sometimes i get caught up in color....but these images look pretty perfect to me.  in fact, if those mercury glass pendants would appear in my hallway, i'd be one happy camper!!

Welcome to the Team Wales family!

With the Opening Ceremony now just days away, I wanted to take this opportunity to congratulate every single one of you; athletes, HQ and support staff, on your selection into the Team Wales family.

The Isle of Man is ready and raring to welcome us onto the island for the fourth Commonwealth Youth Games, and this year we’re proud to be taking a full team of athletes.

Everyone who has been selected to compete for, or represent Wales, has been chosen to do so not only because of your recent achievements but also because we believe that you can go on to emulate the success achieved by Team Wales at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi 2010.

Pune 2008 changed things for us; it was the first year that we used the Youth Games as a development tool, and we’d hope that come Glasgow 2014 or in 2018 the names on those Welsh shirts and the scoreboards will be yours.

Use the Isle of Man as a stepping stone; as an opportunity to get as much experience as you can. And above all enjoy it! The focus is very much on young people and the cultural day on the 12^th September is something not to be missed.

Don’t forget to keep checking Zeus for the latest Team Wales updates and information, and make sure you’re signed up to follow us on Twitter and Facebook. Throughout the Games we’ll be posting exclusive videos and interviews with athletes as well as some behind the scenes footage.

Thank you to all those supporters and friends who have consistently got behind Team Wales; we’ll be hoping to do you proud out there and look forward to seeing you all at our Welcome Home celebration.

On behalf of all of the Team Wales support team I wish you every success at the Commonwealth Youth Games.

Chris Jenkins

Chef de Mission

A Roadmap to Obesity

In this post, I'll explain my current understanding of the factors that promote obesity in humans.  

Heritability

To a large degree, obesity is a heritable condition.  Various studies indicate that roughly two-thirds of the differences in body fatness between individuals is explained by heredity*, although estimates vary greatly (1).  However, we also know that obesity is not genetically determined, because in the US, the obesity rate has more than doubled in the last 30 years, consistent with what has happened to many other cultures (2).  How do we reconcile these two facts?  By understanding that genetic variability determines the degree of susceptibility to obesity-promoting factors.  In other words, in a natural environment with a natural diet, nearly everyone would be relatively lean, but when obesity-promoting factors are introduced, genetic makeup determines how resistant each person will be to fat gain.  As with the diseases of civilization, obesity is caused by a mismatch between our genetic heritage and our current environment.  This idea received experimental support from an interesting recent study (3).

Read more »

i've got my eye on kelly green right now....i want to add it everywhere- plus i'm obsessed w/ grant's elle decor dining room...those chairs are killing me i want them so bad!

*images courtesy of note to self, fallon elizabeth, pink persimmon, grant gibson

Professor Doctor FCS, Ph.D.*

Yikes, I haven't posted here in ages. Nor have I read anyone else's blogs. (Sorry!)

I alluded to having news in previous blog entries, so here it is - I finished my PhD and landed an academic job. All of this was relatively drama-free, however it has made life incredibly busy**.

I have no idea how people pre-tenure manage to write blogs, read blogs, get grant $, teach, advise, and publish a metric ton of stuff. These days I'm barely able to manage dinner. Or a dentist. And I think my kid has forgotten my name.

But I'll give it a shot. I think we still have a long way to go into the academy where scientific women at the PhD level are not seen as strange and unusual specimens. I've already had a few female students make very positive comments to me about being a role model, and I get a kick out of helping people, so there it is.

So I'll keep this blog going a bit longer and see where it goes.

Thanks for reading, and more soon.

--------
(*) This is tongue-in-cheek. All newbies always have something to prove, and tack on the titles to the point of hilarity.

(**) Like really, really busy. You know how as a graduate student you're always thinking, "Why does my professor write such terse emails? Why do they take so long to respond? Do they hate my guts?" No. We don't hate your guts, we just have 400 emails just like yours.