Montreal Gazette: ‘Professor Popsicle’ shoots down some myths about hypothermia
As the Montreal Gazette reports:
If you sit in near-freezing water long enough to have mild hypothermia, and repeat this 40 or 50 times in the name of science, people will start calling you Professor Popsicle. We interviewed him for our seasonal series, the Science of Winter.
Meet Gordon Giesbrecht, physiologist and University of Manitoba professor, a guy who knows all your cherished beliefs about the cold and loves to tear them down.
He does much of his work in a tank of ice water, with monitors stuck to his body. Students also volunteer for dips.
That old saying that you lose most of your body heat through your head? Nonsense, Professor Popsicle says — even when most of your body is wrapped in boots and a parka and your head is bare. Your ears will hurt, but that’s all.
But he has more important myths to bust, dealing with life-threatening situations such as falling into icy water or being stranded in the middle of nowhere after your car breaks down.