Science: Current Event #7: Obese Monkeys Lose Weight on Drug That Attacks Blood Supply of Fat Cells

Ivan

6B

Science

14/11/11

Title of Article: Obese Monkeys Lose Weight on Drug That Attacks Blood Supply of Fat Cells

Author(s) of the Article: The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

Source of the Article: Science Daily: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111109143009.htm

Date that this Article was written: November 9^th, 2011

Summary: This article talks about how scientists used a special kind of drugs on “Obese” monkeys. After 4 weeks, the monkeys lost 11% of their weight. With the same experiment, rodents (mice) have lost 30% of their whole body fat. One of the first authors of this study states this: “The rhesus monkeys in the current study were "spontaneously" obese, said study first author Kirstin Barnhart, D.V.M, Ph.D., a veterinary clinical pathologist at MD Anderson's Keeling Center for Comparative Medicine and Research in Bastrop, Texas.”

This discovery will affect our society positively but this experiment with monkeys is a bit cruel. By using this drug, “obese” cancer will have less serious consequences. I chose this article because I am interested about what drugs do to your body. I found this article on a reliable resource, used for finding current events: www.sciencedaily.com. I know this website is a good and reliable resource to get current event articles because it is popular and has a lot of good detailed articles which are current. In this article, I learned that drugs can do a LOT of bad things to your body. I felt sad reading this article because I didn’t want the monkeys to lose a lot of weight.