On the Radar

The pick of the science news

Addicted to junk  

New findings published in Nature Neurosciencesuggest that the drive to compulsively overeat shares biochemical mechanisms with drug addiction, at least in rats. The US study found that as the pleasure centres in their brains became less responsive, the animals overconsumed high-fat, high-calorie foods. The scientists linked the drive to overeat to reduced levels of dopamine receptors, which are linked in addiction to cocaine and heroin. "It presents the most thorough and compelling evidence that drug addiction and obesity are based on the same underlying neurobiological mechanisms," said researcher Paul Kenny. "The animals completely lost control over their eating behaviour, the primary hallmark of addiction."

Coffin case mystery

Engineers in Italy are gearing up to investigate an unusual coffin unearthed by archaeologists last summer in the ruins of a city near Rome. Made of lead, the sarcophagus could weigh as much as half a ton.

A thousand pounds of metal is an enormous amount of wealth in era. To waste so much of it in a burial is pretty unusual, said project leader Prof Nicola Terrenato from the University of Michigan.

Breaking open the 1,700-year-old wrap would probably damage its contents, so to find out what lies within, engineers will heat the coffin and monitor the thermal response, and they also plan to insert a small camera to peek inside.

I don't think we're yet evolved to the point where we're clever enough to handle as complex a situation as climate change. The inertia of humans is so huge that you can't really do anything meaningful.
- James Lovelock, originator of Gaia theory