In todays’ Time Machine, we are taking a look back at a paper written by Dr. Henry Gray Barbour during his time in the Department of Pharmacology at Yale University School of Medicine. Published in Physiological Reviews in 1921, his paper examined how body heat is regulated in various species. In this review, Dr. Barbour explains that water is the best medium for conducting heat throughout the body. This is […]
Jackrabbits have REALLY big ears. Their big ears are well-vascularized as you can see in the photo above. These blood vessels dilate (widen) when it is hot outside to help the animals give off heat to their environment by routing warm blood from their core to their ears. Having such an efficient cooling mechanism means they can conserve water by avoiding the need for evaporative cooling (sweating or panting). As […]
With the approach of summer, a timely study was published in the American Journal of Physiology – Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology on whether inflammation plays a role in heat stress-related complications in muscles. Heat stress is a major problem in the livestock industry. In the United States alone it is reportedly associated with a loss of approximately $158 billion annually in the swine industry. To cool off, swine seek shade and often mud baths […]
Life Lines by Dr. Dolittle 