has been looking at a similar and possibly controversial topic — how our genes shape our bodies, our minds and our personalities. i can tell you how we can use genetics to explore in a way the nature of man. his most recent scientific paper has been looking at how that relates to one of the developed world's biggest health problems. if there is one condition that predisposes to more diseases than anything else, it is obesity. obesity predisposes to heart failure, to liver diseases, to osteoarthritis, to type ii diabetes — it predisposes to an incredible number of all cancer diseases. now, some people are genetically predisposed to become obese. their genetic make—up means that they're just more likely to overeat. not all of these people do become obese. it's just more likely. and of the people who don't have those genes, well, some of those will also become obese for other reasons. so, decode set about trying to answer the question which is it that makes these diseases more likely? is it obesity itself or is it the genetic tendency for obesity? and it turns out that you are not simply cursed by your genes to get ill. and that genetic tendency has no impact on these diseases, so it is purely the obesity itself that predisposes to the disease and then we asked the question, what is it, then, that the genetic tendency has an impact on? which part of our biology, which part of our being is being