Issues
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Cover image
Cover Image
Cover: The Venus of Willendorf, a limestone figurine that is ∼11 cm high and dated 22,000-24,000 BC, was found in 1908 by the archaeologist Josef Szombathy near the town of Willendorf in Austria, and is now displayed in the Naturhistorisches Museum in Vienna. It is the most famous of a series of Upper Paleolithic Venus figurines found in middle Europe. Often described as mother goodness or as an amulet of fertility, it has also been heralded as the first example of obesity in human evolutionary history. Although it is unlikely that any human being who endured the fast and famines of the Paleolithic age would have had the chance to become obese, the figurine's enigmatic nature and round shape perfectly represent the mystery of why we are 'The obese species'. Image credit: Matthias Kabel; adapted under the GNU Free Documentation License. - PDF Icon PDF LinkTable of contents
Foreword
In This Issue
Research Highlights
Editorial
Journal Club
Fasting, feasting and the glutamatergic synapse
Summary and comment on a recent Neuron paper entitled ‘Fasting activation of AgRP neurons requires NMDA receptors and involves spinogenesis and increased excitatory tone’ (Liu et al., 2012).
A Model For Life
Leading the charge in leptin research: an interview with Jeffrey Friedman
Jeffrey Friedman is a molecular geneticist whose group, in 1994, reported the long-sought identity and function of leptin (Zhang et al., 1994), a key fat-derived hormone that regulates feeding behaviour and body weight. This represented a massive step forward in our understanding of obesity, which is now one of the world’s fastest-growing health problems. Here, he recalls his journey of discovery and offers his perspective on the future of obesity research.
Obituary
Zofia Zukowska
The death of Zofia Zukowska, on April 15, 2012, represents the loss of a vibrant and energetic leader in the fields of stress physiology and neuropeptide Y (NPY) biology.
At A Glance
Special Article
Commentaries
Research Articles
Accelerated renal disease is associated with the development of metabolic syndrome in a glucolipotoxic mouse model
Elaidyl-sulfamide, an oleoylethanolamide-modelled PPARα agonist, reduces body weight gain and plasma cholesterol in rats
Research Reports
Interviews with Biologists @ 100 conference speakers
Explore our interviews with keynote speakers from the Biologists @ 100 conference, hosted to celebrate our publisher’s 100th anniversary, where we discuss climate change and biodiversity with Hans-Otto Pörtner and Jane Francis, health and disease with Charles Swanton and Sadaf Farooqi, and emerging technologies with Manu Prakash and Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz.
A new perspective on disease research
DMM publishes perspectives – peer-reviewed articles that provide expert analysis of a topic important to the disease research community. Read our collection from authors presenting new or potentially controversial ideas or hypotheses, to help address future challenges and forge new directions.
Read & Publish Open Access publishing: what authors say
We have had great feedback from authors who have benefitted from our Read & Publish agreement with their institution and have been able to publish Open Access with us without paying an APC. Read what they had to say.
Fast & Fair peer review
Our sister journal Biology Open has recently launched the next phase of their Fast & Fair peer review initiative: offering high-quality peer review within 7 working days. To learn more about BiO’s progress and future plans, read the Editorial by Daniel Gorelick, or visit the Fast & Fair peer review page.
History of our journals
As our publisher, The Company of Biologists, turns 100 years old, read about DMM’s history and explore the journey of each of our sister journals: Development, Journal of Cell Science, Journal of Experimental Biology and Biology Open.
