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Thomas
@aviationdoctor.eth
Heat truly is the silent killer. While I fully expect one large and very public event of wet-bulb temperature exceedance leading to mass casualties within this decade, lethal levels of heat quietly collect bodies in the meantime. 300 Muslim pilgrims just died in 49C/120F temperatures doing their lifetime pilgrimage to Mecca (the Hajj) which this year coincides with the hottest season. The story is barely registering in the news. See https://edition.cnn.com/2024/06/19/middleeast/hajj-deaths-mecca-extreme-heat-intl-latam/index.html Then, people are dying one by one in isolated incidents, and heatstrokes are being suspected as the common denominator. See https://edition.cnn.com/2024/06/19/climate/extreme-heat-brain-greece-tourists/index.html If this is happening to humans, despite their superior ability (in principle) to predict and shelter from the heat, imagine the silent consequences to the fauna and flora that can't escape.
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typeof.eth 🔵
@typeof.eth
Damn, that’s terrible. I was listening to a podcast recently where they were talking about how heat makes people use shorter words. The implication being that our brain function is reduced when it’s hot. It also makes us more brash and irritable. Wild to think about the downstream effects from that.
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Thomas
@aviationdoctor.eth
I had that study somewhere (will need to dig it up) but we lose up to 10% of our cognitive capabilities under hot conditions. The brain needs a lot of energy and the body is unable to deliver it when it’s hot — our hypothalamus is working overtime to regulate our internal temperature through sweating and vasodilation
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