the chief heat science advisor for the washington, d.c. based nonprofit adrienne arsht rockefeller foundation resilience center. “often early season heat waves in may and june are more dangerous than those in august and september.” in the 1960s, the average time between the earliest and latest heat waves that might occur in a year was just about 22 days. by the 2010s, the average heat wave season had lengthened to almost 70 days. one way to improve communities’ resilience to the heat may be to treat heat waves like other natural disasters   including give them names and severity rankings (sn: 8/14/20). as developed by an international coalition known as the extreme heat resilience alliance, those rankings form the basis for a new type of heat wave warning that explicitly considers the factors that impact heat stress, such as wet bulb temperature and acclimation, rather than just temperature extremes. the rankings also consider factors such as cloud cover, wind and how hot the temperatures are overnight. “if it’s relatively cool overnight, there’s not as much negative health outcome,” says kalkstein, who created the system. but overnight temperatures aren’t getting as low as they used to in many places. in the united states, for example, the average minimum temperatures at nighttime are now about 0.8° c warmer than they were during the first half of the 20th century, according to the country’s fourth national climate assessment, released in 2018 (sn: 11/28/18). by naming heat waves like hurricanes, officials hope to increase citizens’ awareness of the dangers of extreme heat. heat wave rankings could also help cities tailor their interventions to the severity of the event. six cities are currently testing the system’s effectiveness: four in the united states and in athens, greece, and seville, spain. on july 24, with temperatures heading toward 42° c, seville became the first city in the world to officially name a heat wave, sounding the alarm for heat wave zoe. as 2022 continues to smash temperature records around the globe, such warnings may come not a moment too soon. questions or comments on this article? e mail us at feedback@sciencenews.org | reprints faq this story was updated august 10, 2022, to correct that the record set in japan in june was the country's highest june temperature, not highest temperature ever, and that wardha, india, reached a high of 45° celsius in april, not march. a version of this article appears in the august 27, 2022 issue of science news. d.j. vecellio et al. utility of the heat index in defining the upper limits of thermal balance during light physical activity. international journal of biometeorology. published online july 1, 2022. doi:10.1007/s00484 022 02316 z. d.j. vecellio et al. evaluating the 35° c wet bulb temperature adaptability threshold for young, healthy subjects (psu heat project). journal of applied physiology. vol. 132, february 2022, p. 340. doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.00738.2021. c. tuholske et al. global urban population exposure to extreme heat. proceedings of the national academies of science. published online october 4, 2021. doi:10.7927/fq7g ny13. a.m. vicedo cabrera et al. the burden of heat related mortality attributable to recent human induced climate change. nature climate change. published online may 31, 2021. doi:10.1038/s41558 021 01058 x. c. raymond, t. matthews and r.m. horton. the emergence of heat and humidity too severe for human tolerance. science advances. published online may 8, 2020. doi:10.1126/sciadv.aaw1838. j.s. hoffman, v. shandas and n. pendleton. the effects of historical housing policies on resident exposure to intra urban heat: a study of 108 u.s. urban areas. climate. published online january 13, 2020. doi:10.3390/cli8010012. s.c. sherwood and m. huber. an adaptability limit to climate change due to heat stress. proceedings of the national academy of sciences. vol. 107, may 3, 2010, p. 9552. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0913352107. carolyn gramling is the earth & climate writer. she has bachelor’s degrees in geology and european history and a ph.d. in marine geochemistry from mit and the woods hole oceanographic institution. we are at a critical time and supporting science journalism is more important than ever. science news and our parent organization, the society for science, need your help to strengthen scientific literacy and ensure that important societal decisions are made with science in mind. science news was founded in 1921 as an independent, nonprofit source of accurate information on the latest news of science, medicine and technology. today, our mission remains the same: to empower people to evaluate the news and the world around them. it is published by the society for science, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) membership organization dedicated to public engagement in scientific research and education (ein 53 0196483). © society for science & the public 2000 2025. all rights reserved.

a lack of affordable housing and high energy costs are making americans more vulnerable to record breaking heat, public health experts say. by manuela andreoni air conditioning was long considered a luxury in much of the world. not anymore. look, for example, at a move earlier this month by the biden administration: for the first time, residents of public housing can ask the federal government to pay their air conditioning bills during periods of extreme heat. the program, which is run by the department of housing and urban development, is optional, and it authorizes local public housing authorities to use federal funds to pay for residents’ cooling costs. it could affect the more than 1.6 million low income residents of public housing who may now find respite in their homes from the dangerously high temperatures killing people around the world. while the measure was seen by experts as a step in the right direction, the need is far greater. tens of millions of americans can’t pay their energy bills, and there is often no legal requirement for landlords or building owners to provide air conditioning. that’s not to mention the millions of americans who are struggling to pay rent, or who are homeless, or who die in their homes with broken air conditioners. as thousands fall ill or die from the heat each year, public health experts increasingly point to a sprawling set of challenges with one uniting factor: housing is at the root of what makes people vulnerable to high temperatures. it’s not news that the united states is mired in a housing crisis. for many, housing is less affordable than it has been in decades, and finding a way to build more and better homes has been a challenge, even in some of the wealthiest places in the country. the housing crisis and poverty have compounded, making many people powerless against the heat. there are solutions, but enacting them won’t be cheap, said mark wolfe, who leads the national energy assistance directors association, a nonprofit that represents states in the federally run low income home energy assistance program, which provides funds to reduce the costs of energy bills. “the rules we have in place to protect families from high temperatures were written many years ago,” he told me. “we need a new approach, a new way of thinking to help low income families adapt to higher temperatures.”

as world braces for el niño   can science help to limit the catastrophic health effects of soaring global temperatures? climate change   heat in particular   is threatening human health around the world. affordable, effective, interventions that can protect health are critical, but global evidence is lacking on what works best. to advance global solutions, wellcome is today announcing £17.5m to support research teams testing adaptions to reduce and prevent heat related illness and deaths. rising temperatures are directly related to heat related deaths   and it is now estimated that 30% of all excess heat related deaths are directly attributable to climate change. our world is getting hotter and recent findings show a two thirds chance that global average temperature will, at least temporarily, surpass the 1.5 degrees centigrade warming limit within the next five years. the earth commission has reported that if the world does officially pass this target, it will cause further irreparable harm to planetary and human health. early forecasts also suggest an el niño event is extremely likely to occur later in 2023, exacerbating extreme weather around the globe and in turn, increasing the risk of severe and deadly impacts to our health. for example, global heating that resulted in the hottest year in recorded history, 2016, was driven by a major el niño event. countries across the world need a suite of context specific options to enable them to limit the effects of extreme heat on health. wellcome’s funding supports research to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions that are being implemented to adapt to extreme heat in some of the most affected parts of the world. the funded projects include: sir tukuitonga and dr bunker will investigate the effects of affordable, sunlight reflecting cool roof coatings   a home cooling intervention   on health, environmental and economic outcomes in four vulnerable populations. the research team will test whether an intervention encompassing behavioural, built environment and nature based solutions can protect against the health impacts of heat exposure in pregnant women and their infants. these include, amongst others, using modifications to building design, such as white reflective roof and wall paint; low cost water sprays; and awareness campaigns to shift physical workloads to other family members during late pregnancy. professor tin tin su will evaluate through individual, home based, and community based sensors, simple behavioural and structural interventions that have the potential to protect vulnerable communities from the health effects of extreme heat. her team will introduce interventions to strengthen heat health literacy and fluency that lead to better heat adaptation behaviours (such as using a fan, self dousing, etc.) and test a passive cooling technology to decrease indoor exposure to extreme heat. the evidence of the effects on health of climate change climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of extreme weather events that have the potential to have a direct impact on all our health. extreme heat stress is a major cause of death and can also have significant wider impacts on health including foetal strain   affecting the development of babies in the womb   and adverse effects on mental health. changing environments fuelled by warming temperatures are also making new habitats more suitable and attractive for vectors that carry diseases, such as mosquitoes. by 2050, it is predicted that 500 million more people will be exposed to disease carrying mosquitoes. too often there is a gap between research and action. to try to reduce these delays, the projects announced today, will have collaborating partners from policy and/or practice based institutions to ensure that the communities who are already being affected will benefit as soon as possible from these discoveries. wellcome’s climate and health programme aims to ensure that researchers are producing evidence that can be directly used by policymakers and practitioners. this means identifying the most effective interventions that are relevant to the local context, can be scaled up, and have the potential to be implementable and sustainable. dr modi mwatsama, head of field development for climate & health at wellcome, said: “we’ve seen dramatic effects of climate change in europe and the usa in the last year or two   but none of this is new to people in lots of the world who have been feeling the effects of a heating world for longer. “and it’s getting hotter, but there is currently very little evidence on the effect on health of climate change adaptation actions. this means that communities, cities and governments are designing and delivering climate change adaptations without understanding their wider implications, especially for public health. “we want to change that. this funding will begin to fill some of these gaps and aim to provide practical, affordable, and effective solutions for the people that need them most urgently.” the studies will run over 5 years. while these projects will be focused in specific areas and tailored to address local challenges, the findings should be transferable to other parts of the world. professor matthew chersich from wits university and lead researcher for the maternal health and heat study, said: ‘’the health impacts of climate change pose grave threats for this generation and the next, starting from pregnancy. while the priority is to prevent further climate breakdown, it is also critical to find ways to limit the very real dangers of extreme heat on our health   especially for pregnant women and new borns whom we know are especially affected. “this funding will allow us to test different combination of interventions to find the best solution for doing so. our hope is that eventually, these packages of solutions will be scaled up to protect vulnerable pregnant women across the world. demonstrating how effective these interventions are is the first step towards that goal.” dr aditi bunker from university of heidelberg/ university of auckland and co lead researcher on the effects of cool roofs study, said: “the impacts of extreme heat are widespread with the most vulnerable communities often being hit hardest. an affordable, and scalable home cooling solution can potentially help to change that. “we will investigate how applying a simple sunlight reflecting cool roof coating on people’s homes affects their health and energy use in four hot countries. our trial shows the importance of testing interventions before they are implemented and scaled to reduce the burden of heat.” professor tin tin su from monash university malaysia and lead researcher for the health effects of heat in southeast asia, said: "to mitigate the negative impacts of heat and effectively address climate change and health issues, it is crucial for individuals and communities to make significant changes in their behaviour. by adopting suitable cooling solutions at an individual level, people can alleviate the physical strain caused by heat. “this funding will enable us to implement and assess interventions aimed at adapting behaviour and infrastructure to combat heat related challenges. our goal is to understand the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of various interventions, while also exploring the potential applicability of our approach in other low and middle income countries." wellcome wants to support local communities and national governments alike, by providing them with much needed scientific data and findings to equip them to tackle combined climate and health emergencies. wellcome, a leading global funder of science to advance human health and wellbeing, has committed £16 billion over the coming decade to support scientific discovery and solutions to tackle the three most urgent health threats of our time   climate and health, infectious disease and mental health. mediaoffice@wellcome.org phone wellcome media office on+44 (0)20 7611 8866 tags

asu researchers work to combat, understand extreme heat in a warming world illustration by andy keena editor’s note: this is the fourth story in a series exploring how asu is changing the way the world solves problems. count all the deaths from hurricanes, tornadoes and floods, and you still won’t match the destruction wrought by one invisible weather disaster   extreme heat. in arizona’s maricopa county, 645 people died of heat related causes in 2023, a 52% jump from the previous year. but arizona’s most populous county isn’t the only place contending with a growing number of heat fatalities. the u.s. department of health and human services estimates extreme heat claimed 2,302 livesthe national total may not account for all maricopa county deaths due to different methods used to calculate heat related deaths on the national and local levels. nationwide in 2023, three times the average heat related deaths in the country from 2004 to 2018. check out more heat and weather related content. despite the toll of high temperatures, neither the federal emergency management agency nor a u.s. president has ever declared a major disaster or emergency in response to heat. this is largely because the 1988 stafford act, which authorizes the federal government to declare a disaster or emergency, does not include extreme heat among its list of 16 major disasters. at arizona state university, researchers are bringing visibility to the deadly issue of extreme heat. scientists and scholars from a range of disciplines are working with communities to measure and understand extreme heat and the risks it poses. they also guide policy that protects lives and well being in an increasingly warm world. extreme heat can have devastating effects on the human body. as temperatures soar, your body works overtime to cool down and your organs may struggle to perform essential functions. prolonged heat exposure can lead to dizziness, disorientation and fainting and, in extreme cases, organ failure and death. fundamentally, the human body’s response to extreme heat comes down to a volume problem, according to dr. pope moseley. “we have about 15 liters worth of arteries and veins and five liters of blood. so, you're constantly shunting blood around to send it where it's needed,” says moseley, an intensive care physician and research professor in asu’s college of health solutions. “when you're exercising, you transfer blood to the muscle. when you're cooling, you transfer blood to the skin. when you're exercising in the heat, you're transferring blood to muscle and skin, and you just don't have a lot of volume.” in heat stroke cases, when the body transfers massive amounts of blood to the skin to cool off, this reduces blood supply to essential organs. when the human body reaches 38 degrees celsius or 100.4 degrees fahrenheit, the blood supply to the intestine drops by about half. this can cause the intestinal epithelial barrier   which regulates nutrient absorption and keeps bacteria at bay   to fail. bits of bacterial coat called endotoxin can then enter the blood flowing to the liver. this triggers an inflammatory cascade that can eventually cause multi organ failure. but moseley says heat stroke and heat exhaustion only account for a tiny fraction of heat’s total impact. heart failure, mental illness, respiratory diseases, sepsis and strokes are just a few of the other ailments that worsen when extreme heat is a factor. “if there's a heat wave, the hospital fills up, but it doesn't fill up with heat illness,” says moseley. “that is the really pernicious issue with heat   it affects so many things.” during his time at the university of copenhagen, moseley and his colleagues developed machine learning tools that could predict the risk of death for individual patients based on previous hospitalizations and existing health conditions. at asu, he’s applying a similar approach to heat risk. mosely and marisa domino, also a professor in the college of health solutions, are using hospital and population data to study the wide range of conditions exacerbated by heat. they plan to develop an app to help people understand their individual vulnerability to extreme heat. their work could help hospitals better manage resources during extreme heat events. “for every one person with heat stroke, there are 10 people coming in for something else,” mosely says. “we can't match health resources to what is needed until we understand what are the drivers that are going to put people in the hospital. this heat is a disaster, and we need to treat it as such.” phoenix frequently makes headlines for streaks of 110 degree plus days or record high temperatures. to erinanne saffell, the arizona state climatologist, these data points are noteworthy   but not groundbreaking. “in 1896, parker, arizona, experienced four days of 120 degrees or higher   it’s happened before,” says saffell, who directs the arizona state climate office, which evaluates and synthesizes data and research relevant to the state’s climate. asu’s southwest urban corridor integrated field laboratory is pioneering new ways to mitigate the urban heat island effect by integrating high resolution observations, community engagement and modeling. she is more concerned about nighttime temperatures. nighttime lows don’t dip as they used to, largely due to increased urbanization, especially in places like phoenix. the buildings, pavement and concrete act like a solar oven   soaking up heat throughout the day and releasing it long into the night. this urban heat island effect has caused phoenix’s nighttime lows to slowly creep up since the 1990s. the current record for the highest nighttime low is 97 degrees on july 19, 2023. “these high nighttime temperatures are especially dangerous, because if you can't cool off your body at night, then that heat can accumulate in your body and the next day you're more at risk,” says saffell, a senior global futures scientist with asu’s julie ann wrigley global futures laboratory. “and we get a lot of attention in maricopa county, but it's everywhere. sedona has an urban heat island. benson has an urban heat island. tucson has an urban heat island.” because it is such a local issue, city governments are looking to curb the worst impacts of extreme urban heat. in 2021, on the heels of another sweltering summer, the city of phoenix established the office of heat response and mitigation. publicly funded and integrated into the city government structure from the start, the first of its kind office is charged with responding to and alleviating the effects of extreme heat in phoenix. david hondula, an associate professor in asu’s school of geographical sciences and urban planning, directs the office. he says his goal is to improve citizens’ everyday interactions with heat, from heat exhaustion and heat related fatalities to high energy bills, the walk across a hot parking lot or touching a blazing hot seat belt buckle. “we're hoping to see improved outcomes across the board in the community related to heat, and we're hopeful to achieve those through changing the dialogue, changing the processes, changing the thinking in city government,” hondula says. for example, the office is collaborating with the city’s public health advisor to address the challenges that lie at the intersection of heat, homelessness and substance use. last year, 45% of the heat related deaths in maricopa county were people experiencing homelessness and 65% involved substance use. ongoing efforts include training partners within the homeless resource system to connect clients with heat safety resources and educating people on the dangers of substance use in extreme heat. find resources to stay cool across maricopa county. phoenix also expanded the hours of some cooling centers where people can go to get out of the heat. by early july 2024, the five cooling centers with extended hours saw more than 10,000 visits, according to hondula. “we know it is a need that has been unmet in the past, and we're really proud to have been able to make this big step this year,” he says. the office of heat response and mitigation has also overhauled phoenix’s 2010 tree and shade masterplan. funded by $50 million in local, federal and private sources over the next five years, the new shade phoenix plan aims to plant 25,000 new trees and build 500 new shade structures. the effectiveness of tree cover in lowering temperatures is well documented. one asu study found that increasing the tree canopy from 10% to 25% could reduce the temperature of a typical phoenix neighborhood by 4.3 degrees fahrenheit. saffell believes better tree cover could also lower nighttime temperatures. “trees not only block sunlight from hitting surfaces that soak up heat   roofs, sidewalks, parking lots   but they put off water into the atmosphere, which is a cooling process called transpiration,” saffell says. “that keeps our environment from getting too hot at night.” the way we design and build urban environments can lessen the risks for individuals. the materials, amount of shade, urban forms and vegetation are all key factors in how comfortable people feel outdoors in hot climates. but before we can design and build cooler environments for people, they must be accurately measured. “we have weather stations at the airport, so we know what the air temperature is, but people don't live at the airport,” says ariane middel, an associate professor in the school of arts, media and engineering and the school of computing and augmented intelligence. air temperature isn’t the best way to measure heat exposure, as it doesn’t account for all the factors that contribute to heat load on the human body. middel’s shade lab focuses on measuring mean radiant temperature, or mrt, to better understand how humans experience heat. mrt is the average temperature of all surfaces surrounding a person. “in hot, dry environments such as phoenix, the mean radiant temperature is probably the most important measure for people's experience of heat because it includes direct and reflected thermal and solar radiation,” middel says. to capture mrt, middel uses marty, a rolling instrument station that measures air temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, and location to accurately measure how someone might experience heat in a given area. since 2016, middel has used marty to inform a range of studies, including determining the cooling effect of light colored pavement in a phoenix neighborhood, mapping the most comfortable pedestrian routes, finding the best type of shade and more. the station’s usefulness inspired middel to expand marty’s family. working with the city of tempe, middel has been installing miniature versions of marty   dubbed martinies   in local parks. equipped with some of marty’s standard sensors and a computer vision enabled camera, a martini watches for activity to see how people use parks depending on the heat. the project will allow the city to better allocate resources and increase shade and other cooling measures based on the usage of the spaces, middel says. while marty can measure the heat load on the human body in a given situation, it can’t tell us how the human body will react. that’s where andi comes in. andi is a life sized manikin that can mimic the thermal functions of the human body thanks to sensors spread across 35 body zones. it is the first thermal manikin designed for use outdoors. andi can sweat, generate heat, breathe and shiver, providing researchers insight into how humans respond to extreme temperatures. marty and andi   along with other novel instruments to capture microclimate data   contributed to a pair of recently published studies in the international journal of biometeorology and science of the total environment. “we can put andi in these conditions that are dangerous for people and still investigate how the human body would react in a certain heat situation,” middel says. “we like to say we have a full service contract with andi.” custom fabricated by thermetrics for asu, andi is foundational in konrad rykaczewski’s quest to develop a model for human heat exchange and how different factors   such as age, clothing or medical conditions   impact heat regulation. “the idea is to advance these models and validate them to the point that we can intelligently design garments and other cooling strategies to help people,” says rykaczewski, an associate professor of mechanical engineering in the ira a. fulton schools of engineering. andi provides a general understanding of how heat affects the human body. but factors such as age, behaviors, medications, health conditions and even social support systems can greatly change the trajectory of someone’s health outcomes. we still have a lot to learn about these individual differences. take a prescreening survey to see if you’re eligible to participate in the pilot study. up to $200 in gift cards is available for participants. asu researchers jennifer vanos and gisel guzman are looking to fill this knowledge gap. their heatsuite study uses smart devices, weather sensors and surveys to evaluate heat exposure, personal behavior and individual health outcomes of participants. the study is piloting in phoenix and montreal and will expand to colombia and australia in the future. the pilot is recruiting phoenix area participants for trials in august and september. “it’s really important to study the multifaceted way people experience heat, beyond just thinking about it when there are mortalities,” says guzman, a phd candidate in the school of geographical sciences and urban planning. “we really don't know how heat affects the everyday life of people and their well being.” the sensors and smart devices measure heart rate, wrist temperature, blood pressure, oral temperature, air temperature, humidity, wind speed and more. participants also self report heat perception, heat symptoms and hydration status. the suite of sensors was developed by nicholas ravanelli, an assistant professor at lakehead university in canada. the study’s global nature will allow the researchers to evaluate heat perception in different climates and inform heat adaptation strategies in different places. “the climate is warming, and we need to find ways to adapt,” says vanos, an associate professor in the school of sustainability and a senior global futures scientist with asu’s global futures laboratory. “we cannot just focus on mitigation when adaptation is needed to protect people, especially the most vulnerable populations.” a 2023 study found that multiday power loss during a heat wave could double the estimated amount of heat related deaths in phoenix, atlanta and detroit. mary muñoz encinas believes that in such dire situations, social connections can save lives. “in the event of a heat emergency   any emergency, really   the first order of defense is your family, your friends, your neighbors,” she says. “check in on them. ‘do you have ac? do you have power?’” are you an educator or community leader? connect with heatready to find heat related resources for your school or neighborhood. muñoz encinas is the program coordinator for asu’s heatready initiatives, which advance heat preparedness and resilience through free resources and education and aim to strengthen communities against the worst effects of extreme heat. the program began in 2017 as the master’s thesis of adora shortbridge, a then student in asu’s school of sustainability, to help prepare phoenix area schools for extreme heat. it has since blossomed into a sweeping set of initiatives across 35 schools and community centers that advance heat readiness at the school, neighborhood and city levels. at the city level, the program works closely with the office of heat response and mitigation in phoenix, disseminating resources and developing learning programs. “with neighborhoods, we take a needs based approach,” muñoz encinas says. “at first, we just aim to start conversations, understand their priorities and concerns to connect them to relevant resources or develop action plans.” heatready neighborhoods also aims to establish community based resilience hubs, which can serve as resource distribution locations during heat waves or other emergencies. the program is currently working with the city of tempe on a grant application to transform the envision center into a resilience hub. for schools, muñoz encinas and the heatready team developed a heat ready scorecard for educators and students to evaluate their school’s heat preparedness and connect them with funding opportunities or other resources to address gaps. the program also develops education and training for students, teachers, medical staff and administrators on heat illness and exposure and awareness. paideia academies, a phoenix k 12 school, has worked with heatready and other asu researchers for the past five years to transform their campus by replacing cement and other impermeable surfaces with vegetation, water features and bioswales for heat mitigation. “i’ve just been so impressed with the whole asu team and their work,” says brian winsor, executive director of paideia academies. the knowledge exchange for resilience is oriented around a simple idea: research should enhance quality of life and create positive, lasting change. to this end, knowledge exchange for resilience (ker)   a unit of the global futures laboratory   links community needs with research projects to build and sustain resilience in maricopa county. ker’s efforts roughly span food and water systems, healthy communities, the built environment and economic security, with heat playing a role in all. “there's always this dimension of the work that goes back to heat,” says patricia solís, the executive director of ker. “it’s one of those threat multipliers, and something that is really imperative that we center on when we're talking about resilience in maricopa county.” in 2018, ker researchers made a shocking discovery. while mobile homes and manufactured housing only accounted for 5% of housing in maricopa county, 30% to 40% of indoor heat deaths occurred in mobile homes. ker forged community partnerships to identify why so many living in mobile homes were so vulnerable to heat. they produced a solutions guide for residents, landlords and city governments to address the issue. but those solutions weren’t getting used everywhere. in some instances, landlords prohibited residents from installing air conditioning units, shade structures and other cooling measures. “i think a good policy recommendation is to not stop people from supporting themselves in any disaster,” solís says. “you really need people to be prepared at their own household level. we should not prohibit those things.” ker’s research was then used to inform proposed legislation, crafted by wildfire, a phoenix based community action group aimed at ending poverty, together with aamho, the association representing residents of mobile and manufactured homes. in january, solís testified before the arizona house of representative’s commerce committee about ker’s findings. unanimously, the committee voted to move the bill forward, where it was again passed unanimously by both the house and senate. “in a place like arizona, where sometimes it's hard to find what we agree on, this was something that we could all agree on,” says solís. the bill landed on gov. katie hobbs’ desk april 2, 2024, where she signed it into law with an emergency order to put it into immediate effect. today, landlords cannot deny tenants the right to install air conditioning or other cooling measures. in addition to informing legislative solutions, ker’s research underpins a statewide strategy. in august 2023, following 30 consecutive days of extreme heat advisories in three arizona counties, gov. hobbs declared a state of emergency and issued an executive order to better coordinate future government responses to heat. drawing on years of research, engagement with state agencies, and the deep knowledge of community stakeholders, ker delivered a report to the governor’s office of resiliency in january 2024, outlining recommendations for the state plan. the plan was released march 1 and included important recommendations, such as naming the nation’s first statewide chief heat officer. solís hopes the report   and ker’s model of community generated heat resilience research   will find use outside of arizona as communities around the world grapple with rising temperatures. “our solutions for arizona can’t be adopted wholesale everywhere, but our process can,” she says. “listening to the real questions our communities are asking so we can then tap into the intellectual power of our universities to research and design solutions   that’s the asu model of doing research of public value.” ariane middel’s martinies project is funded by her national science foundation career award. andi is funded by $200,000 from asu and a $410,000 nsf major research instrumentation grant. ongoing research with the manikin is funded through a $2 million nsf leading engineering for america's prosperity, health, and infrastructure (leap hi) grant. jennifer vanos’ heatsuite study is funded by her nsf career award. the knowledge exchange for resilience was created with funding from the virginia g. piper charitable trust. over the years, arizona state university’s project cities has provided local communities and municipalities with expertise on sustainable solutions for parks, design research, solid waste, general… research on endangered species by recent arizona state university graduate olivia davis is getting national attention. olivia davis davis, who graduated from the… craig carlson, one of the planet’s leading marine biology researchers, has been appointed as the new president and chief executive officer of the bermuda institute of ocean sciences, a unit of the… contact asu news manage subscriptions

come explore with us! the goal is to protect people from extreme heat without worsening greenhouse gas emissions people around the world will experience more days of extreme heat as climate change continues. without ways to stay cool, those days will be uncomfortable at best. at worst, excessive heat will threaten people’s lives. andrew merry/moment/getty images plus by kathiann kowalski may 18, 2023 at 6:30 am this is another in a new series identifying technologies and actions that can slow climate change, reduce its impacts or help communities cope with a rapidly changing world. power outages shut down air conditioning for hundreds of thousands of people in ohio last summer. temperatures in columbus on june 14 hit 34° celsius (93° fahrenheit). overnight, temps didn’t get cooler than 25 °c (77 °f). as a result, homes stayed hot and stuffy. climate change made that hot night more likely than it would have been otherwise, according to a data tool used by climate central. that’s a nonprofit news group that analyzes and reports on climate science. but ohio’s conditions were balmy compared to what many have faced elsewhere. in march 2021, temperatures soared to 49.5 °c (121.1 °f) in nawabshah, pakistan. in june of that year, temps climbed to 49.6 °c (121 °f) in one town in canada’s british columbia. and july heat in parts of china and england last year topped 40 °c (104 °f). many folks hit by these hot spells had no air conditioning. people in parts of england and the pacific northwest, for instance, had seldom seen any need for it. as earth’s climate continues to warm, people around the world are facing more very hot days. extreme heat can worsen health problems   and sometimes prove deadly. hot weather also makes it hard for people to work effectively. so it’s no surprise that in a warming world, many more people will want   and need   ways to stay cool. yet extra electricity for more air conditioning could strain the electric power grid. some places in the united states could see more rolling power blackouts, warned a january 2022 report in earth’s future. rohini kumar is a coauthor of that study. he works at the helmholtz centre for environmental research ufz in leipzig, germany. most people in the united states already have air conditioners, or a/c, kumar notes. but in many other parts of the world, such as india, few people have a/c at home. adding a/c there would boost electricity use. right now, only coal, oil or gas can provide enough electricity for that. those fuels emit a lot of greenhouse gases, which drive climate change. each year, energy for cooling already spews some 1.95 billion metric tons (2.15 billion short tons) of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. that’s almost 4 percent of global emissions, researchers reported april 2022 in joule. what’s more, many of today’s a/c systems use heat absorbing fluids called coolants, which are themselves greenhouse gases. those gases can leak out of a/c units into the atmosphere. engineers are working on new, better ways to cool off. some of these a/c systems would run on less electricity and get rid of environmentally harmful coolants. other innovations would help keep summer heat out of buildings, no electricity needed. the emerging options range from high tech to simple. but they could all soon help people around the world better cope with our warming earth. the technology behind today’s air conditioners is more than 100 years old. most homes and buildings now use a central unit, which supplies cool air to all or major parts of an entire building. air inside the building sheds heat to a coolant in the system. heat pumps use similar concepts for cooling in the summer. in cold weather, a heat pump reverses this process. it pulls some heat from the outside air and moves it inside. heat pumps are generally more efficient than the combination of standard air conditioners and furnaces. mechanical engineer eric kozubal works at the national renewable energy laboratory in golden, colo. he was an author of the april 2022 joule study. his group found that more than half of the greenhouse gases linked to today’s a/cs comes from producing the energy to power them. most of the rest come from their coolants. a smaller share comes from manufacturing the air conditioners. a/c systems move heat out of buildings through evaporative cooling. basically, when a liquid evaporates, the resulting vapor can carry away heat. this is the same process that makes you feel cold when you get out of a pool and water evaporates off your skin. today’s a/c units do evaporative cooling with greenhouse gas coolants. but kozubal’s team has designed a new system that does evaporative cooling with salty water. the new design doesn’t just do away with polluting coolants. it could also cool air much more efficiently. why? because the new setup uses its salt water to dry out the air it’s cooling. salts in the water, such as lithium chloride or potassium acetate, soak up humidity from the air. and evaporative cooling is much easier to do with dry air. you may have experienced this yourself. think about how you can shiver coming out of a pool into dry air, even when it’s hot outside, kozubal says. you get chilly much faster than you would in the humid air of an indoor pool. the new system could cool air using only a sixth as much electricity as standard a/c units, kozubal says. just how much energy it needs will depend on how humid a local area is. blue frontier, a company based in parkland, fla., is looking to bring this technology to market. another new cooling technology uses water as its coolant instead of fluids that act like greenhouse gases. jack alvarenga works at harvard university in cambridge, mass. this materials scientist was part of a team that invented the new system. it moves incoming air through a series of porous ceramic tunnels. the system sprays water onto half of the tunnels. the ceramic absorbs some of that water. heat in those tunnels evaporates the water. that cools off those tunnel walls. excess humidity from those tunnels then goes outside. other tunnels have a barrier layer that keeps water out. air passing through them stays dry. but that air also cools down because the dry tunnels sit next to the ones that got sprayed and cooled off. the team tested the system in july 2022 at a house in cambridge, mass. despite a heat wave, this system lowered a room’s temperature by about 10 degrees c (18 degrees f). “we’re still trying to improve” that number, alvarenga says. and the system used less energy with no greenhouse gas coolants. barocaloric (bair oh kah lor ik) materials might also be useful new tools to beat the heat. these nifty materials release or absorb heat in response to pressure changes. putting pressure on barocaloric materials makes their molecules more ordered. this makes the materials release energy in the form of heat. on the flip side, the molecules in these materials become more disordered when pressure on them lets up. in the process, the molecules absorb energy and cool the space around them. jarad mason is an inorganic and materials chemist at harvard who works with these materials. the substances include some types of crystals known as perovskites (per ov skytes). mason’s group found a way to make perovskites release or absorb energy at tens or hundreds of bars of pressure, versus thousands. (one bar is the average air pressure at sea level.) among other things, the group’s new design uses two dimensional perovskites, rather than 3 d chunks of the crystals. the group shared its design in the may 2022 nature communications. “we think we can make devices that … can be used for both heating and cooling,” mason says. devices called heat pumps do that now. but applying and releasing pressure on barocaloric materials would probably take less energy than current heating and cooling systems, mason says. as a result, new devices made with perovskites would likely need less electricity. plus, they wouldn’t use environmentally harmful coolants. now, the researchers are working to boost the materials’ cooling efficiency. “we think our technology will be competitive”   cost about the same   as today’s standard a/c, mason says. other materials are magnetocaloric (mag nee toh kah lor ik). that means they can change temperature in response to a magnetic field. inside a magnetic field, a magnetocaloric material’s molecules all line up. that temporarily releases energy, and the material heats up. a pause then lets the material’s temperature adjust to the area around it. when the material is removed from the magnetic field, its molecules get jumbled up again. as they become disordered, the material absorbs heat from the air around it. different rare earth elements, such as gadolinium, are magnetocaloric. turning on or off magnetic fields around them   and at just the right time   would provide bursts of cooling. water pumped around the material could carry away heat absorbed by the materials’ jumbled up molecules. “it’s really interactions between these materials and the magnetic field that underpin the effect,” according to vitalij pecharsky. a materials scientist, he worked at the ames national laboratory and iowa state university in ames. cooling systems made with magnetocaloric materials should need about one third less energy than today’s a/cs to cool air, he said. “we know how to engineer the device,” pecharsky told science news explores. but magnets with strong enough magnetic fields to do this are expensive. “if we can design better materials that can work in a lower magnetic field, that is going to [lower] the cost.” weekly updates to help you use science news explores in the learning environment thank you for signing up! there was a problem signing you up. barocaloric coolers would need electricity to pressurize the materials. and magnetocaloric coolers would also need electricity to power their magnetic fields. some other cooling strategies won’t need any electricity at all. these strategies are called passive cooling techniques. for instance, a new window coating can keep out warming sunlight. the coating lets in visible light but blocks ultraviolet and infrared light. light in those wavelengths cannot be seen. but infrared light can be felt as heat. and ultraviolet light causes sunburns. the new window covering also radiates heat away from a window at a wavelength that can move through the air and into space. all of this helps keep air indoors relatively cool. researchers in great britain have developed another, double duty window coating. in hot weather, it would block near infrared waves, which carry heat. in cold weather, it would let those waves pass through a window to heat the indoors. at all times, the windows remain transparent to visible light. the team described its work last december 17 in acs photonics. other cooling approaches are designed for roofs and walls. for instance, beta paramita investigated how a simple coat of paint could help keep buildings without a/c cool. paramita is an architectural engineer at the indonesia university of education in bandung. light colors reflect the sun’s warming rays better than darker colors do. so before and after painting dark roofs a light color, paramita’s team measured a building’s temperature. they found that, depending on what a roof was made of, a lighter color could leave the living space under it nearly 5 degrees c (about 8 degrees f) cooler than before. this project, known as cool roofs indonesia, impressed judges of the 2022 clean cooling collaborative’s million roofs challenge. paramita’s group took home first place   and a $750,000 prize. most people who participated in paramita’s experiment felt cooler after their roof was painted a light color. some said their children also breathed easier at night. electricity bills even went down by about 10 percent in some homes because people did not run their fans as often. oladunni izobo martins is an architectural researcher. she works at redeemer’s university in ede, nigeria. using light colors was one of several things she and others assessed as they reviewed newer shopping malls in the southwest of her country. the team focused on four malls, only two of which made good use of light colors. most had some shading on the roof or from overhangs. but they had little or no insulation or windows that opened. and few had shady trees and shrubs nearby. the team shared its findings at an october 2021 conference in ota, nigeria. architects often focus more on a building’s looks, izobo martins says   not on its use and upkeep. “we should think about the maintenance. we should think about the effects on the people.” a/c is pricey, so passive cooling should be harnessed wherever possible, she says. it can cut the fossil fuel use that drives climate warming. by 2050, most of nigeria will face more than 50 additional days of dangerous heat each year. on those days, the combination of heat and humidity will make it feel like the temperature is above 39.4 °c (103 °f). and this problem will not plague only nigeria. worldwide, the number of days with dangerous heat by the end of this century will likely go up three to 10 times. to cope with our warming world, it’s important to “think outside the box,” says alvarenga at harvard. after all, he points out, solutions don’t have to be “one size fits all.” acetate: (also called acetic acid) a short chained fatty acid that is a common byproduct of fiber fermentation in the gut. acetate appears to play a role in preventing obesity. air pressure: the force exerted by the weight of air molecules. average: (in science) a term for the arithmetic mean, which is the sum of a group of numbers that is then divided by the size of the group. barocaloric: a term for a type of cooling that occurs through a transformation of solid state materials by some external field: here, hydrostatic pressure. hydrostatic pressure is one caused by a fluid due to the force of gravity. reducing this pressure cools a barocaloric material; raising the pressure warms it. blackout: (in energy) the loss of electric power to a broad area, and so named because all of the electric lights in the affected area will blink off when this occurs (unless they have a backup electric generator). chemical: a substance formed from two or more atoms that unite (bond) in a fixed proportion and structure. for example, water is a chemical made when two hydrogen atoms bond to one oxygen atom. its chemical formula is h2o. chemical also can be an adjective to describe properties of materials that are the result of various reactions between different compounds. climate: the weather conditions that typically exist in one area, in general, or over a long period. climate change: long term, significant change in the climate of earth. it can happen naturally or in response to human activities, including the burning of fossil fuels and clearing of forests. coauthor: one of a group (two or more people) who together had prepared a written work, such as a book, report or research paper. not all coauthors may have contributed equally. dilute: to make something thinner or less concentrated by adding a liquid to it. or to add some additional data or details that lower the impact of something. electricity: a flow of charge, usually from the movement of negatively charged particles, called electrons. element: a building block of some larger structure. (in chemistry) each of more than one hundred substances for which the smallest unit of each is a single atom. examples include hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, lithium and uranium. engineer: a person who uses science and math to solve problems. as a verb, to engineer means to design a device, material or process that will solve some problem or unmet need. environment: the sum of all of the things that exist around some organism or the process and the condition those things create. environment may refer to the weather and ecosystem in which some animal lives, or, perhaps, the temperature and humidity (or even the placement of things in the vicinity of an item of interest). evaporate: to turn from liquid into vapor. field: (in physics) a region in space where certain physical effects operate, such as magnetism (created by a magnetic field), gravity (by a gravitational field), mass (by a higgs field) or electricity (by an electrical field). focus: (in behavior) to look or concentrate intently on some particular point or thing. fossil fuel: any fuel   such as coal, petroleum (crude oil) or natural gas   that has developed within the earth over millions of years from the decayed remains of bacteria, plants or animals. great britain: the collective name for england, scotland, wales and their associated islands. this is not the same as the united kingdom, which is the combination of great britain and northern ireland. greenhouse gas: a gas that contributes to the greenhouse effect by absorbing heat. carbon dioxide is one example of a greenhouse gas. grid: (in electricity) the interconnected system of electricity lines that transport electrical power over long distances. in north america, this grid connects electrical generating stations and local communities throughout most of the continent. heat island effect: the ability of concrete, bricks, roofing shingles and other building materials to absorb heat from the sun during the day, making the outdoor environment far warmer and than in wooded or rural areas. these cities then become islands of extra heat within a landscape. their buildings often shed some of their solar heat into the night air, keeping these regions warmer than less urban areas around the clock. humidity: a measure of the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere. (air with a lot of water vapor in it is known as humid.) journal: (in science) a publication in which scientists share their research findings with experts (and sometimes even the public). some journals publish papers from all fields of science, technology, engineering and math, while others are specific to a single subject. lithium: a soft, silvery metallic element. it’s the lightest of all metals and very reactive. it is used in batteries and ceramics. magnet: a material that usually contains iron and whose atoms are arranged so they attract certain metals. magnetic field: an area of influence created by certain materials, called magnets, or by the movement of electric charges. magnetocaloric: the magnetocaloric effect was first reported in 1881 by the german physicist e. warburg. he showed that magnetic materials could warm up or cool down in response to a change in the magnetic field around them. almost 150 years later, engineers were looking to harness this effect as a way to inexpensively heat or cool indoor air. materials scientist: a researcher who studies how the atomic and molecular structure of a material is related to its overall properties. materials scientists can design new materials or analyze existing ones. their analyses of a material’s overall properties (such as density, strength and melting point) can help engineers and other researchers select materials that are best suited to a new application. mechanical engineer: someone trained in a research field that uses physics to study motion and the properties of materials to design, build and/or test devices. metal: something that conducts electricity well, tends to be shiny (reflective) and is malleable (meaning it can be reshaped with heat and not too much force or pressure). moisture: small amounts of water present in the air, as vapor. it can also be present as a liquid, such as water droplets condensed on the inside of a window, or dampness present in clothing or soil. molecule: an electrically neutral group of atoms that represents the smallest possible amount of a chemical compound. molecules can be made of single types of atoms or of different types. for example, the oxygen in the air is made of two oxygen atoms (o2), but water is made of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom (h2o). natural gas: a mix of gases that developed underground over millions of years (often in association with crude oil). most natural gas starts out as 50 to 90 percent methane, along with small amounts of heavier hydrocarbons, such as propane and butane. ore: a naturally formed rock or mineral that contains a metal that can be extracted for some new use. outage: (in energy) a term for a region that temporarily loses power (usually electric power) or the ability to operate. oxide: a compound made by combining one or more elements with oxygen. rust is an oxide; so is water. passive cooling: a term for technologies that keep structures (from buildings to computer chips) cool without the use of electricity. it can do this by limiting the amount of heat that gets access to the structure (such as roofs that overhang windows) or by dissipating any heat that gets in (such as through natural evaporation of moisture). photonics: technology and research on the properties and transmission of light particles, called photons. pressure: force applied uniformly over a surface, measured as force per unit of area. quantum computing: a special way to manipulate and store information based on the properties of very small stuff, such as individual atoms. radiate: (in physics) to emit energy in the form of waves. range: the full extent or distribution of something. for instance, a plant or animal’s range is the area over which it naturally exists. salt: a compound made by combining an acid with a base (in a reaction that also creates water). common table salt is a made of sodium and chlorine. sea level: the overall level of the ocean over the entire globe when all tides and other short term changes are averaged out. shrub: a perennial plant that grows in a generally low, bushy form. silicon: a nonmetal, semiconducting element used in making electronic circuits. pure silicon exists in a shiny, dark gray crystalline form and as a shapeless powder. society: an integrated group of people or animals that generally cooperate and support one another for the greater good of them all. statistics: the practice or science of collecting and analyzing numerical data in large quantities and interpreting their meaning. much of this work involves reducing errors that might be attributable to random variation. a professional who works in this field is called a statistician. survey: to view, examine, measure or evaluate something, often land or broad aspects of a landscape. (with people) to ask questions that glean data on the opinions, practices (such as dining or sleeping habits), knowledge or skills of a broad range of people. researchers select the number and types of people questioned in hopes that the answers these individuals give will be representative of others who are their age, belong to the same ethnic group or live in the same region. (n.) the list of questions that will be offered to glean those data. system: a network of parts that together work to achieve some function. for instance, the blood, vessels and heart are primary components of the human body's circulatory system. similarly, trains, platforms, tracks, roadway signals and overpasses are among the potential components of a nation's railway system. system can even be applied to the processes or ideas that are part of some method or ordered set of procedures for getting a task done. technology: the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, especially in industry   or the devices, processes and systems that result from those efforts. thermal: of or relating to heat. titanium dioxide: a white, unreactive, solid material that occurs naturally as a mineral and is used extensively as a white pigment. transmit: (n. transmission) to send or pass along. trillion: a number representing a million million   or 1,000,000,000,000   of something. ultraviolet: a portion of the light spectrum that is close to violet but invisible to the human eye. urban heat island: a city or metropolitan area that’s much warmer than surrounding rural areas. the increased temperature results from several phenomena. many hard surfaces, such as buildings and pavements, absorb sunlight and then release that energy   as heat   into the air. also, human activities such as running air conditioners and driving cars will release large amounts of heat directly into the environment. visible light: a type of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths that range between 380 nanometers (violet) and 740 nanometers (red). visible light has wavelengths that are shorter than infrared light, microwaves, and radio waves but longer than ultraviolet light, x rays and gamma rays. wave: a disturbance or variation that travels through space and matter in a regular, oscillating fashion. wavelength: the distance between one peak and the next in a series of waves, or the distance between one trough and the next. it’s also one of the “yardsticks” used to measure radiation. weather: conditions in the atmosphere at a localized place and a particular time. it’s different from climate, which is a description of the conditions that tend to occur in some general region during a particular month or season. journal: s. kim et al. high performance transparent radiative cooler designed by quantum computing. acs energy letters. vol. 7, november 2, 2022, p. 4134. doi: 0.1021/acsenergylett.2c01969. meeting: o.o. izobo martins et al. investigation of passive cooling strategies in selected shopping malls, southwestern nigeria. 3rd international conference on energy and sustainable environment. october 28, 2021. iop conference series, earth and environmental science. vol. 1054, september 21, 2022. doi: 10.1088/1755 1315/1054/1/012024. journal:​ ​​l. zeppetello, a. raftery and d. battisti. probabilistic projections of increased heat stress driven by climate change. communications earth & environment. vol. 3, august 25, 2022. doi: 10.1038/s43247 022 00524 4. meeting: b. paramita. cool roofs for uhi countermeasure: a green building added value. apec workshop on the implementation of green building concepts and policies in emerging countries. august 25, 2022. meeting: a. slavney et al. materials for practical solid state barocaloric cooling: a chemist (re)invents an air conditioner. american chemical society fall 2022 meeting. hybrid: chicago, ill. and online. august 22, 2022. journal: cooling through barocaloric effect: a review of the state of the art up to 2022. thermal science and engineering progress. vol. 33, august 2022, p. 101380. doi: 10.1016/j.tsep.2022.101380. journal: j. seo et al. colossal barocaloric effects with ultralow hysteresis in two dimensional metal halide perovskites. nature communications. vol. 13, may 9, 2022. doi: 10.1038/s41467 022 29800 9. journal: j. woods et al. humidity’s impact on greenhouse gas emissions from air conditioning. joule. vol. 6, april 20, 2022, p. 726. doi: 10.1016/j.joule.2022.02.013. journal: r. obringer et al. implications of increasing household air conditioning use across the united states under a warming climate. earth’s future. vol. 10, january 2022, p. e2021ef002434. doi: 10.1029/2021ef002434. journal:​ ​​n. youngblood​ ​et​ ​al.​ ​reconfigurable low emissivity optical coating using ultrathin phase change materials.​ ​​acs photonics.​ ​​vol. 9, december 17, 2021, p. 90. doi:​ ​10.1021/acsphotonics.1c01128. journal: l. griffith et al. calorismart: small scale test stand for rapid evaluation of active magnetic regenerator performance. energy conversion and management. vol. 199, november 1, 2019. doi: 10.1016/j.enconman.2019.111948. report: e. kozubal et al. dessicant enhanced evaporative air conditioning (devap): evaluation of a new concept in ultra efficient air conditioning. national renewable energy laboratory. golden, colo. january 2011. 60 pp. kathiann kowalski reports on all sorts of cutting edge science. previously, she practiced law with a large firm. kathi enjoys hiking, sewing and reading. she also enjoys travel, especially family adventures and beach trips. free educator resources are available for this article. register to access: already registered? enter your e mail address above. readability score: 8.1 founded in 2003, science news explores is a free, award winning online publication dedicated to providing age appropriate science news to learners, parents and educators. the publication, as well as science news magazine, are published by the society for science, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) membership organization dedicated to public engagement in scientific research and education. © society for science & the public 2000 2025. all rights reserved.

complete your personal information for a more tailored experience home don't miss out by elizabeth cooneyjune 10, 2024 when temperatures soar, so do heart attacks. now, a lab experiment explains just how temperatures climbing into fahrenheit’s three digits can cause ischemia and potential heart attacks, all while international efforts to limit long term warming seem like they’re running out of time. the experiment, which gradually exposed participants to higher temperatures, showed that exposure to heat even while resting made participants’ hearts work harder, ramping up blood flow through the hearts of healthy young and old people, but hitting narrowed passages in one third of older trial participants who had existing coronary artery disease. advertisement “older people with heart disease are vulnerable to changes in weather   both extreme heat as well as extreme cold pose a risk for chest pain, heart attacks, and sudden death,” erica spatz, a yale cardiologist and epidemiologist not involved in the study, told stat via email. “one third of older people with heart disease developed ischemia to rises in body temperature   this is huge. this study not only provides clues about the mechanisms of this risk but also a warning that with climate change we need to be prepared to better protect our most vulnerable populations.” for the experiment, three groups of people donned tube equipped wetsuits originally designed by nasa to cool down astronauts, senior author daniel gagnon, an associate professor at the université de montréal and the montreal heart institute, told stat. in this case, progressively warmer water was infused into the suits after a 30 minute rest period. core body temperature as measured by rectal thermometers was pushed up by three notches: 0.5 degree, 1 degree, then 1.5 degrees celsius while pet scans revealed how blood was flowing through participants’ hearts. understand how science, health policy, and medicine shape the world every day what would that feel like in real life? those temperatures were chosen to approximate what a very hot environment outside the body would be over three hours, climbing from 38 to 47 degrees c (100 to 116 fahrenheit) with 10% to 60% humidity. once rare, temperatures that high are becoming more common and more frequent around the world, from arizona to india but also in canada and northern europe. advertisement taking part in the experiment were 20 healthy people 18 to 40 years old, 21 healthy counterparts age 60 to 80, and 20 participants also age 60 to 80, but with coronary artery disease. during the trial, which took about an hour and 40 minutes, no one could drink water and those who were on heart drugs like beta blockers skipped their doses. all of the people had increased blood flow, a sign that their hearts were working harder, in part to cool their bodies. blood flow rose twice as much in the youngest, healthiest group compared to the oldest, least healthy group. one third of that oldest, least healthy group   7 out of 20   had blood flow blockages, despite feeling no angina symptoms during the experiment. their imaging looked like what’s seen in a stress test. “our hypothesis was that the reason why heat exposure might be bad is because it makes the heart work harder,” gagnon said. “we didn’t know to what extent does it work harder, and does it work sufficiently hard to think that it could lead to something, especially something like a heart attack.” the participants’ hearts were in fact working harder, and sooner than the researchers expected. almost half of the increase in myocardial blood flow occurred when body temperature went up by 0.5 degree c, which was the first bump up. that’s a mild increase, one that might happen normally over the course of a day without high heat, gagnon said. as the experiment progressed, the hearts of those with coronary artery disease had impaired ability to open up their vessels to allow more oxygen carrying blood to sustain the work. their myocardial blood flow did not increase proportionately to the amount of work that the heart needed to do during the experiment. it’s like their engines were running out of fuel, he said. “it’s almost like oxygen debt,” gagnon said. “it’s spending more energy than it’s bringing in.” they were never in danger over the experiment’s less than two hours, gagnon said, but the implications for longer heat exposure are clear. “if we can imagine during an actual heat wave when it’s hot for a day, two days, three days, and if somebody has myocardial ischemia for several hours or days, then that could potentially lead to something like a heart attack,” he said. among the seven people with coronary artery disease whose arteries were closing enough to be called ischemic, there were some differences. blockages were mild for three participants, moderate for three participants, and severe for one. for three of the seven, the narrowing got progressively worse, climbing in sync with their core temperature. two participants whose imaging showed heat induced ischemia also had abnormal electrocardiograms. the small study defines a mechanism for what large studies have been able to show only as a correlation between high heat and heart problems, said joel kaufman, a primary care doctor and professor of environmental and occupational sciences at the university of washington in seattle. “i think the value of this study and the importance of this study is showing physiologically that in individuals with established coronary artery disease, clearly ischemia can be induced by heat,” he told stat. also an editor of the nih supported journal environmental health perspectives, he was not involved in the new study, published monday in the annals of internal medicine. “that provides us an explanation for the risk of triggering myocardial infarction during an extreme heat event.” gagnon suggested it might be time to widen attention to include not just making sure people don’t get too hot, but also finding ways to reduce the work of the heart when it’s hot outside. “a lot of times when we talk about heat waves, we say, ok, we need to make sure we don’t get too hot,” he said. “we don’t need to get that hot to potentially have other health problems that might occur because of the heat without necessarily being extremely hot.” spatz echoed that concern. “we need to do a better job about counseling older people with heart disease about heat exposure. heat poses an increased stress to the heart, and this may lead to ischemia with chest pain or even a heart attack,” she said. “knowing this information can empower individuals to hydrate, wear cool clothing, seek out air conditioning, and stay indoors when there is extreme heat. our public health and social systems need to ensure that older people with heart disease have the protection they need.” those health problems could affect a large swath of the world’s population, kaufman pointed out. “if you’re able to observe ischemia in a small group of people with an experimental intervention, you can assume that there’s a lot of people affected by this when you’re talking about millions of people who might have coronary artery disease who are going to experience heat,” he said. “people with established coronary artery disease are a vulnerable population during a heat wave that should be thinking about cool environments to get to during a heat wave, even in the absence of symptoms.” stat’s coverage of chronic health issues is supported by a grant from bloomberg philanthropies. our financial supporters are not involved in any decisions about our journalism. cardiovascular disease reporter elizabeth cooney is a cardiovascular disease reporter at stat, covering heart, stroke, and metabolic conditions. cardiovascular disease chronic disease climate change public health to submit a correction request, please visit our contact us page. advertisement reporting from the frontiers of health and medicine company account 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copyright 2025 the associated press. all rights reserved. file   ricky leath, an outreach specialist with the city of miami, talks with bei zhao, right, as he works with the miami dade county homeless trust to distribute bottles of water and other supplies to the homeless population, helping them manage high temperatures, may 15, 2024, in miami. the miami dade government and the local national weather service office team up to treat heat like hurricanes and emphasize advanced preparations. (ap photo/lynne sladky, file) file   ricky leath, an outreach specialist with the city of miami, right, hands a bottle of water to a person on the street as he works with the miami dade county homeless trust to distribute water and other supplies to the homeless population, helping them manage high temperatures, may 15, 2024, in miami. the miami dade government and the local national weather service office team up to treat heat like hurricanes and emphasize advanced preparations. (ap photo/lynne sladky, file) file   ricky leath, an outreach specialist with the city of miami, walks through a homeless encampment as he works with the miami dade county homeless trust to distribute bottles of water and other supplies to the homeless population, helping them manage high temperatures, may 15, 2024, in miami. the miami dade government and the local national weather service office team up to treat heat like hurricanes and emphasize advanced preparations. (ap photo/lynne sladky, file) file   demonstrators cover themselves with sheets to simulate workers killed by extreme heat, june 21, 2023, during a rally by outdoor workers demanding workplace protections against extreme heat, at the stephen p. clark government center in miami. (ap photo/wilfredo lee, file) fiel   workers construct additional seating at the previously 18,000 seat drv pink stadium, home of inter miami mls soccer team, july 12, 2023, in fort lauderdale, fla. the miami dade government and the local national weather service office team up to treat heat like hurricanes and emphasize advanced preparations. (ap photo/rebecca blackwell, file) file   residents and tourists enjoy south beach, july 28, 2023, in miami beach, fla. the miami dade government and the local national weather service office team up to treat heat like hurricanes and emphasize advanced preparations. (ap photo/rebecca blackwell, file) file   ricky leath, an outreach specialist with the city of miami, talks with bei zhao, right, as he works with the miami dade county homeless trust to distribute bottles of water and other supplies to the homeless population, helping them manage high temperatures, may 15, 2024, in miami. the miami dade government and the local national weather service office team up to treat heat like hurricanes and emphasize advanced preparations. (ap photo/lynne sladky, file) file   ricky leath, an outreach specialist with the city of miami, talks with bei zhao, right, as he works with the miami dade county homeless trust to distribute bottles of water and other supplies to the homeless population, helping them manage high temperatures, may 15, 2024, in miami. the miami dade government and the local national weather service office team up to treat heat like hurricanes and emphasize advanced preparations. (ap photo/lynne sladky, file) file   ricky leath, an outreach specialist with the city of miami, right, hands a bottle of water to a person on the street as he works with the miami dade county homeless trust to distribute water and other supplies to the homeless population, helping them manage high temperatures, may 15, 2024, in miami. the miami dade government and the local national weather service office team up to treat heat like hurricanes and emphasize advanced preparations. (ap photo/lynne sladky, file) file   ricky leath, an outreach specialist with the city of miami, right, hands a bottle of water to a person on the street as he works with the miami dade county homeless trust to distribute water and other supplies to the homeless population, helping them manage high temperatures, may 15, 2024, in miami. the miami dade government and the local national weather service office team up to treat heat like hurricanes and emphasize advanced preparations. (ap photo/lynne sladky, file) file   ricky leath, an outreach specialist with the city of miami, walks through a homeless encampment as he works with the miami dade county homeless trust to distribute bottles of water and other supplies to the homeless population, helping them manage high temperatures, may 15, 2024, in miami. the miami dade government and the local national weather service office team up to treat heat like hurricanes and emphasize advanced preparations. (ap photo/lynne sladky, file) file   ricky leath, an outreach specialist with the city of miami, walks through a homeless encampment as he works with the miami dade county homeless trust to distribute bottles of water and other supplies to the homeless population, helping them manage high temperatures, may 15, 2024, in miami. the miami dade government and the local national weather service office team up to treat heat like hurricanes and emphasize advanced preparations. (ap photo/lynne sladky, file) file   demonstrators cover themselves with sheets to simulate workers killed by extreme heat, june 21, 2023, during a rally by outdoor workers demanding workplace protections against extreme heat, at the stephen p. clark government center in miami. (ap photo/wilfredo lee, file) file   demonstrators cover themselves with sheets to simulate workers killed by extreme heat, june 21, 2023, during a rally by outdoor workers demanding workplace protections against extreme heat, at the stephen p. clark government center in miami. (ap photo/wilfredo lee, file) fiel   workers construct additional seating at the previously 18,000 seat drv pink stadium, home of inter miami mls soccer team, july 12, 2023, in fort lauderdale, fla. the miami dade government and the local national weather service office team up to treat heat like hurricanes and emphasize advanced preparations. (ap photo/rebecca blackwell, file) fiel   workers construct additional seating at the previously 18,000 seat drv pink stadium, home of inter miami mls soccer team, july 12, 2023, in fort lauderdale, fla. the miami dade government and the local national weather service office team up to treat heat like hurricanes and emphasize advanced preparations. (ap photo/rebecca blackwell, file) file   residents and tourists enjoy south beach, july 28, 2023, in miami beach, fla. the miami dade government and the local national weather service office team up to treat heat like hurricanes and emphasize advanced preparations. (ap photo/rebecca blackwell, file) file   residents and tourists enjoy south beach, july 28, 2023, in miami beach, fla. the miami dade government and the local national weather service office team up to treat heat like hurricanes and emphasize advanced preparations. (ap photo/rebecca blackwell, file) despite a record 46 day streak of triple digit feels like temperatures, miami’s unprecedented brutal summer last year wasn’t that deadly, contrasting with the rest of the nation where federal records show heat fatalities nationally spiked to a 45 year high. one of the reasons is that miami takes heat seriously, not just reacting when temperatures soar, but planning months in advance. officials talk to vulnerable people, install air conditioning units early and essentially figure out what to do when things get nasty and practice at it. the miami dade government and the local national weather service office team up to treat heat like something more scary, but often less deadly. when jane gilbert took over three years ago as the county’s heat officer, one of the first in an increasingly warmer nation, she said mayor daniella levine cava told her “i want you to prepare our people on the level that we do our hurricane season.” ricky leath, an outreach specialist with the city of miami, right, hands a bottle of water to a person on the street as he works with the miami dade county homeless trust to distribute water and other supplies to the homeless population, helping them manage high temperatures, may 15, 2024, in miami. (ap photo/lynne sladky, file) ricky leath, an outreach specialist with the city of miami, right, hands a bottle of water to a person on the street as he works with the miami dade county homeless trust to distribute water and other supplies to the homeless population, helping them manage high temperatures, may 15, 2024, in miami. (ap photo/lynne sladky, file) ricky leath, an outreach specialist with the city of miami, walks through a homeless encampment as he works with the miami dade county homeless trust to distribute bottles of water and other supplies to the homeless population, helping them manage high temperatures, may 15, 2024, in miami. (ap photo/lynne sladky, file) ricky leath, an outreach specialist with the city of miami, walks through a homeless encampment as he works with the miami dade county homeless trust to distribute bottles of water and other supplies to the homeless population, helping them manage high temperatures, may 15, 2024, in miami. (ap photo/lynne sladky, file) because miami averages a hurricane landfall nearby every six years or so, according to the national hurricane center, getting ready for storm season is a big and quite public deal with media, stores and government all talking about preparations. when it comes to heat, the county first determined who was vulnerable and where they were, gilbert said. “we looked at emergency department visits and hospitalizations by zip code and there are some zip codes that have four or five times the rates of others,” gilbert said. because of the urban heat island effect, poverty rates, amount of asphalt and greenery, some places can be more than 10 degrees hotter than measured temperatures, she said. those zip codes tend have higher percentages of families with children. while miami has a high rate of air conditioning in homes, it’s expensive and many poor people can’t afford it or have inefficient units so they don’t use them as often as needed, gilbert said. before last year’s heat season started, the county installed 1,700 efficient air conditioning units “to make sure everyone under the county’s care had access to efficient cooling,” she said. with the designation of a heat season starting may 31, officials now prepare for three different weather hazards from may to october: heat, hurricanes and floods. “we’re calling them trifecta trainings,” gilbert said. volunteers go to homeless encampments, summer camps, health care clinics and vulnerable neighborhoods to talk with people, organizers, doctors and others about what to do when the high heat kicks in, what danger signs to look for. this year, miami has 14 different trainings in english, spanish and haitian creole. the county provides cooling towels to homeless, helps coordinate water donations, hands out maps of where cooling sites are and even offers transportation when the heat gets really bad. residents and tourists enjoy south beach, july 28, 2023, in miami beach, fla. (ap photo/rebecca blackwell, file) residents and tourists enjoy south beach, july 28, 2023, in miami beach, fla. (ap photo/rebecca blackwell, file) also, the county and the local weather service office changed the thresholds for when heat advisories and warnings kick in and communication to the public ramps up, said national weather service meteorologist sammy hadi. before last year, the feels like heat index, which combines temperature and humidity, had to reach 113 degrees to be a heat warning that activates more county resources and action. that had never happened in miami before, he said. last year, due to community wishes and scientific data, the weather service dropped that heat warning threshold to 110 degrees. miami dade got its first heat warning. in fact, the county had a heat warning on seven days last year, hadi said. the lower heat advisory used to be only triggered at 108 degrees, but now gets declared at 105 degrees. last year, miami dade had a record 38 days under that heat advisory. the experiment in lower heat thresholds in miami worked so well that neighboring suburban broward county joined dade, hadi said. so far this year, south florida has had 13 days of heat advisories, he said. people in vulnerable communities should know what to do, because the county has targeted those zip codes with digital ads at gas stations, grocery stores, bus shelters and billboards, gilbert said. “getting the word out is half the battle,” hadi said. it seems to work. while maricopa county in arizona had at least 645 deaths where heat was a factor in 2023 and texas had 450 and nevada had 226, the official heat related death count for miami dade was so low   10 or fewer   that it didn’t register with the centers for disease control and prevention. health experts say heat deaths are widely underreported because it is a factor that triggers other more direct causes and often doctors and medical examiners don’t think to see if temperature played a role. gilbert is quick to say it’s unfair to compare phoenix’s high death count to south florida’s minimal one because the arizona city has made it a priority to make sure heat related deaths are recorded that way, where other cities, including miami, don’t. the way miami tracks heat deaths is not nearly as comprehensive, she said. also, phoenix has more homeless who are more vulnerable because they don’t escape the heat indoors, she said. and it was hot. “completely unprecedented. it was like an entirely different climate regime,” said university of miami tropical weather expert brian mcnoldy who was tracking the warmth daily. “the number of records we broke and the margins we broke them by was unimaginable... in the four months from mid june to mid october, the heat index record was broken 40% of the days.” the heat index, which combines heat and humidity, hit 105 degrees or above on 40 days from june 1 to september 1 last year with the city sweltering for 108 hours of that level of “particularly oppressive” conditions, according to the national weather service. the summer warm season was the hottest on record. demonstrators cover themselves with sheets to simulate workers killed by extreme heat, june 21, 2023, during a rally by outdoor workers demanding workplace protections against extreme heat, at the stephen p. clark government center in miami. (ap photo/wilfredo lee, file) demonstrators cover themselves with sheets to simulate workers killed by extreme heat, june 21, 2023, during a rally by outdoor workers demanding workplace protections against extreme heat, at the stephen p. clark government center in miami. (ap photo/wilfredo lee, file) workers construct additional seating at the previously 18,000 seat drv pink stadium, home of inter miami mls soccer team, july 12, 2023, in fort lauderdale, fla. (ap photo/rebecca blackwell, file) workers construct additional seating at the previously 18,000 seat drv pink stadium, home of inter miami mls soccer team, july 12, 2023, in fort lauderdale, fla. (ap photo/rebecca blackwell, file) but heat has become a political issue. gov. ron desantis in april signed a bill that bars county and city governments from requiring heat and water breaks for outdoor workers. it was a direct response to miami dade county’s effort to require shade and water for construction, farm and other outdoor workers. still, several experts   doctors, public health officials and meteorologists   point to miami, along with phoenix and houston, as model cities for dealing with worsening heat waves and higher death tolls triggered by human caused climate change. “miami’s kind of a poster child because they have a chief heat officer to begin with, so they’re already ahead of the curve,” said morgan zabow, community heath and health coordinator at the national oceanic and atmospheric administration. “jane gilbert with miami dade county is just a rock star to begin with. and there, she’s implementing so many different things across the county.” terry spencer in fort lauderdale, fla. and mary katherine wildeman in hartford, conn. contributed to this report. read more of ap’s climate coverage at http://www.apnews.com/climate and environment follow seth borenstein on x at @borenbears the associated press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. ap is solely responsible for all content. find ap’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at ap.org. copyright 2025 the associated press. all rights reserved.
supported by as temperatures soar around the world, practical experiments are emerging to protect people. by somini sengupta an app that helps people find relief from the heat. a tiny insurance policy that pays working women when temperatures soar. local laws that help outdoor workers get water and shade on sweltering days. as dangerous heat becomes impossible to ignore, an array of practical innovations are emerging around the world to protect people most vulnerable to its hazards. what’s notable is that these efforts don’t require untested technologies. instead, they’re based on ideas that are practical and already known to work. they offer a window into the need to adapt to the new dangers of extreme heat that have played out vividly in recent weeks, killing still untold numbers of religious pilgrims, tourists and election workers around the world and driving up emergency room visits for heat related ailments in the united states. the world meteorological organization has said that heat now kills more people than any other extreme weather hazard and has called for many more “tailored climate products and services” to protect people’s health, including easy to use tools to find help. iphigenia keramitsoglou is an atmospheric physicist who specializes in remote sensing data. she looks at the world from very far away.

 an app that helps people find relief from the heat. a tiny insurance policy that pays working women when temperatures soar. local laws that help outdoor workers get water and shade on sweltering days. as dangerous heat becomes impossible to ignore, an array of practical innovations are emerging around the world to protect people most vulnerable to its hazards. what’s notable is that these efforts don’t require untested technologies. instead, they’re based on ideas that are practical and already known to work. they offer a window into the need to adapt to the new dangers of extreme heat that have played out vividly in recent weeks, killing still untold numbers of religious pilgrims, tourists and election workers around the world and driving up emergency room visits for heat related ailments in the united states. the world meteorological organization has said that heat now kills more people than any other extreme weather hazard and has called for many more “tailored climate products and services” to protect people’s health, including easy to use tools to find help. iphigenia keramitsoglou is an atmospheric physicist who specializes in remote sensing data.