Temperature

Over the past 150 years, researchers have seen the average human body temperature drop by more than half a degree Fahrenheit (0.3 °C). Now, researchers are speculating microbiome changes could be driving these long-term body temperature variations.

Life on Earth has persisted for billions of years through many extreme climate events. MIT scientists have analyzed 66 million years of climate data and found a stabilizing mechanism for global temperatures that plays out on large timescales.

Israeli company Green Kinoko is preparing for the first public tests of a remarkable clean outdoor cooling system. The Kinsho system operates like the inverse of an outdoor cafe heater, cooling several tables per unit without using any electricity.

A new study on fruit flies may help explain why siestas came to be such an important habit in many cultures, revealing a type of brain thermometer that kicks sleep-promoting cells into action as the mercury starts to climb.

The Moon isn’t the most hospitable place, but that’s not stopping NASA from sending humans back there soon. Thankfully, an orbiter has now found a region of the Moon with year-round jeans-and-jacket weather – underground caves.

On July 16, an extremely rare and historically important thermometer made by Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit, inventor of the mercury thermometer and the temperature scale that bears his name, sold for just US$93,750.

As an unprecedented heatwave takes hold in Europe, driving the mercury to record levels and causing devastating wildfires across the continent, authorities are scrambling to prevent disruptions to transport services.

When rescuing avalanche victims or other people in cold, snowy outdoor conditions, it can be difficult to monitor their vital signs via traditional means. The MedSENS device was created with that fact in mind, as it simply goes in the ear and gets strapped to the head.

Scientists have developed a sensor made of incredibly thin strands of sapphire that can withstand extreme heat and radiation, and possibly be put to work in the harsh environment of nuclear fusion reactors and enable more streamlined air travel.

Researchers at Australia’s CSIRO have demonstrated a method for protecting the integrity of vaccines against high temperatures. A proof-of-concept study has shown the method keeps vaccines viable at temperatures up to 37 °C (98 °F) for three months.

In order for it to be truly soft, a soft-bodied robot can't contain any hard, rigid components. That's why we've already seen soft batteries, circuits and actuators. Now, a squishy, stretchable thermometer has joined that list.

Although digital body-temperature thermometers may be easier to read than their analog counterparts, there's always the chance that their battery will go flat. That's where the BCool comes in, as you just give it a few shakes to power it up.