In the 2004 Holiday Lectures on Science, HHMI investigators Ronald M. Evans and Jeffrey M. Friedman discuss how the body regulates weight by carefully controlling the storage and burning of fat—and how a better understanding of these complex metabolic systems could lead researchers to treatments that curb obesity and improve public health.

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Click here to view summaries of the 2004 Holiday Lectures.

Balancing Act

For Shirly Pinto, the race begins when the alarm goes off. “From the moment I wake up, it's rush, rush, rush,” says Pinto, a postdoctoral fellow in Jeffrey Friedman's lab. Before she heads off to work, Pinto has to make breakfast, pack lunch, and get her two kids ready for the day. “It's a madhouse,” she says. Pinto then drops one off at school, grabs a cup of coffee, and deposits the other in the day-care center at Rockefeller University—a service that, she says, has really saved her life. Read more...

The Lab Challenge

In summer 2004, Grant Barish was handed a ball of aluminum foil the size of a cantaloupe. “It's a lab tradition,” explains HHMI investigator Ron Evans. Junior postdocs get awarded the foil ball as part of an elaborate ceremony in which they pledge allegiance to the lab and the principles for which it stands—a recitation that concludes with the solemn promise, “So help me, Ron.” Read more...

The Biology of Obesity

In parts of the developing world, malnutrition and a lack of calories are serious health concerns. For many industrialized nations, however, a bigger problem is the consumption of too many calories. Millions of overweight individuals in the United States are at increased risk for obesity-related problems, such as diabetes and heart disease. Dr. Friedman is a leading obesity researcher working to understand the genetics and biology of weight control. Watch this informal talk given by Dr. Friedman in 2002.

To watch the Holiday Lectures on Science:

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www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/lectures

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