Regional Heterothermy
Regional heterothermy allows different body regions to operate at different temperatures.
Regional heterothermy allows different body regions to operate at different temperatures. Bluefin tuna swim in 50°F water but maintain red muscle at 86°F, brain/eyes at 77°F, heart at 68°F, gills at 50°F. The rete mirabile ('wonderful net') blood vessel network retains heat in muscles. Warm red muscle produces 3× power output, enabling 5,000-mile migrations without feeding. Swordfish have a 25-gram brain heater producing 10 watts focused on 50 grams of tissue, elevating brain temperature 15°F for 10× faster visual processing.
Business Application of Regional Heterothermy
Amazon runs different divisions at different temperatures: AWS 'hot' (30% margins, aggressive R&D), Retail 'cold' (1% margins, cost optimization), Alexa 'very hot' (loses $10B/year, pure R&D), Logistics 'warm' (break-even, building scale). Each optimizes independently.