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How much heat can the human body stand?
The hottest June ever and a record-breaking start to July should be a wake-up call. We weren’t built for this.
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Heat can kill because our bodies are made of cells contained with membranes that will, if hot enough, melt.
PHOTO: REUTERS
F.D. Flam
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The June that just ended was the Earth’s hottest recorded – ever. And the first week of July
Deaths from heat are pretty common and, as the world heats up, may become more so if we do not develop a plan for extreme heat days, like the kind of warning system that usually comes before a major hurricane or blizzard. In 2019, about 469,000 people worldwide died from overheating, according to a paper published in 2021 in The Lancet.
