Weight-loss diet books continue to occupy the top of the bestseller lists. However, over the past decade there has been a shift in the way these diets are framed, and in the types of scientific claims underpinning the diets.

A key feature of many popular weight-loss diets since the 1970s has been the claim that the macronutrient ratio-proportion of fat, carbs and protein-is the major determinant of whether a food or dietary pattern promotes weight gain or weight loss. Low-fat, low-carb, high-fat, high-protein-some combination of some of these macronutrient prescriptions-have dominated the weight-loss scene in the late twentieth century.

In recent years, weight-loss diet books have continued to make reference to the ideal macronutrient profile for weight loss, but with a greater focus on the particular foods to consume or avoid: meat, wheat, grains or sugar. However, these diet books also place greater emphasis on how nutrients and foods affect specific bodily processes and functions related to weight gain and loss. Their focus has shifted down to the cellular and molecular level of our bodies, and onto hormones such as insulin, the control of blood sugar levels, the regulation of fat storage in cells, and brain-satiety signals. Diet book authors now offer […]

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I felt there was no separation between anything. I felt as if I were united with everything, and it was wonderful!’ This recent report from a reader is a universal experience of people who are concerned with psychological and spiritual growth. This sense of connectedness is not fantasy, but is being affirmed by recent advances in consciousness research.

But where our mind is concerned, we’ve been more concerned with disunity than unity. During the 20th century we took the mind apart — the conscious, the unconscious, the pre- and sub-conscious, the collective unconscious, the superego, ego, id, and so on. When we look through the other end of the telescope, however, we can see a different pattern. We can make out what I call the One Mind — not a subdivision of consciousness, but the overarching, inclusive dimension to which all the mental components of all individual minds, past, present, and future belong. I capitalize the One Mind to distinguish it from the single, one mind that each individual appears to possess.

This is not a philosophical gambit, but is based on human experience and actual scientific experiments. Consider studies in which human neurons are separated into two batches and sealed in […]

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The International Energy Agency last year warned that if humanity is to have any hope of avoiding catastrophic climate change, a third of the world’s fossil fuel reserves must be put off limits until 2050. That prompted HSBC Global Research to estimate that some oil giants could lose up to half their market value. In other words, we’re talking about trillions of dollars in revenues going up in smoke if governments ever get their act together and issue a no-burn order.

Now 70 investors that control $3 trillion in global assets want to know what 45 multinational oil, coal and mining companies intend to do about $6 trillion in potentially ‘stranded assets.

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In an interview that aired on PBS’s Frontline, an associate director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Arjun Srinivasan, said that ‘for a long time, there have been newspaper stories and covers of magazines that talked about ‘The end of antibiotics, question mark?’ Well, now I would say you can change the title to ‘The end of antibiotics, period.’

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It has been 10 days since the US government shutdown came to an end. And if the bond market were your guide, there would appear to be no lasting costs – the 10-year US Treasury yield dipped below 2.5 per cent this week for the first time since August.

Yet beneath the surface, Washington’s flirtation with a voluntary default has shaken confidence in American political institutions. There may be no immediate rival to the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. Markets are more preoccupied by prospects of a delay to the Federal Reserve’s tapering plans. But as John Kerry, US secretary of state, said this week, the world is now monitoring the US to see when it will recover its senses. It cannot afford to make a habit of political recklessness.

The fact that Washington is undergoing a crisis of will, rather than ability, is not particularly reassuring. There is no question that the Treasury’s has capacity to service US obligations. At about 75 per cent of gross domestic product, publicly held US debt is entirely manageable – and less than a third of that of Japan. And the US fiscal deficit is on course to drop below 4 per cent of […]

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