The human body is a remarkably effective cooling machine—but it has a limit. By Dhruv Khullar  Illustration by Alex Kiesling Deadly heat, once rare, is spreading. This summer—which is likely to be the hottest in recorded history—Beijing warmed to a hundred and six degrees and Sardinia baked at a hundred and eighteen. For forty-four consecutive days, El Paso recorded temperatures of a hundred or more. We’re all becoming guinea pigs in a vast experiment: How will people of different ages and levels of fitness respond to unprecedented, ongoing heat? What will happen to our bodies when we have no choice but to stay outside, or when the air-conditioning goes out? One way to study this question is to put people in heat chambers—special rooms where temperature, humidity, and light can be manipulated—while monitoring their vital signs. The Korey Stringer Institute, a nonprofit at the University of Connecticut, operates such chambers. The institute is named for a Minnesota Vikings football player who died of heatstroke at training camp. When I told the institute’s director that I wanted to understand what heat does to our bodies, he agreed to put me in a hundred-and-four-degree chamber for two hours at forty-per-cent humidity, a combination that would put serious strain on my body. (I’d need to sign a waiver and get my doctor’s permission.) I’d spend the time walking uphill on a treadmill—a test developed by the Israeli Defense Forces in the nineteen-seventies. Scientists would monitor my vitals and analyze my sweat to find out how I’d coped. Watch: Our video team followed Khullar inside the heat lab. 🎥 | 
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