Thermoregulation

Type: Concept

As of November 2026, Thermoregulation has been mentioned in one podcast episode on Radiolab (Feb 2026). Central physiological process discussed: huddling reduces thermoregulation costs; temperature regulation markers (T3/T4) relate to redundant clothing.

Thermoregulation is the ability of an organism to keep its body temperature within certain boundaries, even when the surrounding temperature is very different. A thermoconforming organism, by contrast, simply adopts the surrounding temperature as its own body temperature, thus avoiding the need for internal thermoregulation. The internal thermoregulation process is one aspect of homeostasis: a state of dynamic stability in an organism's internal conditions, maintained far from thermal equilibriu