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. Moving on from the treachery of reality and looking at data, we investigate the theories purporting to underpin Quarterology. We watch allometric scaling of body shapes and a spectacular reach for a fourth dimension of biology come undone. We then embrace the powerful concept of optimal blood networks governining energy usage as a function of organismal size. We outline their basic approaches and how their opaque stories also unravel. We show how a simple geometric argument gives 2/3 scaling for metabolism and 3/2 scaling for network volume in drainage landscapes.

Believe people when they tell you who they are. The truth will out. It is out. Will it overcome the untruths?

2018/01/30

3:40:40