From Atkins, to Ornish, to Jenny Craig, we are a nation of dieters. But with so many diets and dieters, why are we collectively getting bigger? Join Ira in this hour of Science Friday for a look at our national obsession with waistlines and weight loss. He'll be talking with Gina Kolata, science reporter for the New York Times, and author of the new book "Rethinking Thin: The New Science of Weight Loss--and the Myths and Realities of Dieting".

Plus, ancient penguins. Researchers have found fossils of two species of penguins that once inhabited the area around Peru during the middle and late Eocene period. One, Perudyptes devriesi, would rank with the present-day king penguin in terms of size. The other ancient penguin, however, named Icadyptes salasi, stood over five feet tall and wielded a seven-inch beak. We'll talk with one of the researchers about the two species, reported this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Finally, what can you learn from studying baby poop? Scientists tracking the surprising things that (literally) come out of a baby over the course of a year have been able to trace a timeline of the development of bacterial ecosystems within the human gut. We'll find out more.

Call in with your questions and comments at 1-800-989-8255 (3-4 Eastern). Teachers, find more information about using Science Friday as a classroom resource in the Kids' Connection.

Guests:
Julia Clarke
Assistant Professor, Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
North Carolina State University
Research Curator of Paleontology
North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences
Research Associate, American Museum of Natural History (New York)
Raleigh, North Carolina

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Gina Kolata
Author, "Rethinking Thin: The New Science of Weight Loss--and the Myths and Realities of Dieting" (Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 2007)
Science Reporter, New York Times
New York, New York

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Dr Chana Palmer
Program Director
Canary Foundation
San Jose, California

Books/Articles Discussed:

"Rethinking Thin: The New Science of Weight Loss--and the Myths and Realities of Dieting" by Gina Kolata. Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 2007.

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This segment produced by Annette Heist