Next Thursday (April 7, 2009), Professor Stephen Simpson from the University of Sidney will give a talk at Princeton University about his work with locusts. The talk will be a part of the "Princeton Frontiers of Biology Lectures" and will stand at Friend Center, Auditorium 101, from 4:30pm to 5:30pm. From Princeton University website:

"Simpson’s dual research interests — nutrition and locust swarming — have led to fundamental insights into the dietary causes of the human obesity epidemic, and have linked genetic, brain and bodily behaviors in individual insects to mass migration. Over the course of his career, he has made pioneering contributions to the fields of nutritional physiology, ecology and behavior. 

Simpson has studied transformation or phase change of locusts, when the insects go from being shy, mutually aversive insects to a swarming mob. Those investigations have led Simpson and colleagues to discover some of the mechanisms that lead to such swarming, including elevated levels of the chemical serotonin in locust brains.

The eating habits of locusts, he has found, may help explain why humans are getting fatter. Locusts eat until they take in enough protein, he has found. He has suggested that humans might be doing the same, fueling the obesity epidemic. Because food has become increasingly fat and carbohydrate rich, the amount of food needed to get a protein "fix" has increased, Simpson reasons."

Professor Simpson also will deliver a talk titled "The Geometry of Nutrition: From Cannibals to Human Obesity" at 12:30pm, Thursday, April 9, in 10 Guyot Hall.