News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Scientists have synthesized a new compound that ‘mimics’ ... by gnoway on Monday August 10, 2015 @01:40AM (#10032813)
Well, I wrote 'help treat obesity'. There are existing drugs used alongside diet, exercise, counseling, etc. to help treat obesity, and this compound could potentially be an alternative to those.

It's also not certain that obesity is self-inflicted 100% of the time. Google 'obesity microbiome' and you will find research showing particular gut flora which triggers obesity in mice. Consider that e.g. gut flora are often transferred from mother to child, and that in general the bacteria in your gut have to come from somewhere.

Regardless, there's no reason to deny an avenue of assistance to an obese person who wants to lose weight. Simply asserting that they need to stop eating so much is very similar to asserting that an an addict (which is what this actually is, IMO) should just consume less. It usually doesn't work, we know it usually doesn't work, and continuing to just assert that it's that simple is, at best, ignorant.

Re:Scientists have synthesized a new compound that ‘mimics’ ... by simplexion on Monday August 10, 2015 @01:57AM (#10032866)
It is self-inflicted. Does this magical "obesity microbiome" ignore physics and make you fatter without energy going in?
Re:Scientists have synthesized a new compound that ‘mimics’ ... by TJSomething on Monday August 10, 2015 @04:20AM (#10033321)
No, but "An obesity-associated gut microbiome with increased capacity for energy harvest" by Turnbaugh, et al. (which has been cited over 2,000 times) shows that it decreases energy going out in feces.