We lay out the bizarre history of the Church of Quarterology. The basic question: How does basal energy expenditure scale with body size? We talk about feeding workers in 19th Century France and then livestock in the the 1920s and 1930s, and then find a vote in the 1960s to make 3/4 the sacred exponent. We show, amazingly and strangely, that for large data sets 2/3 holds up very well. Next up: We find out what's wrong with all the beautiful theories.

2016/02/02

1:16:08