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The planet may be warming, but a recent study indicates that mankind is going the other direction.
Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have established that people's bodies are now typically cooler than the textbook figure of 37C, first established by German physician Carl Reinhold August Wunderlich in 1868.
The study shows that modern-day men have a body temperature 0.58C lower than their 19th century counterparts, while women's are 0.32C lower.
This decrease has been attributed to "changes in our environment over the past 200 years, which have in turn driven physiological changes". However, the study acknowledges that establishing cause and effect remains "inherently unprovable".
The rate of decline is about 0.03°C per birth decade. Body temperature is a marker for metabolic rate and could partially explain changes in human health and longevity over time.
Journal Reference:
Myroslava Protsiv, Catherine Ley, Joanna Lankester, Trevor Hastie, Julie Parsonnet. Decreasing human body temperature in the United States since the Industrial Revolution, (DOI: doi:10.7554/eLife.49555)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 21 2020, @03:30AM
The fact is humans only have a narrow comfortable operating range. Too hot is also a big problem. Lots of people die in heatwaves too.
That said it's probably easier to invent better insulation, heating and cold wear vs Antarctic levels of cold, whereas you're going to be stuck in air conditioned areas when ambient is 45C and humidity is high. And keep in mind all those air conditioners are pumping out heat making the area even hotter too...