I used to wonder why scientists seemed so skinny, until I left the lab for the office—and immediately gained fifteen pounds.

As Anna Kushnir notes in a recent post on the Nature Network, bench scientists run around all day—to the ice machine, the incubator, the symposium down the hall. And, as Kushnir observes, they have freakishly strong hands.

For the men out there, all the pipette wielding could increase the strength of their handshake—apparently a measure of reproductive fitness.

So if you’re spending another 12 hour day in the lab, consider it part of a weight loss, sex-appeal regimen.

Here’s to a healthy, active new year at the bench and off.