Ever eat a full meal ... and find you still have room for dessert? If so, you're not alone. Sugar is a quick form of energy that many people crave — even when they're full. Today, hosts Emily Kwong and Regina G. Barber dive into a new study on the neural origins of the "dessert brain."Want us to cover more neuroscience on the show? Let your voice be counted by emailing [email protected]! Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
What is the significance of dessert cravings?
Well, it is consistent with what we know about sugar for survival. Sugar, it signals to our brain, oh, this food is full of energy. It's easy to metabolize. Of course, excess sugar is bad for us. So Henning now wants to know how much this pathway contributes to overeating. Does it lead to the development of obesity? And can this discovery be built into weight loss drugs?
Okay. Let's talk seals next. I hear some of them are doing science now.
Yeah, they're trying to take my job.
It's okay because we're all going to the sugar-eating jobs.
Yeah. Researchers figured out a way to measure the health of parts of the ocean by tracking and weighing elephant seals.
Help me make this connection a little more. What does seal weight have to do with ocean health? Like is this if the seals are eating enough food, we're in good shape?
Something like that. Yeah. Because elephant seals, especially the mothers, eat a lot of fish. So how much these moms weigh can tell scientists how many fish there are that year, which has ripple effects for everything that eats those fish and everything that gets eaten by the fish.
How do you weigh a seal?
According to lead researcher Roxanne Beltran, a huge pulley system, basically. They wait for pregnant females to return from their months long foraging trip to beaches on the California coast where they give birth and bond with their pups. Then using binoculars and cameras, the scientists identify previously tagged seals they want to weigh and then they weigh them.
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