Ken McLeod, professor of bioengineering at Binghamton University, has made a practice of thinking outside the box. Most recently he’s put his innovative mindset on the problem of obesity—using a heater.
McLeod started researching body weight when his wife, a superintendent of schools, was mandated with providing obesity reports on students based on body mass index, including the entire football squad. McLeod came to the conclusion that the body is not trying to maintain energy balance — calories in versus calories out — but heat balance. Indeed, body temperature is tightly regulated and rarely varies by more than a few degrees.

















To the uninitiated, the birds all look the same — shimmering black feathers, with eyes, beaks and feet to match. They sound the same, too, their calls collapsing into cacophony as they rise and fall on the wing.