In this age of digital and daily information it has become quite simple for marketing gurus to simply select and feed us the information they want.  They have complete access to our profiles, our preferences and our choices and can use that to their advantage.

After years of fad diets and being told to watch our carbs and avoid eating after 7 pm and so many other studies, the Daily Mail has featured an article that turns all these myths on their head.  The latest scientific study completely contradicts or adjusts the premises upon which we have been basing much of our eating habits.

In some cases, the facts are plain wrong, while in others they may not be as straightforward as previously thought, as explained by nutritionist Rob Hobson.  Carbs DON'T make you fat, you CAN eat after 7pm and most people don't have a wheat allergy.  He goes on to say thatoats, pasta and rice contain 4 calories per gram - the same as protein; eating small meals over the day doesn't raise metabolism significantly and food is still digested after 7pm, and we still metabolise food in our sleep. However, what you choose to put on these foods will only add to their calorie count and it's worth mentioning that an excess of any food will potentially encourage weight gain.

In another study, it was seen whether our views on God and immigration be changed by using MAGNETS. Brain stimulation can alter beliefs, the study claims.  Scientists used magnetic stimulation to shut down parts of people's brains. They specifically targeted the posterior medial frontal cortex associated with how the brain detects and solves problems and threats. Participants reported that their belief in God dropped by a third in tests. There was also a 28% increase in positive feelings towards immigrants.  Psychologists have discovered it's possible to significantly change a person's beliefs simply by targeting their brain with magnets. 

Using what's known as transcranial magnetic stimulation, the researchers were able to temporarily shut down the part of the brain associated with detecting and solving problems.

People who were subjected to this treatment reported that their belief in God dropped by a third following the stimulation, while there was an increase in positive feelings towards immigrants.The study was carried out by Dr KeiseIzuma from the University of York and Colin Holbrook from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

'We think that hearing criticisms of your group's values, perhaps especially from a person you perceive as an outsider, is processed as an ideological sort of threat,' said Dr Izuma.

'One way to respond to such threats is to 'double down' on your group values, increasing your investment in them, and reacting more negatively to the critic,' he continued.

'When we disrupted the brain region that usually helps detect and respond to threats, we saw a less negative, less ideologically motivated reaction to the critical author and his opinions.'

So, when we are told by the Prime Minister that keeping the price of fuel artificially high is a remedy to the problem with traffic on our roads, what should we say?  We refer to our memory bank and remember that when the AlternattivaDemokratica had mentioned that with the reduction in the price of electricity, consumers will not be so disposed to economise on consumption, this was never considered a reason to keep electricity rates higher.  Similarly, when electricity was supplied to illegal boat houses in Armier, it was not thought that depriving them of electricity will encourage them to vacate the property.

What happened is that the traffic congestion has gone full circle and met up with awareness of high fuel prices and the link was made, very conveniently too.  Panic more than concern was the motivator for this claim, as the two issues gather moss while we wait.

The fact is that we can read a lot and be fed a lot of information but we can see a porker from a mile away – even over the traffic jam.  Sure, a case may be made to keep fuel prices higher as an incentive to economise on wastage, but what the price of fuel in Malta is doing is creating a disadvantage not just to our pocket but our industry and economy.  Even Russia has turned again to manufacturing and agriculture as its prices become competitive again. 

Whatever the reason may be for the tyrannical price of fuel in Malta, it is hard to believe that is has anything to do with the environment or traffic congestion.  Because too there is the other head of this monster and that is parking.  Even if you were encouraged to make an extra trip with your car, you know that you could lose your parking spot at home and not find one in your destination. 

Either way we are sitting targets.