Fat answers

A SURFEIT, of fat and
urges to go on a diet?
May be the sea -urchins
living'in the icy
waters of Antarctica
could hold out
clues on slimness.
Scientists at the University of Southern
California in the US
believe that the
answers -for reducing
human obesity he in
Antarctic sea urchins.

These amazing creatures
not only
last for months without
food but also
manage to reproduce at
freezing temperatures. "What we
want to know is
how, in this extreme
environment, does
animal development
work?" said DonaF
Manahan from the
-University of
Southern California.
Experiments conducted led to starving
the sea urchins by
keeping them for months
in sea water
that had been filtered
-to remove all
nutrients. However,
they still developed
normally. Scientists
are now planning to
overfeed the sea
urchins to determine if
they will limit their
intake or 'splurge
out'. This should
hopefully lead to the
discovery of either key
genes 6r a particular bio-chemical
process which could
then be used to hit out
at human obesity.