• Swedneck
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    1 month ago

    I always wonder how this is supposed to work, do these people just have food pass right through them and cause massive headaches for sewer system engineers? Or do they passively burn so much energy that they illuminate a dark room from sheer blackbody radiation?

    • spujb@lemmy.cafeOP
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      1 month ago

      Closer to the latter, I think. However, it’s not as striking as the person glowing—the energy does become heat, but the variation due to metabolic differences typically ranges from a small percentage to around 5-10% of total calories consumed.