'Exercise pill' switches on gene that tells cells to burn fat

Dolly submitted, created time 1 year 8 months (www.eurekalert.org)

By giving ordinary adult mice a drug - a synthetic designed to mimic fat is now able to chemically switch on PPAR-d, the master regulator that controls the ability of cells to burn fat. Even when the mice are not active, turning on the chemical switch activates the same fat-burning process that occurs during exercise. The resulting shift in energy balance (calories in, calories burned) makes the mice resistant to weight gain on a high fat diet.

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Junk' DNA Now Looks Like Powerful Regulator, Scientists Find

penguin submitted, created time 1 year 8 months (www.sciencedaily.com)

Large swaths of garbled human DNA once dismissed as junk appear to contain some valuable sections, according to a new study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and the University of California-Santa Cruz. The scientists propose that this redeemed DNA plays a role in controlling when genes turn on and off.

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