Features

Obesogens
Reading Frames

Embracing the Unknown
Researchers are showing that ambiguity can be essential to brain development.
Capsule Reviews

Capsule Reviews
The Psychology of Overeating, The Hidden Half of Nature, The Death of Cancer, and The Secret of Our Success
Foundations

Deadly Bariatrics, 1960s and '70s
Resecting a majority of the small intestine—a popular weight-loss surgery half a century ago—led to severe malnutrition and eventual death.
The Literature

Fanning the Flames
Obesity triggers a fatty acid synthesis pathway, which in turn helps drive T cell differentiation and inflammation.

Adding Padding
Adipogenesis in mice has alternating genetic requirements throughout the animals’ lives.

Fat Saps Muscle
The accumulation of fat within skeletal muscle, as happens with obesity, diminishes muscle performance.
Scientist to Watch

Shingo Kajimura: Fishing for Answers
Assistant Professor, Department of Cell and Tissue Biology, University of California, San Francisco. Age: 39
Lab Tools

Cracking the Complex
Using mass spec to study protein-protein interactions

Remote Mind Control
Using chemogenetic tools to spur the brain into action
Bio Business

Battling the Bulge
Weight-loss drugs that target newly characterized obesity-related receptors and pathways could finally offer truly effective fat control.
Notebook

Heady Stuff
New research on how fat influences brain neuronal activity

Microbesity
Obesity appears linked to the gut microbiome. How and why is still a mystery—but scientists have plenty of ideas.

The 6,000-Calorie Diet
Overeating and inactivity lead to insulin resistance in just days—and oxidative stress is to blame.

A Weighty Anomaly
Why do some obese people actually experience health benefits?
Profiles

The Skinny on Fat Cells
Bruce Spiegelman has spent his career at the forefront of adipocyte differentiation and metabolism.
Critic at Large

Coming to Grips with Obesity
Science is approaching a better understanding of the increasingly prevalent disease; the consequences of succeeding in this quest are great.

The Changing Face of Obesity
Science tells us obesity is a chronic disease. Why does the outmoded and injurious notion that it is a problem of willpower persist?
Contributors

Contributors
Meet some of the people featured in the November 2015 issue of The Scientist.
Editorial

Weight's the Matter?
The causes and consequences of obesity are more complicated than we thought.
Speaking of Science

Speaking of Science
November 2015's selection of notable quotes
Modus Operandi

Bile Benefits
Diverting the bile duct around a long stretch of the small intestine could treat obesity without cutting out chunks of the digestive tract.