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Scientist Shuts Himself in 104F Chamber in Quest to Study Heat Stress

Bloomberg.com · last updated

Earlier this summer, Glen Kenny spent three days confined to a special chamber inside his University of Ottawa lab where the daytime temperature was set at 40C (104F).

The purpose was to see how the researcher’s 61-year-old body held up in brutal indoor temperatures observed during a 2021 heat wave that killed hundreds of Canadians. Though he felt fine the first day, by the second, his internal temperature briefly hit nearly 40C — approaching a dangerous level — and by the third he’d lost roughly 10 pounds (4.5 kg).