Editorial: Are we entering a new age of Enlightenment?

The 16th century Enlightenment was the time when blind faith and superstition gave way to the power of knowledge based on empirical evidence and the scientific method. We are glad to report that celebrity culture is starting to show the first signs of its own Enlightenment, at least when it comes to alternative remedies, health fads and downright wacky habits.

The annual survey of who was doing what with their bodies, conducted by the charity Sense About Science, found a relatively high proportion of celebrities turning their backs on the mountebanks of the snake-oil industry. Step forward Jennifer Aniston, no longer the kooky girl next door, as Rachel from Friends, but a beacon of scientific sense, who dared to declare that "fads are too much" and that fasts and "cleansing" (of the colonic kind) may actually be bad for your body.

Jennifer, welcome to the Age of Reason.