Rising heat is becoming a predominant environmental factor in much of the world, making entire regions less comfortable places to live. Climate experts estimate that in about 50 years as much as a third of the planet’s population could be living in areas where average daily summer temperatures exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Phoenix, the hottest city in the U.S., now has more than 110 days a year with triple-digit temperatures. Last year, the city and surrounding Maricopa County area saw a record 207 heat-related deaths. Fulton Schools Assistant Professor Ariane Middel is among colleagues with ASU’s Urban Climate Research Center focusing their engineering endeavors on finding ways cities can reduce the impacts of the urban heat island effect to better maintain livability. She’s pictured in National Geographic with the mobile biometeorological robot she uses to measure temperatures, solar radiation, humidity and other factors that combine to produce the hot and getting hotter summers. (Access to the National Geographic online is available only to subscribers.)