Body Heat by Mark Blumberg, Harvard University Press, £14.95/$22, ISBN 067400762X
FUNERAL directors could be the unexpected beneficiaries of global warming. If average temperatures increase by just 1 °C, there will be an estimated 24,000 more murders each year in the US as Americans become hotter under the collar.
But temperature change is a life-and-death issue for every inhabitant of a small planet teetering on a knife edge between the scorching heat of the inner Solar System and the frigid depths of space. The need to maintain body temperature within a narrow range is the biggest single influence on…
