Hacker News Reader

The variable he's not talking about in that equation is body temperature. If you cut the difference between body temp and ambient temp, you proportionally cut energy needed to maintain that difference. I wonder what fundamental physiological force is keeping these mammals from evolving a lower body temperature ...

View on HN

Isn't it the temperature needed for enzymes to properly work their metabolic magic (1) temperature helps reaction rates 2) enzymes need a certain temperature to maintain their shapes)

But enzyme production mechanisms are subject to evolution too, no?

But also to basic thermodynamic considerations. As far as chemical systems go, mammals actually operates near the low end of temperatures.

It affects peak efficiency of enzymatic reactions, but that's a tradeoff because now the species has to maintain internal temperature within a narrow band or they die. A common alternative is to allow more fluctuation of core temperature at the cost of a lower overall efficiency. That's basically mammals and birds versus reptiles and fishes.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com