Fat is fat, right? There's belly fat, leg fat, even neckfat. But when all is said and done, fat is fat. And theless of it you have the better. Except…for brown fat.Unlike white fat cells that store energy, brown fatburns energy. It's typically found in hibernatinganimals and human babies. When it's cold, brown fatburns calories, which releases heat to keep the bodywarm. Until recently, scientists thought that aspeople grew, their brown fat melted away. But itturns out that human adults have some brown fat,too.

脂肪就是脂肪，对吗?肚子上有脂肪，腿上有脂肪，即使是脖子上也会长脂肪。归根结底，脂肪就是脂肪。并且脂肪越少越好。除了褐色脂肪以外。不同于用于储存能量的白色脂肪细胞，褐色脂肪能燃烧能量。特别是在冬眠的动物和人类宝宝的体内能够找到它们的身影。天气寒冷时，褐色脂肪会消耗能量，并释放出热量来抵御寒冷。直到近年来科学家们才发现，随着年龄的增长，褐色脂肪也在逐渐消失。不过事实证明，成年人体内仍含有一些褐色脂肪。

This discovery is pretty new, so scientists are still figuring out what it means, and whetherbrown fat can somehow be used to help people lose weight. But there are some promisingsigns. Studies have shown that lean people tend to have more brown fat, and that the fat ismost active in cool temperatures. So it's possible that people become obese partly because theydon't have enough brown fat to burn excess calories. Scientists are now working on ways tohelp obese bodies create more brown fat.

这个发现很新奇，所以科学家仍然在研究这个问题，他们要研究出棕色脂肪是否能够帮助人类减轻体重。 但也有一些令人鼓舞的迹象。研究表明，身材苗条的人体内含有更多褐色脂肪，并且在凉爽的气温下这种脂肪最活跃。所以人会变肥胖有部分原因可能是由于体内没有足够的褐色脂肪来消耗多余的热量。目前科学家正在研究帮助肥胖患者体内生成更多褐色脂肪的途径。

Experimenting with proteins, Harvard researchers have managed to ramp up production ofbrown fat cells in mice. Brown fat is no miracle cure for obesity. It's not clear whether havingmore brown fat actually does or could lead to more weight loss. And scientists are a long wayfrom being able to increase brown fat stores in people. But at the very least, we've learned thatnot all fat is necessarily bad. Down the road, brown fat may help make people's lives better.

哈佛大学研究人员用蛋白质做实验，成功地逐步提高了小鼠体内褐色脂肪的含量。褐色脂肪不是治疗肥胖者的奇迹。至于含有更多的褐色脂肪是否能减掉更多的体重这一点还不确定。且在人们体内存储更多的褐色脂肪方面，科学家们还有很长的路要走。但至少我们了解了一个事实：并不是所有的脂肪都是不好的。也许在不久的将来，褐色脂肪会让人们的生活更加美好。