Body Heat: Temperature and Life on Earth

Blumberg explores the many ways that temperature rules the lives of all animals and moves from the physical principles that govern the flow of heat in and out of our bodies to the many complex evolutionary devices animals use to exploit those principles for their own benefit. Many examples are covered and amongst those discussed are how penguins withstand Antarctic winters by huddling together by the thousands, how vulnerable embryos of many species are exposed to extremes of temperature during their development, why people survive hour-long drowning accidents in winter but not in summer, and how certain plants generate heat.