RE: origins of endothermy

[John Bois <jbois@umd5.umd.edu>]

On Tue, 16 Feb 1999, Jeffrey Martz wrote:

>At the
>end, I make brief mention of the cellular difference between endothermy
>and  ectothermy, and provide some references.  The difference seems to be
>due  to increased "leakiness" in the cell membranes, which in turn causes
>the ionic pumps in the cell membranes to work harder to maintain an ionic
>gradient, and produces more heat as a by-product.

You probably know, then, of tent bats which "decouple" their phospholipids
to increase body heat.  Such leakage has even been tried as a diet method.
But don't try it at home.