Holes in T. rex's skull now thought to have regulated body temperature (opens in new tab)

More like "let's just test in Prod"

If I understand correctly, the alligator can choose to either pump blood to quickly equalize with the surrounding temperature, or not pump blood to get more isolation.

In the morning when it wanted to heat up after the night it pumped blood. In the afternoon when it was already warm enough and the ambient temperature was too warm, it stopped pumping blood.

I agree, however, with so many pressing issues today I'd be a bit uneasy if tax payer dollars were being used for this kind of research. Private funding, do what you like, however federal grants should be used for research that benefits taxpayers in some way, even if it's indirect or decades away.

The 50% claim probably comes from the fact that heat loss through your head has a greater affect on core body temperature than other exposed areas. In [1], they did some submersion tests with head in or out for both insulated and exposed bodies (test subjects). Head-in accounted for a fairly large increase in core body temperature loss (39-45% depending on the configuration). While this study was in water, it seems reasonable to expect the same thing in air, in particular since you tend to spend longer in the cold outside than you might in water.

Edited to add this effect is likely due to the amount of blood flow to the brain and the short path (relatively) between the brain and the heart.

[1] https://www.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/japplphysiol.012...