Stage fright
Most people know Shakespeare’s take on life:
“All the world’s a stage…
And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages”.
But last month, scientists questioned these stages.
A team of US physiologists measured the calories burnt by 6600 people, aged between one week and 95, in 25 the researchers found that, pound for pound, infants had the highest metabolic rates of all ages. One-year-olds burn calories 50% faster than older children. If, as Shakespeare describes, the “infant, Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms” doesn’t get enough calories, it may remain stunted for life.
