Hacker News Reader

And they did study him!

Article about it in New Scientist: https://books.google.com/books?id=rYIJJP7audkC&lpg=PA26&dq=g...

Here's the study "Exceptional case of survival in cold water": http://www.bmj.com/content/bmj/292/6514/171.2.full.pdf

They immersed him in 5.3C water for 83 minutes, and only stopped the experiment because of discomfort in his feet. His temperature only dropped by about 1C.

View on HN

Yes, that was remarkable. That paper says he was a large man with some body fat, but from what I recall (an Icelandic colleague once referred to this), the fat type in his body differed from that usually found in people. Children have "brown fat" which usually changes to "white fat" in adults, but this man had a far higher than normal composition of "brown fat" for an adult.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com