Military infrared technology advances diabetes research

All living organisms produce heat as a by-product of metabolism. For centuries, clinicians and scientists have been interested in measuring heat output (thermogenesis) as an indicator of metabolic state. This paper briefly reviews current methods for metabolic measurements and describes recent results in diabetes research with a novel infrared thermal imaging technology, Thermal Signature Analysis (TSA). TSA measures unique thermal signatures in cells and animals that are indicative of disease, genetic variations, or drug function.