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Researchers Enable Mice To Exhale Fat
destinyland writes "UCLA researchers made a startling discovery: genetic alterations enable mice to convert fat into carbon dioxide.
Mammals digest fats differently than bacteria — so researchers introduced bacteria genes into mouse livers, and 'the excess fat was literally released into thin air.' (One researcher calls it 'an unconventional idea which we borrowed from plants and bacteria.') The research potentially could help treat serious medical conditions including diabetes, heart disease — and of course, obesity."
The earth is screwed if we ever get this to work on humans. Good news is that we will be able to build Burger Kings in Antarctica. Bad news is that the burgers will be made out of penguins.
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I inhale cheeseburgers, I guess it would only be right to exhale them too.
Rhymes that keep their secrets will unfold behind the clouds.There upon the rainbow is the answer to a neverending story
It's a stunning and amazing medical breakthrough -- finally, people don't have to be fat! In other news, eating a well balanced diet, excercise, seen sulking in the corner for not being hip enough. Dr. House overheard saying "It's stuff like this that makes me want to not dangle anymore."
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
And we thought global warming was bad before...
FanFictionRecs.net
Politicians have been exhaling excrement for centuries.
The problem is that global warming legislation will raise energy costs, alter land use, and, ultimately, in a few hundred years, shorten the growing season. So we're pretty much setting ourselves up to go through getting a bit thinner. Cutting down on our ability to save fat is almost like evolutionary suicide. 100 years from now, it will be like the old days, people that are fat will be rare and obesity will be a sign of power and wealth.
This is my sig.
The slogan writes itself "Don't Hold Your Breath"
oh no! more CO2 from fat americans :-)
... just sayin'
And yeah, I know it's CO2 ... you want a global-warming joke instead, *you* make it.
Is this something that has to be engineered into an organism, or can it be applied after-market? From the sounds of it, it's a genetic splice and not something easily applied to preexisting organisms. TFA doesn't seem to say. Anyone know? Great news for the fatties of tomorrow, but what about the porkers of today?
Scientists point out problems, engineers fix them
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.. the next logical step? Can't wait to see the day where global warming is not only caused by cars but by exhaling our fat asses.
Great... and then this "fat air" condenses out, and you're left with chubby rain, all over again.
So will mice taking this fat-to-CO2 drug have to pay for extra carbon credits? ;P
-Turkey
So what happens when you're thin enough? How do you avoid going down to dangerously low amounts of stored fat?
Do genetic modifications go away on their own over time, or do they propagate as the affected cells divide?
Have you tasted penguin? It's fucking delicious. Almost as good as bald eagle.
The purpost of fat is to ensure an organism survives when there is not enough food, and in worst case, during famine.
During most of the history of the human species, famine has been inevitable and greatly lethal.
Those humans who can best gain the most fat in the shortest amount of time, are most likely to survive - they are superior than the naturally thin people who are the first to die during famine.
'Curing' people of the ability to gain fat would be severely detremental to the species ability to survive as a whole, outside of specific cases as stated in the article, such as disease or specific genetic conditions.
Wake me up when they figure out how to make them exhale beer.
I could go for a cold MausBraü about now.
__ Someday, but not this morning, I'll finally learn to use the preview button.
So we'll have lots of lean, taut people in the world, but they'll all have bad breath
Once some screenwriter or movie company gets a hold of this story/idea, we are in for a slew of new, badly thought out horror movies. Something like the "Resident Evil" trilogy crossed with mummies. Wonderful.
Vote monkeys into Congress. They are cheaper and more trustworthy.
Frankenstein tried to create a Human, and he nearly succeded.
These Folks create something artifical, like Chimera, or the Beast from the Book of Revelation
Using random values from the web, CO2 is 1.9769 g/L, and human body fat is 900.7 g/L. So the fat is going to expand about 500 times before it gets out of the body.
With Olestra, people were shocked, shocked, that you'd get runny shits if a fatty substance passed through your body undigested. My prediction: if this takes off, life will imitate art.
Scientists just figured this out?
I eat a varied and balanced diet which does include a portion of fat.
I am not putting on weight.
When I cycle to work, where does the carbon dioxide that I exhale come from?
j'ai découvert une démonstration vraiment admirable (de ce théorème général) que cette si
Humans can already metabolize fat into CO2. This is called aerobic metabolism... high school biology anyone? Every time you breathe out, that CO2 is coming from carbohydrates, fat, and proteins.
The article said nothing about breaking down fat to CO2 without providing caloric energy. Now that would be impressive. This is just shunting fatty acids down a different metabolic pathway, that ends in the same product. Physics dictates that they still have to release the same amount of energy to get there, and guess what that energy is? Calories!
The human body is in essence a fat-burning machine. It is made to burn fat, and fat is its most efficient, most safest form of energy. As a coincidence it can also handle pure sugars and carbs (which break down to sugars) by secreting insulin into the bloodstream when carbs/sugars are ingested. When insulin enters the bloodstream, two things happen: Firstly, the body's lipolysis stops (the breaking-down of fat), resulting in the body stopping its burning of your fat reserves, and instead starts storing the fat you ingested (ever had a "pasta diet" for a longer while and noticed the effect of it?). Secondly, the insulin (and not the sugar) results in the familiar increased heart activity (and sometimes palpitations) that come from sugar ingestion, which is a contributing factor to reduced cardiac health. Last of all, stressful production of insulin due a diet overly rich in carbs or sugars, as known since long, increases the risk of developing diabetes - simply put, a burned out pancreas.
Carbs/sugars are the catalysts for storing fat instead of burning it. The problem is solved by reducing your carb/sugar intake, and replacing that energy amount by a fat intake.
gives new meaning to TinyMCE
Sounds like you're having a bad day, man. Cheep up.
Altering the genetic make up of an organism is now a form of teaching? :-)
Yeah. That'll be the f*cked-up NewSpeak they'll use on the 24-hour news drone, as they splice our children with 'obedience training'.
"Speaking the Truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act." -- George Orwell
Let me fart out the CO2 and you have a deal!
Now we have those little fat bastiges to blame for global warming.
now all we need is for scientists to discover a way to turn humans into mice! :D
http://www.object404.com
"Panting to the Oldies"
For justice, we must go to Don Corleone
Well at least your proposed method involves some actual "teaching" .. How is injecting something into a liver teaching ?
waiting for ad.doubleclick.net
*sigh*
Lipolysis -> Beta Oxidation -> Acetyl-COA -> TCA Cycle -> NADH/FADH -> ETC -> ATP -> CO2
It's completely natural and spontaneous in the absence of excess blood sugar.
...as I'm about to check into UCLA's Resnick Neuropsychiatric (4-North) for help with my anorexia nervosa... If I could exhale the fat I wouldn't have to restrict / over-exercise! (Would fat exhaling be considered 'purging'? A whole new class of bulimics? ...)
...Xel'Naga mice?
we're going to wind up making food a lot more expensive and therefor eating less.
Uh, no. More likely those that are lower on the income scale will end up less able to afford proper nutritional foods, while those on the upper end continue to overconsume. This of course will leads to a greater divide, as nutrition is often one of the biggest bases for physical and intellectual development...
Fat is combustible, so if we can exhale fat along with unmetabolized oxygen, all we need is to bioengineer some source of ignition in order to breathe fire. I would suggest the shock-generating organs of the electric eel or perhaps some gland capable of purifying small quantities of phosphorous.
Soon enough, there will be dragons. Or at least fiery rodents.
As opposed to superior CO2 being released from fat Germans, Canadians, Australians, Mexicans, Brits, etc.
-Fartnog Buttstinkle
We already break down fat in our body into carbon dioxide and water. This is done mainly through the liver, kidneys and muscle tissue. People will tell you that fat is converted to energy, but this is not true. It is actually the breaking of chemical bonds that releases energy. The fat itself just changes chemically; it does not loose mass. In fact, if a person converted even just one kilo of fat to energy, it would release more energy than the atomic bomb dropped on hiroshima. The majority of fat lost (about 80%) ends up being exhaled as carbon dioxide, with the rest being water secreted through urination or through sweat.
So soon I might be breathing other people's second hand fat? Thanks! :-P
just what we fucking need. a mountain of fat american and australian cunts doing their selfish bit to make the greenhouse effect even worse.
Uh sir, do you want Walrus Fries with that?
Uhmmm...No thanks, I do not want battered and fried Walrus balls with that.
No calf fries either.
In the interest of diplomatic relations, I also eschew French Fries...much to the relief of Frenchmen everywhere!
Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
nice moment to watch Thinner again ;)
Privacy is terrorism.
- Tons of CO released into the athmosphere.
- People learning *nothing*.
- Sugar and other too short carbohydrates without any other vital substances still being the no. 1 unhealthy stuff.
- Very likely other bad side-effects of the bacteria genes.
And all so we all can eat tons of fat.
Wow, what a... uum... great... deal!
I know something better to make people "exhale" the saturated fat* *and* the sugar:
Make them vomit vigorously, as soon as an overdose of saturated fats and short carbohydrates enters their body, without the vital substances and fibers to cope with it.
Or even better, add detector cells to the tongue.
And then watch their eating habits change all by themselves. :)
___
* Because fat all by itself is a good thing. You just should not eat a whole pound of it. ^^
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
"Mammals digest fats differently than bacteria" Mammals digest fats differently to bacteria. Write it out 100 times.
I wrote my first program at the age of six, and I still can't work out how this website works.
and of course, obesity.
Like how exactly? "We'll clone you with some modifications so your clone will not be fat!" ?!?
There is something really perverse and masochistic about opposition to this sort of tech(and masochism is fine, if that's your thing; but imposing it on others is a bit much ).
Apparently, every view point is okay in your world except if I'm a sadist who enjoys "imposing [masochism] on others".
Your lack of sensitivity to sadists reveals how narrow minded you really are...
One last thing: Sometimes I wonder; "Is that someone's signature? Or do they type that at the end of each post?"
If this is true, does that mean if I get cancer I can sue it for racial discrimination?
Your brain is not a computer.
Oh man, imagine all the condensate on the furniture, computer screens and keyboards, windows and the like. Fortunately a typical geek lair doesn't have windows.
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
Just put your lips together and blow.
Say hello to my little sig.
The article presents a very interesting possibility of transferring genetic capabilities of other species into humans. There are several areas where essential metabolic functions are not available to humans.
If you do not have a regular supply of fruits and vegetables that contain Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) you will develop scurvy. This was the leading cause of deaths on oceangoing voyages up until the early 20th century. (it is also why British sailors were called "limeys" because of the storage and consumption of limes while at sea). Humans lack one enzyme L-gulonolactone oxidase that would allow the liver to convert glucose into ascorbic acid and give an humans back an evolutionary edge that was lost to our species.
http://www.seanet.com/~alexs/ascorbate/196x/stone-i-acta_genet_med_et_gemell-1966-v15-p345.htm
There are at least 10 essential amino acids that are not produced in the human body. In many other organisms genetics has provided the "key" to unlocking amino acid production.
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/HBASE/Organic/essam.html
Further research into what biochemical processes that can be incorporated either as a treatment regimen or as a modification to the human genome can greatly expand our adaptability as a species. Could the ability of the wood frog to survive being frozen solid enable us to travel to distant stars through hibernation?
http://www.blurtit.com/q476575.html
Tisha Hayes
"and of course, obesity". Actually, no. fat does not make you fat, carbs do, so like any low-fat diet it would add to the obesity problem. eat no fat -> be hungry -> eat more carbs -> insulin spikes -> carbs convert to fat not sugar -> get hungry because you have no energy. so eat more bacon.
Actually, farming subsidies are more or less a national security issue
Actually, no. Farming subsidies are something Democrats cooked up to keep their then solid south in their tow. It was pretty simple, Democrats in their 1910s-1950s era did the same things Republicans did in the 1960s and 1970s.... they threw a lot of money at the former confederate states in the form of agricultural subsidies and protectionism for agriculture, but free trade for manufactured goods, thereby screwing northern manufacturers. The weird part is that the Democrats and Republicans wound up flipping sides in the 1960s partially because of the fallout over the civil rights act...and the northern liberals in the Democratic Party essentially drove the south out.
There are many "truths" about the American experience that are just political spin and the truth is far more interesting and far more complicated. Many people can dismiss the American South, for sure, because of Jim Crow and their civil rights era stuff, but just as the South drove Republicans to invade Iraq and try and bring some Democracy, the American South was much more in favor of intervening in World War II and doing things like the Lend Lease Act.
Seriously, have a look at who drove the Naval Rearmament bills for the USA in the late 1930s and got Essex class aircraft carriers and Iowa class battleships into the design and procurement phase -before- World War II broke out. It was a staunch Democrat southerner, Carl Vinson, who helped Roosevelt out. Now Vinson has a carrier named after him, for it, but he was also arguably a racist. The thing is, if there was no Vinson, there was no 20 aircraft carriers under construction and the USA would be in rough shape during the war.
This is my sig.
If the exhaled air is full of fat, how come it's "thin air"?
You are essentially missing the forest for the trees.
I find those things to be more excuses and rationalizations than causes. The forest for the trees is that the red states have pushed for an economic system that benefits them at the expense of the rest of the country.
Why should the failure of a farm be any more of an act of concern then the failure of a car company? Why should we have a national tariff to protect the production of sugar when we have no such protections against manufacturing of various goods? Isn't the ability to manufacture arguably more important than the ability to save joe farmer? Somewhere along the way, this country made the decision that the joes in the red states are entitled to federal subsidy and protectionism, but, the joe in the northern states are not.
Our current economic policy is about red states looking to sell food at the highest prices and buy the goods to make them with at the lowest. It's the same economic game that they have been playing for almost two centuries (those states that have been states that long, at least). Thus we have subsidies and protectionism for agriculture, and free trade on manufactured goods.
My argument would be that, if farm subsidies and import protectionism have actually been good for farming, and they have been, since so many of us are fat, then, why not have the same protectionism for manufacturing?
Free trade in the USA is a sham. I wrote a giant rant about this here:
http://www.treatyist.com/issue1/alabamasnewflag.aspx
This is my sig.