Some people have voracious appetites, take little exercise and remain infuriatingly slim.
New research in Nature 1 points to a protein, made in our muscles, that may have something to do with this. It seems to regulate the body's overall metabolic rate. These mice eat far more than normal mice and yet are leaner and lighter. The researchers hope that finding ways to increase the amount of UCP-3 produced by the body will lead to new treatments for obesity. This is good news, as obesity is an increasing problem in the developed world.