YOU know how in the fu ture we’ll be able to look at the Internet on our eyelids, travel with our very own autogyros and take an exercise pill to work off last night’s dessert? Well, the future just got a little closer.

Researchers at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, Calif., have identified an enzyme, SIK1, present in all mammals that restored muscle to weak mice.

The study is published online in the journal Nature Medicine, and members of the Salk team presented their findings at the Experimental Biology 2007 conference in Washington, D.C.

The enzyme also prevented mice fed a high-fat diet from gaining weight and caused them to burn fat even without exercise.

Obviously, further research needs to be done, and scientists are not really trying to save you from your gym membership. But we can hope.