“Humid conditions have their own sort of more perceptual limitations, that difficulty breathing, because it feels so claustrophobic,” Dr Cheng says.

“But in the dry environment, so far, the rate at which [their core temperature] is rising can be one-and-a-half to two times what we’re seeing with the more humid conditions.”

“It’s really for a lot of those nations, that don’t have a choice but to actually live in these conditions 24/7 … or for people in circumstances where air conditioning is not an option, or areas of the world where manual labour in the field is just sort of their way of life,” Dr Cheng says.

“A lot of those parts of the world that are most affected by it, are also the ones that have the least resources, I think, to deal with it.”

The researchers will keep testing the conditions on people until the end of the year.

But in the meantime, it’s given both the researchers, and Owen, an important glimpse into where the heat threshold of the human body lies.

I received a small (6-ish spaces) hydroponics kit two Christmases ago, and grew a few strawberry plants in it last year following the instructions that came with it. We never really got any strawberries off of them, but the plants themselves did wonderfully until the cats got to them.

This year I’d like to try something more “useful”, like fresh herbs or micro greens (both of which are rather expensive to buy where I live). Does anybody have tips for how to start these, and places (in the US or that ship to it) that might carry seeds for the micro greens? I’m also concerned about running out of the “fertilizer” that came with the kit.