Finding ways to decrease levels of bad (white) fat and increase good (brown) fat could help us lose weight and avoid obesity-related illness, and now researchers at Columbia Engineering have developed a transplant method, where white fat is removed from the body, cultivated in a lab for a few weeks, then reinserted into the body as brown fat.

Besides the color, the difference between the two types of fat lies in their function. White fat stores excess energy as lipids, and can be difficult to get rid of once it starts building up. Meanwhile, brown fat doesn't stick around as long, since it has higher levels of mitochondria that burn away the fat to provide energy and body heat.