Longhorns Go High-Tech to Beat the Heat

As temperatures climbed over the 100-degree mark for the third straight day on Tuesday, the Texas Longhorns are taking innovative measures to beat the heat.

The Longhorns are one of a handful of college and pro teams using the CorTemp ingestible core body thermometer pill. Before practice, a player swallows a silicone-coated capsule the size of a large vitamin. Inside the capsule is a sensor that transmits core body temperature to a data recorder.

"The new pill that they give them to check heat index is phenomenal," Texas coach Mack Brown said. "It is the most amazing thing to me that a young man can take a pill that they can take a meter and put it next to his body and be able to tell his body temperature. If he gets to a certain point, we pull him out and cool him down."

Manufactured by HQ Inc., the CorTemp system is marketed toward sports teams, fire departments, the military, and the medical industry. Since 1995, 31 players in the high school, college, and pro ranks have died from heat stroke during hot summer practices.

Because not everyone responds to their rising internal body temperature in the same way, and players aren't always aware that they are overheating, the pill allows trainers to be proactive and pull players aside to cool down when the monitor shows their temperature rising.

Not all players on the Longhorn team take the pill. Trainers target players with a predisposition for overheating or a history of heat stress.

Temperatures are expected to remain in the 90s and 100s for the remainder of pre-season practice, and even the first few games may be played in significant heat. Three of the Longhorns' first four games are at home with 6 pm start times, and they play Central Florida in Orlando in the mid-afternoon (3:30 pm Eastern) on September 15.

[CNN Video]

Photo by HQ Inc on HQInc.com