Hi,
Well heat comes from metabolism, and resting state metabolism creates less heat, while stress, infection etc can be responsible for a non-resting state metabolism which creates more heat. Basically just an extension of taking temperature with a thermometer, but why not take a higher resolution temperature right!? :)
Sounds like a good idea, build a database of thermal signatures, maybe all you need to do to get a free diagnosis is sign-up on the Department of homeland security website to access a dual purpose usage of street cameras with IR signatures, they can detect who you are and let you know if you have an inflamed liver etc. I think they already are planning on using the IR heat signatures to detect stress related to psychological states, ie for potential terrorists or randomly pissed off people, so maybe having a beneficial purpose such as opt in health scanning would be good to make it easier to accept getting bothered by big brother, plus save money on medical bills.
Inflammation is so common nowadays especially in high stress livestock operations, with sick and diseased animals being sold as food, the IR scanning would only be useful to separate the small number of non-inflamed animals to sell them for extra money, but I don't think there are very many healthy animals living in a factory farm.
cheers, Jamie
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