<story><title>Little kids burn so much energy, they’re like a different species, study finds</title><url>https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/08/little-kids-burn-so-much-energy-they-re-different-species-study-finds</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>hprotagonist</author><text>&amp;gt; But children also burn out fast.&lt;p&gt;This is well known in emergency medicine.  Not only do kids burn out quick, they also burn out completely because they, unlike adults, don&amp;#x27;t keep a reserve.  This applies to homeostasis, too.&lt;p&gt;Consequently: young trauma victims that &amp;quot;look OK&amp;quot; need to be &lt;i&gt;very&lt;/i&gt; closely attended to, because what you might be seeing is a kid burning the very last of their energy reserves just to maintain homeostasis, and they will NOT degrade gracefully once they&amp;#x27;re out of energy -- they&amp;#x27;ll just go right into the deep end of shock.  Happy and talking to unconscious in 90 seconds is nothing you want to see.</text></comment>
<story><title>Little kids burn so much energy, they’re like a different species, study finds</title><url>https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/08/little-kids-burn-so-much-energy-they-re-different-species-study-finds</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>Supersam654</author><text>Personally, I was more surprised by the various groups of people who _don&amp;#x27;t_ have higher metabolic rates:&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; Children’s metabolic rates stay high until age 5, but the rate slowly begins to glide down until it plateaus around age 20. Interestingly, adult rates are stable until age 60, when they begin to decline. After age 90, humans use about 26% less energy daily, Pontzer says.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; The study also found that pregnant women don’t have higher metabolic rates than other adults; their energy use and calorie consumption scales up with body size&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; The metabolic rate didn’t zoom up in hungry teenagers either</text></comment>