Daily digest August 14 2015

Nurses sign open letter against Wellcome Trust's investment in fossil fuels

Nurses are among a group of almost 1,000 health professionals who are urging the Wellcome Trust to stop investing in fossil fuels.

The group has written a letter to the organisation expressing concern about the impact of using fossil fuels on climate change.

The names of nurses Sharyn Amos and Katherine Aynilian are alongside the editors of The Lancet and the British Medical Journal on the letter.

They argue that taking carbon reserves from the ground will cause global temperatures to rise.

The Wellcome Trust responded by saying it examines the environmental records of companies that it uses to extract fossil fuels.

Read more on the Guardian website

Man on way to end his life at Dignitas calls for change to assisted dying law 

A terminally ill man aged 68 plans to end his own life today in a Dignitas clinic – after watching his wife do the same thing last year.

Bob Cole is in Zurich because he does not want to live with an aggressive form of lung cancer. Doctors had given him three months to live. He said: ‘I should be able to die with dignity in my own country, in my own bed. The law needs to change.’

Mr Cole said he wants the law to change in Britain to allow assisted dying.

Read more on the Daily Mail website

Low-fat diets 'better' for losing weight than cutting out carbs

Dieters can lose more weight through cutting out fat than from stopping eating carbohydrates.

These results emerged from a United States study, which challenges traditional thinking that carbohydrates that are the chief reason people put on weight.

Lead researcher Kevin Hall, from the US-based National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, said: ‘If it’s easier to stick to one diet than another, and to ideally do it permanently, then you should choose that diet. But if a low-fat diet is better for you, then you are not going to be at a metabolic disadvantage.’

Read more on the BBC website