And now it's time for who's smart. Hey, smarty pants. Sorry if I sound funny. I'm a little stuffed up. I've got a... a... a... a... too bad cold. Bless you, trustee! Thank you. Fortunately, news reporter and my best pal, Chet Nerkerson, has been kind enough to offer to take care of me. That's right! Not to mention, there aren't very many trustee narrators left in the wild. So when one gets sick, it's breaking news. And speaking of breaking, let's see if your fever has broken yet. Say, ah! Uh... Let's see. Oh boy. What does it say? This is Chet Nerkerson with some Breaking Who Smarted news. Everyone's favorite trustee narrator is running a low-grade fever of 100 degrees Fahrenheit or 37.8 degrees Celsius. This is an ongoing story. I'll be back soon with further developments. I gotta say, Chet, I really don't think my low fever is news. Trust me, trustee! I know news. And the fact that your body temperature is 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit or 0.8 degrees Celsius higher than the average human body temperature is definitely news. Or at least it's new, because it wasn't like that yesterday. Right. Smarty pants. Have you ever had a fever? You probably have. Maybe it was a little higher than the average human body temperature, or maybe it was a lot. But before we get into that, just what is the average human body temperature? Is it A. 96.8 degrees Fahrenheit, B. 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit, or C. 99.9 degrees Fahrenheit? The answer is B. 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit, or 37 degrees Celsius. Great job if you got that. But why is... Here you go, trustee! Some delicious mouth-watering meatcake broth soup. This will have you feeling right as rain. Oh, and speaking of rain, we're due for some heavy rains moving in from the south. Thanks, Chet. But maybe next time, give me a little warning before you stick a spoon in my mouth. Speaking of warnings, Chet Nickerson reporting a coastal flood warning has just been issued due to heavy rains and winds. Oh wow, guess I picked the right day to be sick in bed. But while I rest and try to lower my body temperature, Smarty Pants now is a good time to learn more about body temperature. Like, why is 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit the average human body temperature? How does your body regulate temperature? And what happens when your body gets too hot or too cold? Speaking of cold, there's a cold front moving in from the... Whoa, whoa, whoa, Chet. First, it's time for another whiff of Science and History on... Who's smarted? Who's smarted? Who's smart? Is it you? Is it me? Is it science or history? Listen up! Everyone, we've been smarting. That's the fun of who's smarted. Okay, Smarty Pants, 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit, or 37 degrees Celsius, is the average human body temperature. But who actually averaged it out? And how did they do it? Great questions, trustee. I'd love to help answer them, but I need to check on the cookies I'm baking. Cookies are good for a fever? No, but I figured if I'm gonna be stuck in the house all day with a sick narrator during heavy rains, a coastal flood, and a cold front, I may as well bake cookies in your kitchen with your cookie dough. Be right back. Anyway, like I was saying, Smarty Pants, somebody had to figure out what the average human body temperature was. The question is, who? I think it was me. Whoa! Where'd you come from? I didn't hear you come in. That is because I did not come in. I am a figment of your fever dream, Air Narrator. Fever dream? I really am sick. And I'm the ghost of Karl Reinhold August Wunderlich, the German physician whose 1868 study established the average human body temperature. Hey Smarty Pants, how do you think Dr. Wunderlich calculated the average human body temperature? Did he A. take his own temperature once and say, that's that? Or B. take over one million temperatures from 25,000 different people? If you said A. take his own temperature once and say that's that, that's incorrect. I wish! Which means Dr. Karl took over one million temperatures from 25,000 different people. That's a lot of temperature taking. Oh yeah, my study took me 27 years to complete. Whoa! Yeah, V.O. is right. Once I had to use a foot-long thermometer, that took more than 15 minutes to register a reading. 15 minutes? That's a long time to hold a thermometer in your mouth. Mouth? Who said anything about mouth? Oh no. Oh yeah. Are you saying what I think you're saying? What? That I use a rectal thermometer that went in people's butts? Well, that is not what I'm saying. I used an armpit thermometer like we have today. As you know, body temperature is a way of measuring how your body gives off heat. And there are four ways to measure this. Orally, a.k.a. by mouth, under your armpit, in your ear, and rectally, a.k.a. in your butt. However, rectal thermometers are still considered the most accurate. Speaking of which, did you know that the average human body temperature is lower now than it was in 1868? Lower. Really? Does that mean your readings were inaccurate? On the contrary. Many doctors today still use 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit as a benchmark. But new studies have shown that the temperature of the human body has steadily decreased since the 19th century. The current average is... 97.9 degrees Fahrenheit, 36.6 degrees Celsius. That's quite a drop. Gesundheit! That means health in German. Thanks. Hey, smarty pants, why do you think the average human body temperature has decreased over time? Is it because, a. thanks to video games and YouTube, things are a lot cooler today than in 1868? B. The weather was hotter in the past. Or C. Modern developments have influenced the body's temperature regulation. If you said A, things are cooler today because of video games, you're thinking of a different kind of cool. If you said B, the weather was hotter in the past. Global warming is causing a steady increase in average temperatures. So it's actually hotter on average today than it was back then. But if you said C, modern developments have influenced the body's temperature regulation, you're correct. Modern researchers hypothesize that heating and air conditioning help maintain stabler external temperatures while advances in medicine have reduced common infections that cause inflammation and therefore increase body temperature. Like a fever caused by a cold? Precisely. In fact, a fever can indicate the immune system is working properly. When the body detects an intruding virus, the immune system releases inflammatory chemicals. These chemicals raise your body's temperature and quote-unquote, cook the virus. Sounds very uncomfortable. It sure is. One minute I'm sweating. The next I'm shivering. That is natural air narrator. If your body gets too hot, you sweat to cool off. If your temperature gets too low, we shiver or get chills to increase it. It is all about balance or homeostasis, the tendency toward equilibrium in a physiological process. In this case, the body's temperature regulation. Thank you doctor, I feel better already. Phew! That is all for me. So long air narrator. Get well soon. I feed as in. Alright, who wants meat cake? Hey, that's my line. Sorry mom, he's just trying to help me. Uh, your mom? Your mom isn't here? Oh boy, this fever has me seeing and hearing things. That's okay, here, have a cookie. Oh, speaking of food, would you mind feeding my pet lizard then Lizzie? He was a gift from my pal, dino hunter Robert Maroon. He's over there in his tank. Sure thing trustee, should I turn on his heat lamp too? No, he's fine for now. Right now he's around 70 degrees Fahrenheit or 21.1 degrees Celsius. What? Isn't that really low? For humans? Yeah. If a human's body temperature drops below 95 degrees Fahrenheit, that's hypothermia. Very dangerous. But for a cold blooded lizard like thin Lizzie, that's not a problem. Hey smarty pants, now that you know how humans regulate body temperature, what about animals? Do they have different average body temperatures? And how do they regulate themselves? This is Chet Nickerson with Breaking News. No, no, no breaking news, just a short break. Now back to who's smarted. Okay smarty pants, earlier you learned how humans regulate their body temperature. But what about animals? What about them? Well, when it comes to animals and body temperature regulation, there's only one factor to consider. Any guesses what it is? Is it A, if the animal is warm or cold blooded? B, if the animal is large or small? Or C, what climate the animal lives in? Hmm, they all seem like right answers. You gotta check, all three are right. An animal's warm or cold bloodedness, its size and shape, and its environment all influence how it regulates body temperature. Not only that, the factors play off of each other. Ectothermal or cold blooded animals like reptiles, amphibians, insects, and most fish, tend to be long and slender like finlizzy. Their shape allows them to quickly heat up or cool down, since they depend on the environment for heat and don't maintain a constant temperature. I see, which is why you have a heat lamp. When they want heat, they can bask under it, and when they're too warm, they can go to the other side of the tank to cool off. Exactly. In contrast, endothermal or warm blooded animals like mammals and birds tend to be large or round or both. If a large endothermal animal like an elephant were cold blooded, it'd take too long for it to heat up or cool down, putting it in danger. If a small endothermal animal like a mouse wasn't round, it would struggle to retain the heat it generates. Very interesting. So, what about the final factor, an animal's climate? Animals within a given species tend to be larger and colder climates, and smaller and warmer climates. This is known as Bergmann's Rule, named after German biologist Karl Bergmann. Oh boy, another German. Huh? Nothing. Anywho, Bergmann's Rule has to do with body temperature because smaller animals have a higher surface to volume ratio than larger animals. This causes them to lose heat more quickly, and therefore survive better in warmer climates. Which means the opposite must be true of larger animals. Their lower surface to volume ratio causes them to lose heat more slowly, which helps them survive in colder climates. Exactly. Hey, smarty pants, which of these animals do you think has the closest average temperature to humans? Is it A. Parrots, B. Elephants, or C. Dragons? Although dragons are super cool, and I wish they were real, they're not. If you said A. Parrots, Sorry, also wrong. The average body temperature range for Parrots is 103 to 106 degrees Fahrenheit, or 39 to 41 degrees Celsius. But if you said B. Elephants, Nice! The average body temperature for elephants is 97.5 to 99 degrees Fahrenheit, or 36 to 37 degrees Celsius. Very close to humans. Breaking news! Dragons are not real! Yeah, I think everyone knew that. What you might not know is do animals use methods like humans, such as sweating, to cool down, or shivering to heat up? Ah, you're right! I don't know! The answer is yes. Many warm-blooded animals shiver to increase heat. However, very few sweat to fully cool down. That special salty ability is reserved for primates like humans and monkeys, and equines like horses and zebras. So, if most animals don't sweat to cool down, what do they do? Huh, huh, huh, huh, huh, huh, huh. Oh no, trusty! Are you okay? Is the fever making you crazy? What? No, I'm panting. Panting is how ecto and endothermal animals like dogs, badgers, deer, frogs, and even some birds cool down. Huh, huh, huh, huh, huh, huh. Ah yes, of course! By the way, did you know there's a German doctor eating cookies in your kitchen? He just tried to take my temperature. Oh boy. A Texas-sized shout-out to Smartyfan Banner in Austin, Texas. I hear, before you even say hello in the morning, you say, I want to listen to Who's Smarted! I love that. I also love that you giggle in the back of the car while learning new things. Keep on smarty-on, my friend. This episode, Body Temperature, was written by Dan Hates the Cold Gold and voiced by Adam Feverdream Davis, Simmering Salmon Trader, and Jerry Colbert. Technical direction and sound design by Josh, hot flashing on. Who's Smarted! is recorded and mixed at the Relic Room Studios, our associate producer is Max Mercury Kamaski. The theme song is by Brian Sweaty Sheets Suarez, with lyrics written and performed by Adam Text Davis. Who's Smarted! was created and produced by Adam Text Davis and Jerry Colbert. This has been an Atomic Entertainment production.
