Features

Changing over to daylight saving time — a major annoyance for many people — may be on its way out as lawmakers cite public health as a prime reason to ditch the twice-yearly clock-resetting ritual.

The time change, especially in the spring, has been blamed for increases in heart attacks and traffic accidents as people adjust to a temporary sleep deficit. But as legislatures across the country consider bills to end the clock shift, a big question looms ahead of this year’s change: Which is better, summer hours or standard time?

There are some strong opinions, it turns out. And they are split, with scientists and politicians at odds.

Retailers, chambers of commerce and recreational industries have historically wanted the sunny evenings that allow more time to shop and play.

Researchers on human biological rhythms come down squarely on the side of the standard, wintertime hours referred to as “God’s time” by angry farmers who objected to daylight saving time when it was first widely adopted during World War I.

What’s not in question is that the clock switching is unpopular. Some 71 per cent of people want to stop springing forward and falling back, according to a 2019 Associated Press-NORC Centre for Public Affairs Research poll.

Politicians have reacted accordingly. More than 200 state bills have been filed since 2015 to either keep summer hours or go to permanent standard time, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The measures getting the most traction right now are for permanent daylight saving time, which makes more sun available for after-work activities. In 2018, Florida passed a bill and California voters backed a ballot measure to do so. Maine, Delaware, Tennessee, Oregon and Washington joined in 2019, passing permanent daylight saving bills. President Donald Trump even joined the conversation last March, tweeting: “Making Daylight Saving Time permanent is O.K. with me!”

But none of those efforts can become reality without the blessing of Congress. States have always been able to opt out of summer hours and adopt standard time permanently, as Arizona and Hawaii have done. But making daylight saving time year-round is another story.

Still, Scott Yates, whose #Lock the Clock website has become a resource for lawmakers pushing for change, believes this year will be another big year. Yates is particularly encouraged by the attitude he saw from state legislators in August when he presented on the issue at the legislators’ annual national summit in Nashville, Tennessee.

“I wasn’t the court jester and it wasn’t entertainment,” he said. “It was like, ‘What are the practical ways we can get this thing passed?’”

Yates, 54, a tech startup CEO based in Denver, has been promoting an end to clock switching for six years. He doesn’t pick a side. It’s the switching itself that he wants to end. At first, it was just about the grogginess and annoyance of being off schedule, he said. But then he began to see scientific studies that showed the changes were doing actual harm.

A German study of autopsies from 2006 to 2015, for instance, showed a significant uptick just after the spring switch in deaths caused by cardiac disease, traffic accidents and suicides. Researchers have also noted a significant increased risk for heart attacks and strokes.

Three measures pending in Congress would allow states to make daylight saving time permanent. But, in the meantime, state lawmakers who want the extra evening sunlight are preparing resolutions and bills, some of which would be triggered by congressional approval and the adoption of daylight time in surrounding states.

The Illinois Senate passed such a bill, and Kansas is considering one after a bill to end daylight saving time died there last year. Utah passed a resolution in support of the congressional bill last year, and state Rep. Ray Ward, a Republican family physician from Bountiful, is steering a recently passed state Senate permanent daylight bill through the House.

“The human clock was not built to jump back and forth. That’s why we get jet lag,” said Ward, who was a co-presenter with Yates at the NCSL summit. “It is very easy to show that if you knock people off an hour of sleep there’s a bump temporarily in bad things that will happen.”

Efforts have been particularly strong in California, where 60 per cent of voters passed a ballot issue for permanent daylight time in 2018. A bill is pending in the state assembly.

All of this alarms scientists who study human biological rhythms.

Researchers in the US and the European Union have taken strong positions about permanent summer hours. The Society for Research on Biological Rhythms posts its opposition prominently at the top of its website.

Messing with the body’s relationship to the sun can negatively affect not only sleep but also cardiac function, weight and cancer risk, the society’s members wrote. According to one often-quoted study on different health outcomes within the same time zones, each 20 minutes of later sunrise corresponded to an increase in certain cancers by 4 per cent to 12 per cent.

“Believe it or not, having light in the morning actually not only makes you feel more alert but helps you go to bed at the right time at night,” said Dr Beth Malow, director of the sleep division of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Malow has seen a lot of anecdotal evidence to back that up at the sleep clinic. Parents report their children with autism have a particularly hard time adjusting to the time change, she said.

Jay Pea, a freelance software engineer in San Francisco, was unhappy enough about California’s proposed permanent daylight time that he started the Save Standard Time website to promote the health arguments for keeping it permanent. He said he doesn’t think the scientific community is being heard.

“Essentially it’s like science denial,” he said. “It’s bizarre to me that politicians are not hearing the experts on this.”

Pea, 41 and an amateur astronomer, understands the human need to have the sun directly overhead at noon. “It’s a wonderful connection to natural reality that unfortunately is lost on many people,” he said. Daylight saving time “distances us from the natural world”.

At the very least, lawmakers ought to consider history, he said. Daylight saving time was originally a plan to save energy during the two world wars but wasn’t popular enough to be uniformly embraced after the conflicts were over. In 1974, the federal government decided to make it temporarily year-round as a way to deal with the energy crisis (although energy savings were later found to be underwhelming).

Its popularity fell off a cliff after the first winter, when people discovered the sun didn’t rise until 8am or later, and parents worried for the safety of kids waiting in the dark for school buses.

Pea finds it frustrating that the momentum now is for permanent summer hours — a fact he attributes to the emotional attachment with summer. “It’s a shame that every generation we have to revisit this issue,” he said.

The AP-NORC poll found 40 per cent of its respondents support permanent standard time, with 31 per cent opting for permanent daylight saving time.

Ward said people have gotten comfortable with daylight saving time since its duration has been lengthened to eight months by extensions in 1986 and 2007. (Before 1986, daylight saving time lasted six months.)

“So now really most of the year we are on the summer schedule, and people are used to that and they like it,” he said. “That makes them more aggrieved when we change back to the winter schedule.”

In any case, changing the clocks is a rare issue in that it isn’t partisan, Ward said. “If the government can’t respond to people when they want something and it’s not even a partisan issue, that’s just a sad commentary,” he said. “Can’t we please fix something that doesn’t make sense anymore?”

By Roxie Hammill

PARIS — Nearly 90 per cent of the 200 cities beset by the world’s highest levels of deadly micro-pollution are in China and India, with most of the rest in Pakistan and Indonesia, researchers reported on Tuesday.

Taking population into account, Bangladesh emerged as the country with the worst so-called PM2.5 pollution, followed by Pakistan, Mongolia, Afghanistan and India, according to the 2019 World Air Quality Report, jointly released by IQAir Group and Greenpeace. 

China ranks 11th. 

Particulate matter of 2.5 microns or less in diameter — roughly 1/30 the width of a human hair — is the most dangerous type of airborne pollution. 

Microscopic flecks are small enough to enter the bloodstream via the respiratory system, leading to asthma, lung cancer and heart disease.

Among the world’s megacities of 10 million or more people, the most PM2.5-toxic in 2019 was the Indian capital New Delhi, followed by Lahore in Pakistan, Dhaka in Bangladesh, Kolkata in India, Linyi and Tianjin in China, and Jakarta, Indonesia.

Next on the list were Wuhan — epicentre of the new coronavirus outbreak — along with Chengdu and Beijing.

The IQAir report is based on data from nearly 5,000 cities worldwide.

Most of the seven million premature deaths attributed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to air pollution are caused by PM2.5 particles, which originate in sandstorms, agriculture, industry, wildfires and especially the burning of fossil fuels.

“Air pollution is the world’s leading environmental health threat,” said IQAir CEO Frank Hammes. “Ninety per cent of the global population is breathing unsafe air.”

China’s average urban PM2.5 concentration dropped 20 per cent in 2018 and 2019, but last year it still counted 117 of the 200 most polluted cities in the world. 

All but two per cent of China’s cities exceeded WHO guidelines for PM2.5 levels, while 53 per cent exceeded less stringent national safety limits. 

Less data from Africa

The UN says PM2.5 density should not top 25 microgrammes per cubic metre (25 mcg/m3) of air in any 24-hour period. China has set the bar at 35 mcg/m3.

More than a million premature deaths in China each year are caused by air pollution, according to the WHO. Recent calculations put the toll at up to twice that figure.

Across a large swathe of northern India and north-central China, meeting WHO standards year-round for PM2.5 pollution would increase life expectancy up to six or seven years, according to the Air Quality Life Index, developed by researchers at the Energy Policy Institute of Chicago.

In India, small particle pollution exceeds WHO limits by 500 per cent, even if air pollution in general declined significantly last year, with 98 per cent of cities monitored showing improvements.

Among the club of 36 rich OECD nations, South Korea was the most polluted for PM2.5, counting 105 of the worst 1,000 cities on the index. In Europe, Poland and Italy count 39 and 31 cities, respectively, in this tranche.

Other parts of the world such as Africa and the Middle East lacked data.

“What cannot be measured cannot be managed,” Hammes said. “Africa, a continent of 1.3 billion people, currently has less than 100 monitoring stations that make PM2.5 data available to the public in realtime.”

As of 2018, China alone had more than 1,000 such stations in 200 cities. 

Climate change has begun to amplify the health risk of PM2.5 pollution, especially through more intense forest fires and sandstorms made worse by spreading desertification, the report found. 

Global warming and PM2.5 also have the same primary driver: the burning of coal, oil and gas.

While the link with lung cancer was well established, a recent study showed that most excess deaths from air pollution are caused by heart attacks, strokes and other types of cardiovascular disease.

Small and larger particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulphur dioxide (SO2) and ozone (O3) have likewise been linked to drops in cognitive performance, labour productivity and educational outcomes.

Of cities with more than 1 million people, the least affected by PM2.5 are Adelaide, Helsinki, Stockholm and San Jose in central California, followed by Perth and Melbourne in Australia, and Calgary in Canada, and New York. 

Do you feel depressed because you’re battling several large problems at once?

Maybe you have a financial problem that’s growing. On top of this, you might have a serious family illness. In addition, maybe you have a teenager in the family who’s in trouble at school.

Each of these problems is a “10” on a scale of 1 to 10.

You can feel your stomach tighten as you fight off anxiety. Sleeping a few hours straight might seem next to impossible, and one defeated thought leads to another.

If you’re completely overwhelmed, sit down and do a little planning. There’s nothing like a plan of action to help you get back on track.

“Before you address your problems, take control of your thought processes,” says a family counselor we’ll call Sherry.

Sherry insists, “If you can visualise your steps, you’re going to be a lot better off. I’ve been working with a close cousin, who has been suicidal. She tells me my methods of coaching are working for her.”

Sherry has coached many families, including military families, through many overwhelming issues.

She’s found that stress grows when you feel there’s nothing you can do.

Here’s Sherry’s advice to create a plan to reduce anxiety:

• Never overlook small changes to help a problem. For example, three or four improvements in your spending habits will add up

• Make time to focus on fixing the problems. Set a time each week, such as Saturday afternoon, to figure out what you’ll change in the coming week

• Balance pain with healthy activities you can control. For example, ask a friend to join you for lunch, if you’re going to face your child’s irate guidance counsellor the same afternoon

• Don’t let your thoughts run wild. Write down what’s bugging you and ask yourself what options you really do have to correct things

“I thought I was going to lose my business and my house,” says a good friend of ours we’ll call Bill. “What really helped me cope was pretending I was helping someone else. I said to myself, ‘What would I advise someone else to do?’”

Bill explained that he decided to be honest with his wife. His wife, cool-headed by nature, said to Bill, “Tell me what you think could change your business worries?”

Bill figured out that having a good sales manager would be key. His sales manager, who quit last year due to a family illness, had kept Bill’s business in good shape.

“My wife helped me see that if I could find such a replacement person, I’d be OK,” says Bill. “Her brother, also a businessman, helped me hook up with a fabulous sales manager in less than a week.”

Having several overwhelming struggles at once can boggle the mind. If you’re in such a situation, it pays to immediately find some people to help.

For example, if you’ve got a major family illness going on, talk to people who’ve gone through the same challenge. They can likely give you some pointers, so you’re not struggling with too many variable factors.

The minute you can find a friend, mentor, or paid consultant to help you, you will have a new influx of knowledge to address an illness, financial setback, or family problem.

Keep in mind that stress can be defined this way: It’s anything that makes you feel out of control. Reversing that feeling will keep you calmer and in charge of your life.

Formerly the more “junior” of Bentley two enormous ultra-luxury saloon, the third generation Flying Spur was launched last year as a larger yet sportier car. Built on a more rear-biased platform shared in its basic design with the Porsche Panamera, in place of its formerly Audi-derived and front-biased architecture, the new Flying Spur’s arrival coincided with the British manufacturers centennial anniversary. More luxurious and advanced than the car it replaces, the new Flying Spur is also set to take over duties as Bentley’s flagship model once the long-running, more traditionally-minded Mulsanne ceases production this year.

Built on an all-new rear-drive derived platform with its engine positioned further back, the new Flying Spur drives with a more balanced dynamic and traditional feel, yet retains its sure-footed four-wheel-drive. Reflecting its new architecture externally, the third generation Flying Spur boasts a more elegant profile and classic proportions, including a more rearwards cabin orientation with a seemingly shorter front overhang, longer bonnet and distance between the front wheels and A-pillar. Longer than its predecessor, and with a longer wheelbase for space and stability, the new Flying Spur also features a more flowing roofline.

Elegant proportions

Better reflecting classic rear-drive uber-luxury chariot proportions, the new Flying Spur is also a better reconciled, more indulgent and elegant design, incorporating a more horizontal emphasis with a wider vertical slat front grille, wider spaced headlight positions and more prominent, wider and more sculpted lower intakes. With more surfacing detail and features, the Flying Spur also gains muscular rear haunches that hark back to classic 1960s predecessors. Meanwhile at the rear, its boot sits seemingly lower, with its width emphasised by a concave groove running between the rear lights, and dual narrow oval integrated exhaust ports.

With Bentley’s continuously developed and long-running iconic 6.75 litre V8 engine retired soon along with the Mulsanne, the Flying Spur and its 6 litre W12 engine now entrench their position at the top of Bentley’s model range. A product of the Bentley’s modern era as part of the Volkswagen-Audi group, the Flying Spur’s mighty and compact twin-turbocharged 12 cylinder engine is compact one for its massive displacement. With four cylinder banks, like two V6 engines side-by-side, it can deactivate 6 cylinder at light load for more efficient cruising, and is mated to a slick and quick shifting 8 speed automatic gearbox.

Epic ability

Along with so many ratios to exploit its abilities in terms of performance, versatility and efficiency, the Flying Spur’s W12 also receives a power hike to 626BHP at 6,000rpm and 664lb/ft torque throughout a broad 1,350-4,500rpm range. Epic in its scope of abilities, the W12 hauls the Flying Spur’s hefty 2,437kg mass with phenomenal verve as it launches from standstill with all four wheels digging tenaciously into the tarmac. Blitzing the 0-100km/h dash in just 3.8-seconds and powering through 0-160km/h in 8.1 seconds, the Flying Spur is capable of a supercar-like top speed of 333km/h.

A phenomenally fast full luxury saloon, the Flying Spur’s performance envelope runs deep across the spectrum. With quick-spooling turbos it pounces off the line with a near silent surge, gathering speed with effortless ease, muscular immediacy and seemingly indefatigable defiance to wind resistance. Forcefully flexible as it wafts through its broad torque-laden mid-range, the Flying Spur’s subtle sound hardens to subdued wail as revs rise and power piles on in huge dollops. Returning restrained 14.8l/100km combined cycle consumption, the Flying Spur remains slightly on the thirsty side, but is at its best at continent-crunching speed, where it drives with silky smooth stability.

Smooth and settled

Settled, planted and reassuringly commanding at speed, the Flying Spur is deceptively quick in how effortless and confident it feels at speed. Driving all four wheels, the Flying Spur meanwhile develops reassuring road-holding over low traction surfaces and through corners, where its enormous staggered front to rear tyres claw heroically at the tarmac through hard driven corners. A more balanced car than its predecessor yet still slightly front-biased in weighting, the Flying Spur, however, pounces into corners with a nimble agility that defies its size, weight and smoothly forgiving and wafting ride quality.

A technological tour de force outfitted with an exhaustive list of driver assistance, safety, infotainment and creature comfort features, the biggest tricks up the Flying Spur’s sleeve are its sophisticated steering and suspension systems, which so well reconcile its supple comfort, size and weight with its confident and committed handling and stability. Effectively reducing its wheelbase at lower speeds, the Flying Spur’s four-wheel-steering subtly turns the rear wheels in the opposite direction for more agile and nimble turn-in, cornering and manoeuvring. At speed, the rear wheels turn in the same direction as the front for enhanced lane-change stability.

Supple indulgence

Riding on double wishbone front and multi-link rear suspension with adaptive air springs and continuous damping control to smoothen its wafting ride quality and iron out bumps, lumps and imperfections, the Flying Spur also alternatively tightens its suspension for a sportier and more settled ride with firmer cornering control. The Flying Spur’s ability to reconcile a forgivingly absorbent ride with taut body control is also aided by its 48v active anti-roll bars, which loosen for comfort and tighten for near flat cornering. Operating automatically in default Bentley driving mode, one can also opt for more comfort- and sport-oriented driving modes.

Indulgent inside, the Flying Spur’s cabin is testament to a rich heritage of fine craftsmanship. Resplendent with vast expanses of tastefully designed high quality leathers, woods, metals and soft textures, the Flying Spur’s cabin is warmly welcoming and comfortably cosseting, yet with a highly adjustable and supportive driving position. Balancing old world charm, splendour and high luxury with modern equipment and hints of sporting flavour with its upright dashboard and round dials, little else compares to the Flying Spur’s driver and passenger luxury. Though spacious, given its sheer enormity, slightly better rear headroom and boot space would have been welcome.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 6-litre, twin-turbo, in-line W12-cylinders

Bore x stroke: 84 x 89.5mm

Compression ratio: 10.5:1

Valve-train: 48-valve, DOHC

Gearbox: 8-speed automatic, four-wheel-drive

Ratios: 1st 5.966; 2nd 3.235; 3rd 2.083; 4th 1.42; 5th 1.054; 6th 0.841; 7th 0.678; 8th 0.534

Final drive: 3.308

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 626 (635) [467] @6,000rpm

Specific power: 105.2BHP/litre

Power -to-weight ratio: 256.8BHP/ton

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 664 (900) @1,350-4,500rpm

Specific torque: 151.2Nm/litre

Torque-to-weight ratio: 369.3Nm/tonne

0-100km/h: 3.8-seconds

0-160km/h: 8.1-seconds

Top speed: 333km/h

Fuel economy, combined: 14.8-litres/100km

CO2 emissions, combined: 337g/km

Fuel capacity: 90-litres

Length: 5,316mm

Width: 1,978mm

Height: 1,484mm

Wheelbase: 3,194mm

Track, F/R: 1,670/1,664mm

Aerodynamic drag co-efficient: 0.298

Headroom, F/R: 949/939mm

Legroom, F/R: 1,065/1,089mm

Boot capacity: 420-litres

Unladen weight: 2,437kg

Weight distribution, F/R: 53.7/46.3 per cent

Suspension, F/R: Double wishbones/multilink, adaptive air suspension, 48V active anti-roll bars

Steering: Electric-assisted variable ratio four-wheel steering

Turning circle: 11.05-metres

Brake discs, F/R: Ventilated discs, 420 x 40mm/380 x 30mm

Brake callipers, F/R: 10-/4-piston

Tyres, F/R: 275/35ZR22/315/30ZR22 (optional)

By Dina Halaseh

Educational Psychologist

One of my favourite topics to discuss with parents is motivation. Motivation is the drive behind our actions, the energy that keeps us moving. Parents who are desperately trying to get their children motivated end up resorting to one of these options: rewards and competition. 

Motivation and rewards

Rewards work, it’s true, but the constant use of tangible rewards will risk decreasing our internal motivation. We all have seen firsthand how rewarding an action can result in that action happening. But science has shown that when a certain task is interesting and motivating, rewarding it will decrease the person’s interest and it will be less enjoyable.

Therefore, if a child is internally interested in learning, using rewards will decrease that interest and hence, motivation. Not only that; offering a big reward for mental tasks usually reduces the performance of those tasks.

Motivation and competition

We also see how having a competition among two kids can sometimes work, but then there are times where a child clearly says, “I don’t care” and doesn’t bother to engage or even try. That’s because competition doesn’t always result in motivation; it is not systematic and would not get you what you want each time.

Many children are only concerned with not being last and will not put their full effort into the competition. Not all of them want to be first.

The Self-Determination Theory

We need to be able to motivate our children in a way that they are internally motivated to do a task. To do so, we need to dig deeper into motivation and understand the Self-Determination Theory. This theory links motivation to three main psychological needs:

• Control or autonomy: We all like having control over our choices and being able to exercise our free will

• Competence: We all need to feel like we can do things right. If we set a goal, we can achieve it and master a certain task

• Relatedness: We all need to feel connected to others, to feel like we belong or part of something bigger than us

These needs are universal and they are not related to a certain culture. They help us understand why people are internally motivated to do certain tasks without any external influences.

How can we motivate our children?

• Autonomy: Instead of trying to control their every move, give your children some space to choose. Constantly being asked to study can feel like nagging and when forced, students tend to hate it. Instead, you can help them understand the advantages of studying with them and how it will help them improve in the long run and not just force them to study

• Competence: Since we all need to feel like we can do things and master them, offer your children mini-goals. If your main goal is to get them to study for an hour without any interruptions, ask them for 15 minutes first and then add gradually. Praise them for those mini achievements and show how impressed you are. This will help build a sense of competence

• Relatedness: Since we all need to feel connected or valued as people, children also need to feel loved and connected to their parents. When they feel loved and appreciated, they will be more motivated and willing to try, even the harder tasks. Give this some thought: how can you make sure your children feel your love? Is it in yelling at them to study so many times a day? Or is it in showing compassion when they’re tired or through spending some time with them?

Reprinted with permission from Family Flavours magazine

PARIS — In a world first, a woman rendered infertile by cancer treatment gave birth after one of her immature eggs was matured, frozen, and then — five years later — thawed and fertilised, researchers in France reported.

A study in the journal Annals on Oncology published on Wednesday describes how the baby boy was born to a 34-year-old French woman who had been treated with chemotherapy for breast cancer.

Before the treatment began, doctors removed seven immature eggs from her ovaries and used a technique called in vitro maturation (IVM) to allow the eggs to develop further in the laboratory.

Up to now, there have been no successful pregnancies in cancer patients with eggs that have undergone IVM and freezing. 

Some children, however, have been born as a result of IVM immediately followed by fertilisation and transfer to the patient.

Michael Grynberg, head of the Department of Reproductive Medicine and Fertility Preservation at Antoine Beclere University Hospital near Paris, recalled becoming aware of the then 29-year-old patient’s case.

“I offered her the option of egg freezing after IVM, and also freezing ovarian tissue,” he said.

The patient rejected the second option as being too invasive only days after cancer diagnosis.

So-called cryopreservation of ovarian tissue is an experimental method in which the outer layer of an ovary — which contains immature eggs — is taken out of the body and frozen for future use.

In the case of the French patient, ultrasound revealed that there were 17 small, fluid-filled sacs containing immature eggs in her ovaries.

But using hormones to stimulate the ovaries to ripen the eggs would have taken too long and might have made her cancer worse, leaving retrieval of the immature eggs and freezing as the best option.

Less invasive IVF

“The technique of preservation through freezing without [hormone] stimulation works less well, but in this case we didn’t really have a choice,” Grynberg told AFP by phone.

After five years, the patient recovered from breast cancer, but she was unable to conceive naturally. The chemo had made her infertile.

After the age of 40, some 40 per cent of breast cancer patients transition into menopause because of their treatment. At 30 years old, the rate is 15 to 20 per cent.

Six of the eggs that had been frozen five years earlier survived the thawing process, and five were successfully fertilised.

One of these fertilised eggs was transferred to the patient’s womb, and she gave birth to a healthy baby boy, named Jules, on July 6, 2019.

No information was provided on the identity of the biological father.

“We have shown that this technique — even if it can be improved — allows women in this situation to have children,” Grynberg said. 

Experts not involved in the procedure described it as a breakthrough.

“Getting eggs to mature successfully after removal from the ovary has been a challenge, so this is a very welcome positive step,” said Richard Anderson, head of obstetrics and Gynaecology at the MRC Centre for Reproductive Health at the University of Edinburgh.

Freezing eggs at that stage also means that they remain the woman’s property, without the complications that using a partner’s sperm to fertilise can engender, he noted.

“This advance is particularly important for cancer patients, but it’s also a step towards easier and less invasive in vitro fertilisation [IVF],” Anderson added.

By Amélie Baubeau and Marlowe Hood 

PARIS — The world is failing to protect children from the health dangers posed by climate change and poor diet, a landmark UN report said on Wednesday, warning that every child is under “immediate threat”.

According to more than 40 of the world’s pre-eminent child and adolescent health experts, not one country on Earth is adequately protecting the next generation from the impacts of carbon emissions, the destruction of nature and high-calorie and processed foods.

They said that excessive carbon emissions, produced overwhelmingly by wealthier nations, “threaten the future of all children” and will burden them with additional health dangers, from deadly heatwaves to the increased spread of tropical diseases. 

The report, commissioned by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNICEF, also highlights the threat children face from harmful marketing of fat- and sugar-laden foods, alcohol and tobacco.

“The big message is that no single country is protecting children’s health today and for their future,” said Anthony Costello, professor of International Child Health and Director of the Institute for Global Health at University College London.

“When you look at the damage being done to children’s lungs by air pollution, we’ve got a very limited time to sort this out,” he told AFP.

“We have the solutions, what we don’t have is the political leadership and will to make it happen.” 

The report, published in The Lancet medical journal, ranks the performance of 180 countries when it comes to child survival, education and nutrition rates. 

Under these criteria, less-developed nations such as Central African Republic and Chad perform particularly poorly compared to rich countries such as Norway and The Netherlands.

However the rankings are largely reversed when the impacts of air pollution from per capita carbon emissions were assessed.

“The world’s decision makers are failing today’s children and youth: failing to protect their health, failing to protect their rights, and failing to protect their planet,” said WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Around 250 million under-fives in low- and middle-income countries risk being stunted due to malnutrition and other impacts of poverty, the authors said. 

At the same time, the number of obese children worldwide has surged 11-fold since 1975 to stand at 124 million.

Children in some countries see as many as 30,000 adverts on television in a single year. And despite industry self-regulation, one study showed that children in Australia were exposed 51 million times to alcohol adverts in just one year of televised sport. 

“Industry regulation has failed,” said Costello.

“And the reality could be much worse still: we have few figures about the huge expansion of social media advertising and algorithms aimed at our children.”

The authors called on governments to radically reduce carbon emissions in line with the Paris climate goals and to tighten regulation of harmful marketing.

Current emissions pledges put Earth on course to warm more than 3C by 2100, which “would lead to devastating health consequences for children”, from rising sea levels and heatwaves to disease and malnutrition.

Remaining anonymous while browsing the web, or performing any online task for that matter, has become more and more of a challenge. Despite attempts and promises by the major grids, including the so-called social networks, and by most software applications you would download and install, be it on fixed computers or on mobile devices, to respect your privacy and to treat you ethically, by now we all know the limits of these futile promises.

Although a very minor part or the population needs to remain “unknown” on the Internet for illegal, reprehensible or immoral reasons, the vast majority of us just want peace of mind and to avoid annoying, uncalled for pop-up screens and distracting ads, not to mention the perfectly justified wish not to disclose our profile, personal taste and living habits to the wide world.

There are already ways — as it was mentioned in this very column a few weeks ago — to hide your IP, the Internet geographic location you are connecting from, by using VPN (Virtual Private Network) software. A friend recently told me how frustrated he felt when he could not watch Season 3 of the British-Irish crime drama TV series The Fall on Netflix, because the system knew that he was in Jordan, and that Netflix didn’t have the broadcasting rights for that last Season for the country, whereas Seasons 1 and 2 were available!

He just got himself a VPN on his computer, ExpressVPN in this very case, signed up for a new Netflix subscription and set his location in the United States. Et voilà.

However, for those who want to go to the web without having the browser record and save every single product they search or shop for, every page they visit and every piece of news they read, there are ways that are simpler than installing VPN software. Indeed, VPN, though not really complicated, is still just too much for the layman, for the non-technically minded, and besides, a good, fast and powerful VPN, one that would perform fast and preserve high-definition audiovisuals, involves a paid subscription, most of the time. Not everyone is willing to pay for this extra peace of mind.

The simpler method consists of opening an “Incognito” page if you are using Chrome, or a “New Private Windows” if your browser is Safari, instead of a standard Internet page. The command is easy to find. Nothing could be simpler, and yes, it works flawlessly. As the definition of the word has it, going incognito is “having one’s true identity concealed”.

Browsing the web this way means that Chrome, or Safari, or Edge, will not remember anything from your browsing; a very convenient scope of work in many an instance. It is truly what privacy is about in the end, and yet, quite strangely, most users are not even aware of the existence of this functionality, of this obvious option, in their web browser.

Whereas working incognito has advantages, it is at the same time worth remembering that in many cases we do want our browser to remember the pages we visited, the passwords we entered, the shopping we made and the friends we contacted.

The wise user therefore will be careful not to overdo it. By default, browsing the web “normally”, by opening the standard pages, is the way to work. Going incognito would be the exception, and should be put to good use only when and if truly needed.

PARIS — Switching in old age from a bland, unvaried diet to a Mediterranean mix of fresh veggies, fruits and fish restores a balance of intestinal bacteria linked to good health, researchers said on Tuesday.

In a clinical trial with 612 volunteers aged 65 to 79 across five European countries, those who adopted a typical MedDiet for a year showed more “good” microbes linked to better brain function, and a net drop in gut flora thought to trigger inflammation and increased frailty.

The results held true regardless of age or weight, both of which influence the community of bacteria species — numbering up to 1,000 — that make-up the human microbiome, the scientists reported in the journal Gut. 

“This diet might act on gut bacteria in such a way as to help curb the advance of physical frailty and cognitive decline in older age,” lead author Paul O’Toole, head of the School of Microbiology at University College Cork in Ireland, told AFP.

In the later stages of life there is a natural decline of bodily functions and a tendency for the immune system to overreact, leading to a clinical condition known as frailty.

“In an older person, the immune system is striking at shadows,” O’Toole explained. “It is constantly turned on and firing into deep space.”

Cognitive function — especially short-term memory — also “goes downhill as we get older”, he added.

Previous research has suggested that the restricted diet common among older people, especially those living alone or in institutions, sharply reduces the range and types of bacteria found in the gut, thus helping to speed the onset of these conditions.

“At the same time, we have long known the Mediterranean diet” — rich in fresh produce and olive oil, and fish rather than red meat — “is good for you”, O’Toole noted. 

This style of cuisine correlates with less frailty and inflammation, and better cognitive function, he added. 

But researchers didn’t know why this was true.

O’Toole and his colleagues in Ireland were part of a European project that set up an experiment to see if gut microbes might play a role.

Coordinating with teams in Poland, Italy, France and The Netherlands, they compared seniors eating a narrow range of mostly prepared foods with those who had switched to eating fresh, MedDiet ingredients delivered to their doorstep every week.

In the second group, good bacteria flourished while microbes associated with poor health were reduced in number by the good diet.

But the strongest evidence of the MedDiet’s impact came in looking at who adhered to the new regimen most closely.

“We interviewed everyone in detail to measure compliance,” O’Toole said.

A year was long enough to see a measurable change in mix of microbes, but seniors would have to stick to the diet far longer to see “clinically significant” changes in inflammation and frailty scores, the study found.

“I would recommend this diet to anyone in that age group, but at the same time I’m realistic,” he said.

“My priority is to find a supplements that contains all the ingredients of a MedDiet to replace the missing microbes in frail and order people.”

“If you have been on a bad diet for a really long time... it’s like the World Wildlife Fund says: ‘extinction is forever’, and it may not be possible to bring the microbes back even with a good diet.”

By Marlowe Hood

LOS ANGELES — In a weekend bookended by two holidays — Valentine’s Day on Friday and Monday’s Presidents Day — the box office enjoyed an increasingly rare slate of three (out of four) new releases landing among the top five.

Paramount’s “Sonic the Hedgehog” premiered in first place with $57 million and a projected $68 million through the holiday, above analyst forecasts of $40 million to $45 million for the three-day weekend and $50 million to $60 million through the Presidents Day holiday.

Based on the Sega video-game character, the live-action and CGI hybrid follows Sonic (voiced by Ben Schwartz) and a small-town sheriff, Tom (James Marsden), as they defend a planet under attack by the villain Dr Robotnik (Jim Carrey).

It surpassed Warner Bros.’ “Detective Pikachu”, which earned $54.3 million in its 2019 debut, as the highest domestic opening ever for a video-game adaptation.

The $87 million film, directed by Jeff Fowler, was forced to undergo a major redesign last year after fans reacted negatively to Sonic’s CGI look in a trailer. The effort seems to have paid off — the movie was well-received with an A CinemaScore and a 63 per cent “fresh” rating on review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes.

In second place, Warner Bros.’ “Birds of Prey” added $17.1 million in its second weekend (a 48 per cent drop) and is projected to earn $19.6 million through Monday, for a cumulative $59.3 million.

At No. 3, Sony’s Blumhouse-produced “Fantasy Island” opened with $12.4 million over the weekend and is projected to earn $14 million through Monday, within range of analyst predictions for the weekend of $12 million to $14 million.

A reimagining of the ‘70s TV series, “Fantasy Island” was directed by Jeff Wadlow and stars Michael Pena as the enigmatic Mr Roarke, who is tasked with bringing his guests’ fantasies to life at a remote tropical resort.

The $7 million film also features Lucy Hale, Michael Rooker, Maggie Q, Austin Stowell, Portia Doubleday, Jimmy O. Yang and Ryan Hansen. It was poorly received, with a C-minus CinemaScore and a mere 9 per cent “rotten” score on Rotten Tomatoes.

In fourth place, Universal’s “The Photograph” opened with $12.3 million over the weekend and is projected to earn $13.4 million through Monday, within range of analyst predictions of $12 million to $14 million.

The romantic drama stars Issa Rae as a woman who falls for a journalist (Lakeith Stanfield) and comes to terms with her estranged photographer mother’s complex past.

Directed by Stella Meghie, the $16 million movie was positively received with a B-plus CinemaScore and a 76 per cent Rotten Tomatoes rating.

Rounding out the top five, Sony’s “Bad Boys for Life” added $11.3 million in its fifth weekend and was expected to bring in $12.8 million for Valentine’s Day plus the holiday weekend, for a cumulative total of $181.3 million.

At No. 6, Universal’s “1917” and its three Academy Awards added $8.1 million in its eighth weekend, for a cumulative $144.4 million.

In seventh place, Sony’s “Jumanji: The Next Level” added $5.7 million in its 10th weekend, for a cumulative $305.7 million.

At No. 8, Neon’s “Parasite”, buoyed by its best picture, director and original screenplay wins at last week’s Oscars ceremony, added 941 locations and $5.5 million in its 19th weekend, for a cumulative $43.2 million.

In ninth place, Universal’s “Dolittle” added $5.1 million in its fifth weekend, for a cumulative $70.5 million.

Rounding out the top 10, Searchlight’s “Downhill” opened with $4.7 million through the weekend and was projected to earn $5.2 million through Monday, below analyst projections of $7 million.

A remake of Ruben Östlund’s “Force Majeure”, the black comedy stars Will Ferrell and Julia Louis-Dreyfus as a married couple on the outs.

It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival to mixed reviews and was poorly received by moviegoers and critics with a D CinemaScore and a 41 per cent “rotten” rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

In limited release, Neon opened “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” on 22 screens to $440,907 and an expected $514,707 through Monday, for a per-screen average of $20,000. It was originally released in two theatres in December for an awards-qualifying run, opening to $33,672 per screen.

This week, 20th Century Studios opens “The Call of the Wild”, STX Entertainment reveals the horror film “Brahms: The Boy II”, and Focus Features debuts the period dramedy “Emma”. In limited release, IFC Films premieres the indie love story “Premature”.

By Sonaiya Kelley