Children run through an open fire hydrant to cool off during the kickoff of the 2016 Summer Playstreets Program in the Harlem neighborhood of New York, July, 6, 2016.
AP Photo/Ezra Kaplan
Climate change is making heat waves more frequent and intense around the world. Cities are hotter than surrounding areas, so urban dwellers – especially minorities and the poor – are at greatest risk.
People living with chronic illnesses are more vulnerable to heat effects.
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Most people are acutely aware of the toll the heat can take on human life. So it may come as a surprise that more Australians die from the cold than the heat.
If you’re not regularly active, extreme exercise and exercise in extreme heat is unwise.
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Howard Carter, The University of Western Australia and Daniel Green, The University of Western Australia
Exercise alone can be hard, but exercising in the heat is a whole lot harder. Put simply, this is due to the balance between how much heat the body generates and how much it is capable of losing.
Heated contest: Mitchell Johnson and Steve Smith try to cool down during the Brisbane test in December 2014.
AAP Image/Dave Hunt
Sport is fundamental to Australia’s society, culture and economy. But how would we cope when the rising heat threatens some of our most beloved pastimes? A new report from the Climate Institute urges sports…
Wind and humidity affect how easy it is to cool off in a heatwave. Big swimming pools help, too.
AAP Image/Dan Peled
Several Australian cities, such as Adelaide and Perth, have greeted 2015 with scorching weather as summer hits its stride – the kind of conditions that leave us crying out for an air conditioner, rather…
The Barossa in January: not always ideal cycling conditions.
AAP/Dan Peled
Complacency can kill. You would have to be living under a rock to be unaware that heat exposure can be deadly. Yet every year Australia – supposedly the “clever country” – endangers the lives of everyone…
The physiological stress of the heat accumulates and takes its toll after two or three days.
AAP Image/Joe Castro
David Ranson, Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine
Hopefully the southern Australian heatwave is coming to an end – for now. But for health-care providers and death investigators, such as me, the fallout will continue for some time to come. It’s unclear…
Thirsty work: Karmichael Hunt keeps cool during his Brisbane Broncos days.
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Athletes are paid for pushing their bodies to the limit, but at what stage do we acknowledge that baking hot afternoons might not be the safest time for our sportspeople to ply their trade? Certainly…
There are better – and easier – ways to cool athletes in extreme heat.
Nick Bedford
The international soccer community has been bitterly divided over the decision to award the 2022 FIFA World Cup to Qatar: beyond appalling stories of the working conditions of immigrants building stadiums…
Nearly two weeks into the longest heatwave in seven years, the UK has been basking in temperatures of up to 32C. But while the weather is welcome for many, not everyone is so lucky - researchers estimated…
The 2003 European heat wave caused 80,000 deaths at temperatures Australians usually experience in a regular summer.
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Acclimatising to heat is a tough gig. Since 1970, central Australian regions have warmed 1.2ᵒC and as the world continues to get warmer, increasingly common and increasingly intense heat waves will make…
Preparation is key to surviving extremely hot weather.
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Exposure to extreme heat can cause illness and even death for some people. But there are several small steps you can take to protect yourself and your loved ones. We need to keep our body temperature in…