Bent Out of Shape

Though Michael Booth is a scientist, he delivers a speech like an actor. What he's about to say is "pretty frightening stuff," he tells an audience of mostly fellow academics in Sydney. "It should be R rated. It's not for the faint-hearted." And sure enough, Booth's lecture—on the results of a survey that found almost 25% of New South Wales pupils from infant school through Year 10 are overweight or obese, double the figure of 20 years ago—is chilling. After Booth, a researcher on adolescent health at the University of Sydney, reports some statistics about how much time kids spend staring...