What I Learned At The Zoo: Part 1
(or, “Isn’t it great when technology shows us things we didn’t care to see?”)
The Frey family made a pilgrimage to the Detroit Zoo last week. (“Field trip!”) It was our first visit to the new Arctic Ring of Life exhibit.
One of the stations showed some useful equipment used in the far north, including a thermal camera. We had great fun looking at the heat images, doing the trick of making “handprints” that show up for a while on the camera before fading, etc.
And then, we tried to get educational. Big mistake. I noticed that David’s head fairly glowed for the camera. This makes sense; the kid has a buzz cut and is no doubt loosing lots of body heat up top. So, I pointed this out, and got Josh, who’s got a thick head of hair on him, to get into the camera’s field as well. Josh’s head showed hardly any heat loss. So, we used this about how the body sheds heat and practical impacts of haircuts on comfort.
So far, so good. The problem comes when I get under the camera. Oh, sure, I know my forehead’s a bit taller than it was back in high school, but overall I think my hair looks mostly the same. I even still comb it the same way.
But, the thermal image shows a huge heat loss out of the top of my head, completly and utterly obvious to anyone looking at the camera.
Drat.
Of course, the effect is not helped by the burst of laughter this triggers from my lovely, wonderful, and almost always tactful and diplomatic wife.
Thank you, thermal imaging. Have I mentioned lately my neo-Luddite and quasi-Amish tendencies?
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