geekosystem

There's always some new "breakthrough" in weight loss, touted by celebrities or TV personalities with pills, programs, or delicious new shakes. But you know what they're not touting, but actually could work? Ingesting the gut bacteria of someone slimmer than you. That's right. A new study finds that if you had the right bacteria transplant, losing weight might not be as much of a problem.

Man, some dudes just can't catch a break. According to a study published online today in the journal Clinical Endocrinology, obese teen males have up to 50% less testosterone as their leaner counterparts, a condition that could lead an increased likelihood of impotence and infertility in adulthood. This, uh, this really isn't going to make it any easier to be a heavy dude in high school, and for that, we are sorry.

Researchers have discovered a type of immune cell in the body that fights obesity and may prevent the onset of metabolic syndrome, which can be a precursor to conditions like diabetes and heart disease. Here's the catch, though -- subjects in the study who were already obese showed diminished counts of these invariant natural killer T-cells (iNKT) suggesting that while your body will help to defend you from becoming obese, it's only to a point. Abusing the privilege may see these fat-fighting cells throw in the towel and storm out in disgust as you put away yet another helping from the Extra Value Menu, and really, who can blame them?

If you find the fat cat pictured above adorable, you're not alone. You're also kind of a monster, giggling at the nationwide health epidemic that is animal obesity. Animal obesity is not cute -- I mean, yeah, it's kind of cute, because look at the kitty's big furry belly! -- but a health scourge suffered by up to 60% and cats and dogs in the nation. The Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University is moving to combat out of control weight gain in U.S. housepets, who are even more likely to be overweight than their increasingly pudgy human owners, by opening the Tufts' Veterinary Obesity Clinic.

Tying together two of the most controversial topics of our time is a study which links rising carbon dioxide (Co2) levels to the so-called obesity epidemic. To be polemical, the greenhouse gas most often pointed to as the major contributor to global warming and climate change is making waistlines swell around the world. The research is the work of Danish researcher Lars-Georg Hersoug, who used data from a 22-year-long study on weight gain and heart health, and it could drastically change how we talk about these two issues. However, it could just be a classic case of correlation and not causation.

The BBC is reporting that U.K. ambulance services are having to upgrade their equipment to handle an increasing number of heavy patients. Wider and heavy-duty stretchers, lifting apparatus, and automobile reinforcements are among some of the purchases. One London-based ambulance firm has purchased two "bariatric" vehicles with a third on the way.

According to a study conducted at Ohio State University, authored by doctoral student of neuroscience Laura Fonken and professor of neuroscience Randy Nelson, being exposed to light during nighttime may lead to obesity, even if no physical activity or amount of food consumed change from one's regular nighttime habits. Really.