Summer temperatures in our neck of the woods can top 110 degrees, but at least it's usually a dry heat. All those "feels like" indicators in weather reports factor in the humidity... the higher it goes, the hotter it can feel.
But scientists don't always agree on how much a factor humidity can be in human health. In fact, a recent paper published in Environmental Health Perspectives pointedly calls it "a heated debate." Jane Baldwin at the University of California-Irvine brings the disagreement between the physiologists and the epidemiologists into the harsh light of day, as the lead author of the report.
Dr. Baldwin breaks down the argument and her team's coverage of it.