Scientists have discovered a biological switch that gives energy-storing white fat the characteristics of energy-burning brown fat. The findings could lead to new strategies for treating obesity. The animal study by researchers at The Ohio State University Medical Center shows that the change is due to the activation of a nerve and biochemical pathway that begins in the hypothalamus, an area of the brain involved in energy balance, and ends in white fat cells. This pathway, called the hypothalamic-adipocyte axis, also induces brown-fat-like cells within masses of white fat. The white-to-brown fat transformation occurs when animals are placed in an...