Fat answers

A SURFEIT, of fat and urges to go on a diet?May be the sea -urchins living'in the icywaters of Antarctica could hold outclues on slimness. Scientists at the University of Southern California in the USbelieve that the answers -for reducinghuman obesity he in Antarctic sea urchins.

These amazing creatures not onlylast for months without food but alsomanage to reproduce at freezing temperatures. "What we want to know ishow, in this extreme environment, doesanimal development work?" said DonaFManahan from the -University ofSouthern California. Experiments conducted led to starving the sea urchins bykeeping them for months in sea waterthat had been filtered -to remove allnutrients. However, they still developednormally. Scientists are now planning tooverfeed the sea urchins to determine ifthey will limit their intake or 'splurgeout'. This should hopefully lead to thediscovery of either key genes 6r a particular bio-chemical process which couldthen be used to hit out at human obesity.