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From Wondry, I'm Stephen Johnson, and this is American Innovations.

It's about as hot as it can physically get across California right now, and we're going

to see a lot more heat over the next 24 hours, in fact, from today.

Coincidentally, on the week we're wrapping up our series on air conditioning, Southern

California is sweltering under a record heat wave.

Members in the neighborhood of Woodland Hills reached 121 degrees.

The highest temp ever recorded in Los Angeles counting history.

According to the National Weather Service, that's two degrees higher than the previous record

set in 2006.

Mark Chris Potein and his mom got their walk in early in Woodland Hills, but admit they

should have started even sooner, as this area is expected to be the hottest in the valley.

Try to stay inside, and you just worry that they see works.

They're the best of them in the game.

It's precisely these times when air conditioning becomes both a blessing and a curse.

Air conditioning is dramatically reduced the number of heat-related deaths, and it keeps

us comfortable and productive inside our homes no matter how apocalypticly hot the outside

world becomes.

But everyone turning on their ACs at the same time puts tremendous pressure on power grits

leading to blackouts, and they also, ironically, contribute to global warming.

Our guest today, Guardian Science Writer Steven Burani, calls this the air conditioning trap.

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