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Our Body Temps Have Been Dropping For 160 Years. Gut Microbes May Be Playing a Role : ScienceAlert
The average temperature of the human body has been steadily declining since the middle of the 19th century, and scientists aren’t sure why. A new study suggests one key factor that might play a role in this: gut microbes.
Examining data from patients hospitalized with sepsis – where the body reacts in a dangerously extreme way to infection – as well as from tests on mice, the researchers behind the study looked at the relationship between gut bacteria, changes in temperature, and health outcomes.
That choice of sepsis patients is deliberate because the condition can lead to a variety of temperature fluctuations in the body that are often related to the chances of someone pulling through and recovering.
“We know that temperature response is important in sepsis because it strongly predicts who lives and who dies,” says microbiologist and immunologist Robert Dickson from the University of Michigan.
“But we don’t know what drives this variation and whether it can be modified to help patients.”
The team studied gut bacteria samples taken from 116 people with sepsis, discovering that there were wide variations in the microbiota – and that the variations correlated with changes in the temperature trajectories of the patients.
Bacteria from the Firmicutes phylum were most closely associated with having a higher fever. These bacteria produce important substances for body growth and health and influence the body’s immune response and metabolism.
While it’s not enough to show that gut bacteria are why our insides have been getting cooler over the last 150 years, it’s an interesting hypothesis – and it shows how our gut microbiome is linked to body temperature.
“Arguably, our patients have more variation in their microbiota than they do in their own genetics,” says internist Kale Bongers, also from the University of Michigan. “Any two patients are more than 99 percent identical in their own genomes, while they may have literally 0 percent overlap in their gut bacteria.”
In further tests on healthy mice with and without a bacteria microbiome, lower base body temperatures were observed in the animals without the bacteria – while treatment with antibiotics also reduced body temperature in the mice.
What’s more, across both the humans and the mice, the same family of bacteria seemed to be associated with fluctuations in temperature. The next step is to look at more samples from a broader range of people and to work out what biological mechanisms are underpinning this relationship.
With more research, it’s possible that we might be able to develop ways of modifying the gut microbiome specifically to affect body temperature – and that, in turn, could improve the outlook for people with conditions such as sepsis.
“There’s a reason that temperature is a vital sign,” says Bongers. “It’s both easily measured and tells us important information about the body’s inflammatory and metabolic state.”
The research has been published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
Winter storm puts millions under alerts coast-to-coast as record-low temps and power outages arrive before Christmas
CNN
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The massive winter storm battering the US with plunging temperatures coast-to-coast has left thousands without power and prompted more than a dozen governors to create emergency response plans ahead of Christmas weekend.
The storm – well on its way to becoming even stronger Friday – has delivered heavy snow and ice, making for grim road conditions with poor visibility, leaving some drivers stranded in unbearably frigid temperatures.
Travel is also being snarled, with hundreds of miles of road closures and flight cancellations growing rapidly.
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Ahead of the holiday weekend, more than 200 million people in the US are under wind chill alerts from the Canadian border to the Mexican border and from Washington state to Florida, with below-zero wind chills expected in the Southeast by Friday. Other winter weather alerts are in effect for blizzard conditions, ice, snow as well as flooding.
“The National Weather Service’s Watch Warning graphic depicts one of the greatest extents of winter weather warnings and advisories ever,” the agency said Thursday.
Notably, parts of Montana, South Dakota and Wyoming have already seen wind chills below minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit in the past two days.
“The ongoing major winter storm will continue to produce areas of heavy snow, strong winds, and life-threatening wind chills through Saturday. If traveling for the holiday, please use extreme caution and pay attention to the latest forecasts and updates,” the National Weather Service said Thursday.
On Friday, the storm is expected to unleash more heavy snow and blizzard conditions, particularly in the Midwest.
As it treks east across the country, the storm is expected to become a bomb cyclone, a rapidly strengthening storm which drops 24 millibars of pressure within 24 hours. The storm’s pressure is forecast to match that of a Category 2 hurricane as it moves into the Great Lakes Friday.
The storm is also lashing places in the South unaccustomed to such extreme winter conditions. Thousands of homes and businesses were in the dark early Friday across Texas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Mississippi as well as Missouri, according to Poweroutage.us.
Governors in at least 13 states, including in the South such as Georgia and North Carolina, have implemented emergency measures to respond to the storm. Declarations of a state of emergency in several states have included the activation of National Guard units.
Plus, more than 2,600 flights have already been canceled Friday due to the storm.
- It will remain very cold: Friday will bring record-low temperatures in large swaths of the US, including from the Lower Mississippi Valley, northeastward into the Tennessee and Ohio Valleys and stretching across large sections of the east from the Southeast, through the Southern to Central Appalachians and into the mid-Atlantic, according to the National Weather Service.
- Dangerous wind chills: The plummeting temperatures will be accompanied by high winds, which will create dangerous wind chills across nearly all across the central to eastern US.
- Blizzard warnings: The Upper Midwest will see frigid temperatures, heavy snow and high winds. The warning applies to parts of Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota and Michigan. Buffalo, New York, will go under a blizzard warning Friday morning. Such warnings go in effect when snow and wind of 35 mph will reduce visibility to less than a quarter of a mile for at least three hours.
- Whiteout conditions: Blizzard conditions may exist even if snowfall stops, because high winds can pick up snow already on the ground and cause low visibility.
In pictures: Winter storm impacts the US
One of the biggest dangers of the storm beside heavy snow and blizzard conditions is the rapid drop in temperatures over a short period of time. The air will continue to get and feel colder, especially during night hours.
More cities are experiencing rapidly dropping temperatures as arctic air which blasted much of the Western US and Great Plains this week heads east.
Denver: Over one hour, Denver International Airport saw a 37-degree plunge Wednesday, preliminarily the biggest one-hour drop recorded there, according to the National Weather Service.
Chicago: Over 11 hours Wednesday, Chicago’s temperature dropped 38 degrees – in terms of wind chill, a drop of 53 degrees, from 27 degrees Fahrenheit to minus 26.
St. Louis: Over 24 hours from Tuesday to Wednesday night, St. Louis’ temperature dropped 44 degrees – in terms of wind chill, a drop of 61 degrees, from 31 to minus 30.
Memphis: Over six hours Wednesday afternoon and night, Memphis’ temperature dropped 36 degrees – in terms of wind chill, a drop of 54 degrees, from 40 to minus 14.
Nashville: In just two hours Wednesday night, Nashville’s temperature dropped 29 degrees – in terms of wind chill, a drop of 41 degrees, from 39 to minus 2.
Dallas: Over nine hours Wednesday, Dallas’ temperature dropped 31 degrees – in terms of wind chill, a drop of 44 degrees, from 40 to minus 4.
Little Rock, Arkansas: Over nine hours Wednesday afternoon and night, Little Rock’s temperature dropped 36 degrees – in terms of wind chill, a drop of 52 degrees, from 41 to minus 11.
Cheyenne, Wyoming: Over about one hour, temperatures in Cheyenne dropped by 43 degrees. The capital city also saw a 30-degree drop in temperature in 10 minutes.
Sony’s Updated PS5 Console Comes With 6nm AMD Oberon Plus SOC, Offers Lower Temps & Consumes Lower Power
Sony recently did a soft refresh of its PS5 console with a new variant known as the CFI-1202 that offers lower temps & power input. The new console is lighter, runs cooler, and consumes lower power & this is all thanks to the refreshed AMD Obreon Plus SOC hailing the TSMC 6nm process node.
Sony’s PS5 “CFI-1202” Console Variant Features Enhanced 6nm AMD Oberon Plus SOC: Reduced Die Size, Lower Power & Cooler Operation
In a recent teardown video published by Austin Evans, the Techtuber noticed that the Sony PS5 console was shipping in a new variant that is lighter, cooler, & less power hungry. This new PS5 variant is labeled as the “CFI-1202” and we can now get to the bottom of why it is so better than Sony’s original PS5 variants (CFI-1000 / CFI-1001).
Tech outlet, Angstronomics, has confirmed in their exclusive that the Sony PS5 (CFI-1202) comes with an enhanced AMD Oberon SOC known as Oberon Plus which utilizes the TSMC N6 process (6nm). TSMC has made it so that their 7nm (N7) process node is design rule compatible with the 6nm EUV (N6) node. This allows TSMC partners to easily port existing 7nm chips to the 6nm node without running into major complexities. The N6 process node offers an 18.8% transistor density increase and also reduces power consumption which in return reduces temperatures.
This is why the new Sony PS5 consoles are lighter and feature a smaller heatsink compared to the launch variants. But that’s not all, we also get to see a brand new chip shot of the AMD Oberon Plus SOC sitting next to the 7nm Oberon SOC. The new die measures around 260mm2 which is a 15% reduction in die size compared to the 7nm Oberon SOC (~300mm2). There’s another advantage of moving to 6nm and that’s the number of chips that can be produced on a single wafer. The outlet reports that each Oberon Plus SOC wafer can produce around 20% more chips at the same cost.
What this means is that without affecting their cost, Sony can offer more Oberon Plus chips to be used in PS5 and that can further reduce shortages in the market that the current-gen consoles have faced since their launch. It is also reported that TSMC will phase out 7nm Oberon SOCs in the future and move entirely to 6nm Oberon Plus SOC which will result in 50% more chips to be made per wafer. Microsoft is also expected to utilize the 6nm process node for its refreshed Arden SOC in the future for its Xbox Series X consoles.
News Source: Angstronomics
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Rain, cool temps help containment efforts
But forecasts calling for the rain to continue over the fire area until Wednesday have prompted warnings of possible thunderstorms that could trigger mudslides, rockslides and and ash and debris flows where the 76,290-acre fire has already burned.
“It adds another layer of complexity to the firefight,” said Scott McLean, a Cal Fire spokesman.
According to the National Weather Service meteorologist Eric Kurth, who is assigned to the Mosquito Fire, the storm sitting over Northern California dropped between ½ of an inch and an inch of rainfall over the fire on Sunday. It also brought cooler temperatures and higher humidity — favorable conditions for firefighters, who took advantage of those conditions to extend containment lines around 39% of the fire.
Moderate rains were expected to continue through Wednesday, dropping about an inch over the fire Monday, with possible isolated thunderstorms bringing locally heavy rains that could cause flooding and ash and debris slides. On Wednesday, the scattered showers are expected, with conditions expected to dry up and warm up on Thursday, with temperatures returning to normal — in the 80s — on Friday.
In addition to the potential of slides and flooding, the rains create muddy, slippery and dangerous conditions for the thousands of firefighters working to surround and extinguish the blaze in the steep and rugged terrain. Cal Fire officials said.
“All those dozer lines and hand lines are going to turn to mud,” McLean said, “and traversing those drainages is going to be difficult.”
Fire crews may need to be pulled back from the lines in some areas, he said, but they’ll keep fighting the fire, putting out hot spots and smoldering trees and working to extend containment lines around the perimeter of the blaze. The eastern edge of the fire continues to present the biggest challenge to firefighter, McLean said.
The Mosquito Fire, burning in the Tahoe and El Dorado National Forests, started on Sept. 7. It raged during its first few days, destroying 78 structures and damaging 13 — and forcing thousands of residents in the sparsely populated, densely forested area to leave their homes. Cal Fire inverstigators are still trying to determine the cause.
Over the weekend, evacuation orders were lifted in some areas, including Georgetown, Cool, Garden Valley, Deer View, Kelsey Greenwood, Bottle Hill, Cannon Creek and Grey Eagle. But several evacuation orders and warnings remain in place and evacuation centers are still open in Rocklin, Cameron Park and Placerville.
The area is steep, rugged and populated with clusters of houses off rural roads. Once a gold mining center, the region is now a recreation area popular among off-road vehicle users and trail runners.
As the rains yield to sunshine late in the week, firefighters are hoping the temperatures don’t soar and the humidity remains high, McLean said, enabling them to continue to make progress containing the fire McLean said.
“Fire activity has slowed down, but the firefighters have not,” the U.S. Forest Service said in an update Monday morning.
“While the rain presents a different set of challenges to the fire-suppression effort, crews continue to work, taking advantage of the lull in fire activity to secure the fire perimeter and increase containment before warm, dry weather returns,” the agency said.
Michael Cabanatuan (he/him) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ctuan
Pixel Weather widget breaks with 100 degree temps
The Southwest has been facing record heat with 100-degree temperatures since the middle of this week and it’s expected to continue into Labor Day. In checking the Pixel Weather app over the past few days, it’s become clear that the main widget was not properly designed to show temperatures over 100.
Last year, Android 12 on Pixel phones introduced a pair of delightful Material You widgets that are rather info-dense and feature Dynamic Color theming to adapt to your wallpaper. Up to this day, they remain exclusive to Google phones even on other Android 12/13 devices. (The same can be said about a particular YouTube Music widget that’s quite convenient.)
The largest widget configuration shows the current temperature and condition, today’s high and low, and two-day forecast. The other key part is a look ahead at the next four hours. When it’s over 100, the degree symbol is amusingly pushed to the next line. This moves the visual representation down and results in the time increment disappearing.
As you can see below, everything works normally when it’s just two digits, but three visually breaks things. Adjusting system Display size and text does not appear to make a difference.
It obviously remains more than usable, but exposes a design edge case that’s no longer such a remote possibility in this day and age. Google will hopefully address 100-degree temps with a future update to the Google app, which powers those weather widgets.
Speaking of fixes, there are still people that have occasional issues with the widgets not updating without a tap that opens the full experience. It would also be great if that was eventually resolved.
Anyways, hope you’re staying cool.
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AMD Ryzen 7000 CPU Undervolting Can Leave A Lot of Frequency & TDP Headroom, Also Drops Temps Signficantly
Yesterday, we reported that AMD’s Ryzen 7000 CPUs would be really toasty when running at stock settings but don’t worry, Undervolting is there to save the day.
AMD’s Ryzen 7000 Desktop CPU Undervolting Could Offer Significant Frequency & TDP Headroom While Dropping Down Temps
In the previous report, we stated how AMD’s Ryzen 7000 CPUs have been alleged to run really hot even at stock TDP ratings. The Ryzen 9 7950X with a PPT of 230W and the Ryzen 5 7600X with a PPT of close to 130W are said to hit 90-95C temperatures at stock configurations which is almost at the edge of their thermal threshold. After hitting this threshold, the CPU will downclock itself and run at much lower frequencies of 5.0 GHz, a drop of -700 MHz.
If set manual V with same CLK, can get MUCH reasonable result. And there is a lot of CLK/temp headroom.
More than 3 weeks for launch. Wait and hope to fix this.
Many thanks for tip! ☺️
(2/2)
— 포시포시 (@harukaze5719) September 1, 2022
Now Harukaze5719 has found out to AIDA64 entries which are allegedly from an AMD Ryzen 5 7600X CPU. The first result shows us the stock configuration where the ES chip is seen running at a frequency of 5.05 GHz. The temperature can be seen sitting at 93.1C at 122W in the AIDA64 FPU stress test. This is a really high temperature but in the second window, we can see a manual Vcore adjustment which drops the temperature significantly down to 56.5C and also the wattage to just 68 Watts while retaining the 5.05 GHz.
It is likely that there could be a power or voltage bug in the AMD Ryzen 7000 ES/QS parts which is leading to such high temperatures but undevolting more or less fixes the issue. Now it remains to be seen whether the manually adjust voltage will be good enough to handle the 5.5-5.7 GHz clock speeds that the Ryzen 7000 CPUs have to offer. It could be possible that the undervolting is good enough for a 5 GHz clock speed but more voltage would be required to hit the higher frequencies.
Considering that the Zen 4 chiplets are smaller than their predecessor but much denser, they will require a lot of cooling. It looks like that might be one reason why the chiplets are also gold-plated this time to effectively move as much heat away from them and to the IHS. A new screenshot by leaker, Enthusiast Citizen, reaffirms his claim though once again, the result is based on an ES chip and the problem may have been tweaked in the final silicon:
All of this means that users should definitely look forward to investing in some really high-end AIO coolers if they plan on building a new PC with AMD’s Ryzen 7000 Desktop CPUs. Of course, this is just a rumor for now and we will wait for final tests and reviews to confirm the validity of this rumor but AMD has put in their best efforts to make sure that heat is dissipated off the CPUs by issuing a gold plating on both the IHS and the Zen 4 CCDs as detailed here. The AMD Ryzen 7000 CPUs launch alongside the AM5 platform on the 27th of September.
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Scorching temps expected on Monday and Tuesday
Scorching temps on Monday and Tuesday raise concerns of heat illnesses
On top of that, the excessive heat we’re seeing to start the week is what’s in the forecast for the rest of July. And with the extreme heat, comes concerns for heat exhaustion and other heat-related illnesses.
(FOX 9) – Get ready for scorching hot temperatures on Monday and Tuesday, that will be a preview of the rest of the month.
High temperatures on Monday and Tuesday are expected to be in the mid-90s. Combined with high dew points, the temps will push the heat index towards the triple digits.
On top of that, the excessive heat we’re seeing to start the week is what’s in the forecast for the rest of July. And with the extreme heat, comes concerns for heat exhaustion and other heat-related illnesses.
- Drink more fluids (non-alcoholic), regardless of your activity level. Don’t wait until you’re thirsty to drink. Warning: If your doctor generally limits the amount of fluid you drink or has you on water pills, ask how much you should drink while the weather is hot.
- Don’t drink liquids that contain alcohol or large amounts of sugar–these cause you to lose more body fluid. Also, avoid very cold drinks, because they can cause stomach cramps.
- Stay indoors and, if possible, stay in an air-conditioned place. If your home does not have air conditioning, go to the shopping mall or public library–even a few hours spent in air conditioning can help your body stay cooler when you go back into the heat. Call your local health department or Red Cross chapter to see if there are any heat-relief shelters in your area.
- Electric fans may provide comfort, but when the temperature is in the high 90s, fans will not prevent heat-related illness. Taking a cool shower or bath, or moving to an air-conditioned place is a much better way to cool off.
- Wear lightweight, light-colored, loose-fitting clothing.
- NEVER leave anyone in a closed, parked vehicle.
- Although anyone can suffer from heat-related illness, some people are at greater risk than others. Check regularly on: Infants and young children, People aged 65 or older, People who have a mental illness, and Those who are physically ill, especially with heart disease or high blood pressure
If you must be out in the heat
- Limit your outdoor activity to morning and evening hours
- Cut down on exercise. If you must exercise, drink two-to-four glasses of cool, nonalcoholic fluids each hour. A sports beverage can replace the salt and minerals you lose in sweat. Warning: If you are on a low-salt diet, talk with your doctor before drinking a sports beverage. Remember the warning in the first “tip” (above).
- Try to rest often, in shady areas
- Protect yourself from the sun by wearing a wide-brimmed hat (also keeps you cooler) and sunglasses and by putting on sunscreen of SPF 15 or higher (the most effective products say “broad spectrum” or “UVA/UVB protection” on their labels).
Falling iguana warning: Temps plunge in South Florida, too
A freezing wind chill in Minneapolis might be a warm snap. People in the Northeast are being crushed by a legitimate blizzard.
And way down south in South Florida, all the way down to South Beach, the high temp Saturday will be a bone-chilling 60 degrees, the National Weather Service says.
Forget about it. Sunday morning in West Palm Beach, the temp will be 36, with a wind chill at 32, forecasters say. Other locations in South Florida are expecting temps so cold that forecasters are even predicting the “only in Florida” weather calamity known as: Isolated falling iguanas.
“Much of the state will remain mostly clear and frigid tonight with the chance for scattered to isolated falling iguanas from trees due to subfreezing temperatures that may temporarily paralyze them,” according to the Weather Prediction Center.
The keyword is “temporarily,” since the raining reptiles most often rejuvenate when the warmth returns.
The bitter Arctic air could bring the coldest temperatures in more than a decade to Miami on Sunday morning.
Freeze watches and warnings are in effect for much of the state Saturday night.
Wind chill advisories reach down to Key Largo. Wind chills will drop into the teens in the northern part of the state to near freezing in Miami.
Freeze warnings are in effect for around 10 million people in Florida, including Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa and Melbourne.
Affiliate WPLG reports that homeless advocates are warning people that it’s not safe to sleep in cars or on the streets this weekend.
Fire officials are advising people on the safe use of space heaters — and not to use the oven for heat.
Farmers are hoping the low temps are not severe enough or long-last enough to damage crops, affiliate WSVN reports.
CNN’s Dave Hennen and Judson Jones contributed to this report.
Town ravaged by wildfire after enduring Canada’s all-time hottest temps
A small Canadian town was ravaged by an ongoing wildfire on Thursday after enduring the country’s all-time hottest temperatures for three straight days this week.
Most homes and buildings in Lytton, British Columbia, were destroyed and some of the town’s roughly 1,000 residents were unaccounted for following the wildfire that forced people to evacuate on Wednesday night, officials said.
The wildfire devastating Lytton spans over 30 square miles — and is one of several fires burning in the region, according to the British Columbia Wildlife Service.
RECORD NORTHWEST HEAT MAY HAVE KILLED HUNDREDS
“Three consecutive days of the highest recorded temperature in Canadian history all happened in Lytton this week,” British Columbia Premier John Horgan said in a television appearance.
“To have a heat wave and a horrific fire is so troubling and so challenging for the people of this community,” he said.
Lytton reached a sweltering 115 degrees on Sunday, 118.2 degrees on Monday and 121.2 degrees on Tuesday — marking three consecutive days of record-high temperatures for Canada.
Local officials are working to figure out where residents fled.
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Lytton city council member Lilliane Graie, on behalf of Mayor Jan Polderman, said in a written statement: “Our people are scattered north and south and we are trying to establish who is where.”
Some people are reported to have escaped about 40 miles north to a recreational center in Lillooet.
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