SmarterFitter

Take a growing mouse, put it on a vibrating platform for 15 minutes a day for six weeks, and presto, the mouse should have about 27% less fat than its chubby schoolmates.

Or so claims a recent research report by "biomedical engineer" Clinton Rubin at the State University of New York. Researchers theorize that the vibrations mimic muscle activity and induce stem cells to turn into bone or muscle cells rather than fat cells.

But hold the phone - this doesn't mean those funky belly-jiggling machines actually burn off fat.

"We're not burning fat or taking fat mice and making them skinny," says Rubin. In fact, a key aspect of the research was that it was conducted on young, growing mice. Still, this could be great news for the looming childhood obesity epidemic - let's just install vibrators under school chairs!

It's worth noting that Rubin is founder of his own company, Juvent, which sells vibrating platforms that allegedly prevent bone loss. Whether his commercial interest in vibrators skewed his latest research results remains to be seen.

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