The experiments sound well controlled and sound to me.  It's in PNAS, not some bottom tier grbage journal too.  The article specifically states that the mice with the altered light cycles ate NO MORE food than the other mice, yet gained more weight.  I think you should read the article again and see if it makes more sense a second time around.

Contradiction in the article:

"Although there were no differences in activity levels or daily consumption of food, the mice that lived with light at night were getting fatter than the others," said Laura Fonken, lead author of the study and a doctoral student in neuroscience at Ohio State University.

In one study, mice exposed to light at night – but that had food availability restricted to normal eating times – gained no more weight than did mice in a normal light-dark cycle.

So although there were no differences in activity levels or consumption of food mice got fatter in light at night, yet those with light at night but had food restrictied to normal eating times gained no more weight then the other mice? O_o

Guest said:

Contradiction in the article:

"Although there were no differences in activity levels or daily consumption of food, the mice that lived with light at night were getting fatter than the others," said Laura Fonken, lead author of the study and a doctoral student in neuroscience at Ohio State University.

In one study, mice exposed to light at night – but that had food availability restricted to normal eating times – gained no more weight than did mice in a normal light-dark cycle.

So although there were no differences in activity levels or consumption of food mice got fatter in light at night, yet those with light at night but had food restrictied to normal eating times gained no more weight then the other mice? O_o

Thats not a contradiction.

Think is over again.

Some of the mice had food all the time, and were exposed to light during the nighttime.  They gained weight, although they ate the same quantity of food overall.

The second group of mice ONLY had food during normal times, and were also exposed to light during the nighttime.  They didn't gain extra weight.

These paragraphs are making the VERY specific point that its not HOW much they eat, its WHEN they eat it.  and WHEN they eat it, if they have a choice, is based on the ambient brightness.

ERGO: Bright lights make you hungry so you eat.  Then you go to bed and it fucks up your metabolism because eating right before sleeping isn't a good idea.

I think that's a good point Will. When I was at Pfizer it was a constant thing that we struggled with. It may seem obvious, but mice are not people. Anything that hasn't yet been translated into human studies need to be taken with a grain of salt.