Here’s a wacky idea — why don’t we lose weight by turning loose the power of hibernation? When animals hibernate, their body switches modes from glucose burning to fat burning.
That’s the invention of Cheng Chi Lee, a molecular biologist at the University of Texas Houston Medical School. He’s found a way to chemically induce a state of hibernation, and he wants it to be the next big diet craze.
There’s only one down side: the torpor. [Sound of Professor Quippy splashing water over his mostly nude noggin.] The torpor. The torpor.
Hibernating animals really don’t do anything — not even check their email or write the occasional blog post. So I suppose it could work if you don’t mind living in your cave for a few months, lights out, slowly going mad as you dream of a thinner, socially maladapted you…