Sweat equity

I could not resist--research on sweat. It's true, research topics ARE all around us. (Apparently, some of them are even ON us.) Maybe it's the fact that today's temperatures here were well over 100 degrees F that has grabbed my attention.

Again, the New York Times has inspired me to post with an article titled: Sweatology.

There are some interesting facts in that article:

• Humans tolerate cooling more than they tolerate heating
• People show tremendous variation in the number of sweat glands they possess
• Our body temperatures are lower in the morning.
• Thermoregulation in menopausal women goes awry so that they believe they are hotter than they really are and they sweat more.
• The elderly sweat less than they should (physiology again) and thus are more prone to heat related problems.
• Anger, too, makes us sweat.
• Clothing affects sweating. Naked people sweat more than clothed people. (The IRB is going to love that one.)
  
• Heat acclimation is a real phenomenon. After being in the heat for a week or so, people's sweat glands get bigger and produce more sweat.

Here are the researchers mentioned in the article.

Nina Jablonski is an evolutionary anthropologist whose recent book, Skin, compares the cooling strategies of various primate species (among other topics).

Craig Crandall studies human thermoregulation and has a lab in Dallas.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has developed a manikin called Adam, to measure human thermal comfort inside automobiles. Their goal is to decrease fuel consumption by reducing the use of automotive air conditioning.

Edison once said, "Genius is 1% percent inspiration and 99% perspiration." Maybe he was right.