1. A method for modulating an activity of a brown adipose tissue in a vertebrate subject comprising: inducing non-shivering thermogenesis in brown adipose tissue by applying cooling to one or more tissues of the vertebrate subject with one or more cooling elements, wherein the one or more cooling elements are configured to lower the temperature of the one or more tissues and thereby induce non-shivering thermogenesis in the brown adipose tissue of the vertebrate subject, wherein at least a portion of the one or more cooling elements is implanted into the one or more tissues, and controlling the one or more cooling elements with a programmable controller configured to provide instructions to the one or more cooling elements in response to information regarding one or more physiological conditions of the vertebrate subject, the one or more physiological conditions of the vertebrate subject including a plasma level of one or more metabolic analytes.