Starve a Fat Cell

It's almost too good to be true. Researchers have designed a drug that targets and destroys the blood vessels that feed fat cells. The fat cells die and those extra pounds melt away — but only, so far, in rodents. In one experiment, mice that had doubled in size on a high-fat diet were back to normal weight in just a month, no matter what they ate. "If even a fraction of what we found in mice relates to human biology, then we are cautiously optimistic that there may be a new way to think about reversing obesity," says Renata Pasqualini of the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Promising research to be sure, but don't cancel your gym membership yet.