Features

WASHINGTON — Astronomers on Tuesday announced the discovery of ten more moons of Jupiter, bringing to 79 the number known to be circling the giant gas planet, including one “wrong-way driver” that appears destined to crash into other moons sharing its orbital highway.

All the newly identified moons are relatively small. While Jupiter, the fifth planet from the Sun, has large moons such as Ganymede — the biggest in the solar system with a diameter of 5,268km — the new ones range in size from about six-tenths of one kilometre to four kilometre. That is tiny compared to Jupiter’s diameter of 142,984km.

A research team led by astronomer Scott Sheppard of the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington has identified 12 small Jovian moons, including the ten described on Tuesday. Sheppard said these moons were probably objects that formed near Jupiter during the early days of the solar system and were “captured” by the planet’s strong gravitational pull. 

“Jupiter is like a big vacuum cleaner because it’s so massive,” Sheppard said. “These objects started orbiting Jupiter, instead of falling into it. So we think they are intermediate between rocky asteroids and icy comets. So they’re probably half ice and half rock.”

The most interesting of the new moons is Valetudo, named after the ancient Roman god Jupiter’s great-granddaughter, the goddess of health and hygiene. Valetudo orbits Jupiter in the same direction that the planet spins, but a bunch of other small moons share the same orbital path while traveling in the opposite direction.

“Valetudo’s going down the highway the wrong way, so it’s very likely it will collide with these other objects. It probably has collided with them over time,” Sheppard said.

Jupiter’s 79 known moons are the most of any planet in the solar system, followed by the 62 identified around the giant ringed gas planet Saturn. Sheppard said Jupiter and Saturn may actually have a similar number of moons, with some of Saturn’s smaller ones not yet detected.

A moon is defined as any object, regardless of size, that orbits a planet, not the Sun. Only the two innermost planets in the solar system, Mercury and Venus, have none. Of Jupiter’s 79 moons, 26 remain unnamed, including nine of the ten new ones.

Each time there is a breakthrough in high-tech, each time we discuss social networking or talk about the online tools we have gotten accustomed to and cannot live without anymore, we unmistakably come to think of how dehumanising it has all become. Is technology really to blame or are there other factors, other reasons that are making our world colder?

The fact is there are precedents that date back to the past century, well before the advent of digital high-tech and the web, and that constitute early warnings of the dehumanisation of society. If only to cite two of these classic literary warnings: George Orwell’s “1984” and Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World”. These great works are frequently referred to in discussions and serve as “proof” that technology is to blame, in a general manner.

What we are already experiencing is enough in terms of social impact. It is an accepted fact that e-mail, Facebook, WhatsApp, online shopping, and the like keep people apart and contribute to making friends that are but virtual, not real. Living and working online certainly reduce the human contact. But many consider that the best — or the worst if one prefers — is yet to come, with driverless cars, robots that will take care of the house cleaning chores and surveillance cameras absolutely everywhere.

On the other hand the list of benefits that technology has brought us is miles long, if only in a spectacular manner in the fields of surgery, medical imaging, telecommunication and last but not least entertainment. Some 12 football world cups ago (i.e. in 1970…) I watched one of the very first live satellite broadcasts of the final, between Brazil and Italy, on a black and white, small, ridiculous CRT TV. Although the actual broadcast was in colour, and for the very first time, colour TVs were not yet commonly found in homes. The image quality was so poor that some moments it was hard to tell one team form the other.

Last Sunday the glorious high-definition stunning images of the World Cup final in Russia, watched on large LED screens made each and every one truly love and appreciate technology, allowing us to live the moment as intensely as if we were in the stadium. Not to mention the availability of the instant Video Replay feature that gave France their penalty kick!

So again, and whereas each aspect of technology can legitimately be debated, examined and weighted, the advantages overwhelmingly exceed the disadvantages. This is a certainty.

Perhaps what is dehumanising our society is more obvious than that and does not require deep analysis of technology and its impact. Could it simply be our planet getting over-populated? Too simplistic to be true? I think not. Sometimes the right explanation is so obvious, so simple that we fail to see it or do not accept it. And yet, it does not require a PhD in any science to realise that when their number grows the relationship between people gets colder, worse, less friendly. A nice dinner between three couples certainly is cosier than a party of 50 people or more. This has nothing to do with technology.

I came to live in Amman in 1980. I remember that back then 95 out of 100 drivers were courteous, cool and friendly — in my personal estimate. Today the number is much, much less! This is simply because in 1980 there were 100,000 registered cars in the country, compared to 1.3 million in 2014 (source: The Jordanian Drivers and Vehicles Licensing Department). It is unofficially estimated to have reached 1.6 million this year.

With 16 times more vehicles on the roads, drivers can perhaps be excused when they have a less “humane” attitude. Again, it is not technology but the increase of the population that is dehumanising society. Actually if technology did not bring them GPS, good in-car music, wireless mobile telecommunication, and most importantly great cars that are infinitely more comfortable and safer than before, drivers’ attitude on the road would have been worse.

So instead of accusing technology of dehumanisation, we should perhaps be grateful to it for making our life more pleasant, realising at the same time the unavoidable, multiple negative impacts of the population increase.

LOS ANGELES — American boxer Floyd Mayweather was named the world’s highest-paid entertainer on Monday on a list that saw actor George Clooney take the No. 2 spot with the highest annual pay of his career. 

Reality star Kylie Jenner, 20, came in third on the annual Forbes Celebrity 100 list, largely thanks to her booming cosmetics line that Forbes said put her on track to become the youngest self-made billionaire in the United States.

Forbes compiled its 2018 list estimating pre-tax earnings from June 2017-June 2018, before deducting fees for managers, based on data from Nielsen, touring trade publication Pollstar, movie database IMDB, and interviews with industry experts and celebrities themselves.

Mayweather pulled in some $285 million in the period, largely thanks to his August 2017 comeback fight win over mixed martial arts champion Conor McGregor.

Oscar-winning star Clooney earned an estimated $239 million after selling the Casamigos tequila company he co-founded to British spirits company Diageo in June 2017. Forbes said the sale gave Clooney the best annual earnings of his 35-year career in film and television.

Forbes said entertainers on its 2018 Celebrity 100 list earned a combined $6.3 billion before tax, up 22 per cent from last year’s list. Many of the highest earners came from celebrities leveraging their brands through side ventures and through their social media presence.

“There’s never been a more lucrative time to be famous than now, with 11 superstars earning $100 million or more over the past year,” Zack O’Malley Greenburg, senior entertainment editor at Forbes, said in a statement.

“Entertainers have found all sorts of new ways to monetise their audiences, especially with the help of social media,” he added.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson almost doubled his earnings from the previous year to land in 5th place with estimated earnings of $124 million. Forbes said the earnings of the “Jumanji” and “Fast and Furious” star were the largest acting-related earnings it had recorded in 20 years.

The top earner on last year’s list, musician Sean Diddy Combs, dropped to No. 32 on the current list. His earnings on the 2017 list were inflated by a tour and the sale of part of his Sean John clothing line, Forbes said.

Musicians and athletes fared well, with Irish band U2, British band Coldplay and British singer Ed Sheeran appearing in the top 10. Football players Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo also earned more than $100 million, Forbes said.

Teens who spend lots of time surfing the web, playing games and chatting with friends on smartphones and tablets may be more likely to develop ADHD symptoms than youth who do not, a US study suggests. 

Researchers followed more than 2,500 Los Angeles high school students over two years, asking about symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and their digital media habits. 

None of the students had ADHD symptoms at the start of the study. Teens who reported frequent use of a wide variety of digital media platforms at the start of the study, however, were about 10 per cent more likely to develop ADHD symptoms within the next two years, researchers report in JAMA. 

“This study raises new concerns whether the proliferation of high-performance digital media technologies may be putting a new generation of youth at risk for ADHD,” said senior study author Adam Leventhal, director of the Health, Emotion, and Addiction Laboratory at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. 

“While digital media use in moderation might provide some benefits, like access to educational information or social support, excessive exposure to digital media entertainment could have adverse mental health consequences,” Leventhal said. 

Older forms of screen time — like television watching and playing video games on consoles — have long been linked to an increased risk of ADHD and other emotional and behavioural problems, especially when teens are engaged in these activities for hours on end.

A lot may depend on how often teens are being interrupted by beeps and buzzes from their phones, how they engage with their devices, and what types of social interactions they have in real life, Levanthal said. 

Adolescents who are constantly getting notifications to check a message or do something with an app may lose their ability to focus and stay engaged in tasks like schoolwork for long periods of time, he said. Binge-watching videos, meanwhile, might interfere with the development of patience, impulse control, and the ability to delay gratification. 

None of the students displayed symptoms of ADHD at the start of the study. Researchers assessed them with a standard questionnaire asking about symptoms like difficulty organising and completing tasks, trouble remaining still or staying focused on activities. 

Over the next two years, researchers surveyed teens every six months to see how often they did 14 different digital activities including texting, streaming videos or music and sharing on social media. 

High frequency users did these activities many times a day. Among 51 students in this category, about 11 per cent developed ADHD symptoms by the end of the study. 

Another 114 participants reported high frequency use of seven digital activities and about 10 per cent of these students also developed symptoms of ADHD during the study. 

But among the 495 teens who did not do any of these activities frequently, slightly less than 5 per cent developed ADHD symptoms. 

The study was not a controlled experiment designed to prove whether or how lots of screen time might directly cause symptoms of ADHD. It is also possible some participants had undetected symptoms of ADHD when they joined the study or that teens who developed symptoms gravitated toward digital media as a result. 

The results add to the evidence suggesting that parents should regulate how teens use smartphones and tablets, said Jenny Radesky, author of an accompanying editorial and a professor of paediatrics at the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor.

After living for six months in Mauritius, I have realised this about the islanders: they cannot stay married for long. However, it does not prevent them from rushing headlong into holy matrimony, not at all.

Mauritians are enthusiastic about getting wedded; make no mistake. They love the pomp and show that is associated with weddings and follow each ceremony to its last detail. Lavish banquets are hosted with the celebrations going on for several days and continuing till the wee hours of the morning. Everyone is happy, including the bride and groom. 

Exactly at what juncture the discontent sets in is difficult to pinpoint, because there seems to be no preordained pattern that is followed. What I mean is: of the several divorcees I came in contact with, some were separated within two years of marriage while others, two decades later. Also, once they decided to cut loose, there was no turning back and they headed straight to the divorce courts. 

“When you agree that your marriage has irretrievably broken down between you and your spouse and you want to get a divorce, you need to retain the services of an attorney at law to draft and lodge the paper work,” explained a barrister I met in Port Louis recently. 

“After the divorce petition is lodged, a date is given for your legal representative to present the application to the judge who may ask the parties some questions and attempt to find an agreement. If reconciliation is not possible, another date is fixed for the hearing of the case. Subsequently the judge will pronounce a temporary divorce decree. Thereafter, if within a period of three months, the parties have not reconciled, the judge will declare a permanent decree of divorce, which will be final,” she explained. 

Right! So what is the reason that so many Mauritians prefer to be divorced? Is it because divorce procedures are much easier here? Do young couples already think of separation when they are getting married? Or do they find that they are incompatible after a while and accordingly consider it better to go their separate ways? 

My tailor, gardener, driver, hairdresser and cleaner are all divorcees. One’s husband did not appear at the birth of their first child, another’s wife walked out claiming that the mother-in-law was too interfering and yet another’s husband decided that his wife was not as religious as he would have liked her to be. She followed the traditional ceremonies but did not fast on the days of the week that he wanted her to. He consulted the high priest at the local temple, and with his permission, decided to go ahead and file for divorce. 

I learned later, that this priest was estranged from his spouse too. Consumed with curiosity I was dying to talk to his former wife. Recently, I spotted her in a supermarket and rushed towards her. 

“Were you married to the pundit?” I asked politely. 

“Got divorced five years back,” she replied quietly. 

“What happened?” I queried. 

“We fought daily, over the TV,” she confessed. 

“Till we did not have the television it was fine,” she continued. 

“I loved the serials and he got me a flat screen TV,” she said. 

“Was that the reason for your divorce?” I was alarmed. 

“He started hiding the remote,” she accused. 

“Or watched religious shows continuously,” she asserted. 

“What did you do?” I questioned. 

“I put an end,” she answered. “To the sacred games,” she explained. 

While most adults know nicotine is bad for children, smokers and some other individuals are not convinced of this fact, according to a US study that suggests a need for more public education about the risks of tobacco. 

Overall, 83 per cent of adults understand that nicotine is “definitely harmful” to children, the analysis of national survey data from almost 12,000 US adults found. 

But adults who used multiple tobacco products were 60 per cent more likely than nonsmokers to say nicotine was “not harmful” for children. 

“It is important that all adults, not just parents of young children or tobacco product users, understand that nicotine is very harmful to children,” said lead study author Catherine Kemp, a public health researcher at Georgia State University in Atlanta. 

“There is no established safe level of nicotine exposure for children,” Kemp said by email. 

Nicotine exposure can cause upset stomach, nausea, vomiting, changes in heart rate and blood pressure, breathing problems, and seizures in kids and can be fatal at high doses, Kemp noted. Chronic exposure can lead to heart problems, asthma, developmental and behavioural disorders, an increased risk of addiction to other drugs. 

In the study, women were 60 per cent more likely than men to recognise that nicotine was “definitely harmful” to kids. Men, meanwhile, were 40 per cent more likely than women to think nicotine was not harmful or say they were not sure about the risks. 

Compared to adults with a college degree, people with only a high school diploma were more than twice as likely to say nicotine was not harmful to kids, researchers report in Pediatrics. And when people did not finish high school, they were three times more likely to think nicotine was not dangerous, compared to college graduates. 

Race was also associated with how adults thought about the risks of nicotine exposure for kids. 

Compared to white adults, Hispanic and African American survey participants were much less likely to believe nicotine was definitely harmful. 

Most often, kids are exposed to nicotine from a parent or another person who lives in their home, Kemp said. In the study, approximately one-third of tobacco users had at least one young child at home. 

One limitation of the study is that the survey focused only on the general question of whether nicotine might be harmful for children under 13 years old, the authors note. Researchers lacked specific data on how people thought about the nicotine risk of specific tobacco products. 

Another drawback is that the study lacks data on what is behind people’s beliefs about nicotine, so it is unclear how much some individuals might say it is not dangerous for kids out of denial versus out of a genuine lack of understanding of the risks, said Geetha Raghuveer, a cardiologist at Children’s Mercy Hospital and professor at the University of Missouri Kansas City School of Medicine. 

Men, for example, might be less aware of the risks than women because they are less likely to take kids to checkups and hear about the dangers first-hand from a pediatrician, Raghuveer, who was not involved in the study, said by e-mail. 

Less educated adults, meanwhile, might really be less aware of the risks,” Raghuveer added. 

“While dangers of cigarette smoking to those who smoke are well publicised, those of second hand smoke or accidental ingestion of tobacco products are less well known generally,” Raghuveer said. 

Many parents are also unaware of the particular risks posed by liquid nicotine used in e-cigarettes, said Annie Lintzenich Andrews of the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. 

“Nicotine poisonings due to children ingesting e-cigarette liquid are becoming more frequent,” Andrews, who wasn’t involved in the study, said by e-mail. 

“Proximity to nicotine products combined with adults underestimating risk of exposure could lead to higher risk of adverse events due to children’s exposure to nicotine products,” Andrews added. “Nicotine users would be an ideal target population for future public health interventions to reduce children’s exposure to nicotine.” 

LOS ANGELES — It turns out Dwayne Johnson was no match for Dracula and company.

“Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation” topped the domestic box office charts with $44.1 million from 4,267 locations, while Dwayne Johnson’s “Skyscraper” washed up with a paltry $25.5 from 3,782 theatres.

Sony’s animated family feature picked up $46.4 million overseas this weekend for a global start of $100 million, including Amazon Prime showings. The third instalment of the franchise — featuring the voices of Adam Sandler, Selena Gomez, Andy Samberg and Kathryn Hahn — carried an $80 million production budget.

“We’re thrilled,” Sony’s president of worldwide distribution Josh Greenstein said. “We took the No. 1 slot this weekend with a tremendous amount of competition.”

As the first film in the series debuting during summer (its predecessors opened in September), Greenstein said the studio hopes “Hotel Transylvania 3” will benefit in coming weeks from kids being out of school.

The opening for “Hotel Transylvania 3” represents the second-best for the franchise. The first film, 2012’s “Hotel Transylvania”, bowed with $42 million, while the sequel started with $48 million.

“Skyscraper’s” debut was not enough to secure the No. 2 slot, which went to the second weekend of Marvel’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp” with $29.5 million from 4,206 locations. The superhero sequel picked up another $35.3 million internationally, taking its global total to $284 million. Domestically, the Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly-led tentpole earned $133 million, while overseas it has made $151 million.

Universal and Legendary’s “Skyscraper” checked in third place, coming in way under projections. With $25 million, “Skyscraper” represents the lowest opening for a Johnson-starrer in recent years. The studio is banking on his massive international following to justify the film’s pricey $125 million budget. It bows in China, where the action film is set, next weekend.

Universal’s head of domestic distribution Jim Orr emphasised “Skyscraper’s” reliance on overseas markets.

“The domestic results are part of a broader global play,” Orr said. “I think we’re going to have a great run. It’s not all about opening weekend.”

“Incredibles 2” landed in fourth place with $16 million in its fifth weekend, while “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” rounded out the top five with $15.5 million in its fourth frame. However, that order could fluctuate when final numbers are tallied on Monday.

Disney-Pixar’s “Incredibles 2” is now the ninth-highest domestic release of all time with $535.8 million. The animated family film has amassed $856.9 million worldwide, including $321 million from overseas markets.

At the specialty box office, A24’s “Eighth Grade” generated the best per-screen-average of the year with $63,071. Bo Burnham wrote and directed the critically lauded feature, which made $255,000 when it opened on four screens. The coming-of-age film stars Elsie Fisher navigating her last week of middle school.

Meanwhile, Annapurna’s “Sorry to Bother You” nabbed seventh place at the domestic box office. Boots Riley’s satirical comedy pocketed $4.3 million when it expanded to 805 theatres. In total, it has earned $5.3 million.

Gus Van Sant’s “Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot” premiered in four theatres with $83,120. Joaquin Phoenix stars in the Amazon Studios comedy, which earned $20,780 per theatre.

The summer of theatrical documentaries is still in full swing, as “Won’t You Be My Neighbour” earned $1.8 million in its sixth weekend. Morgan Neville’s film centring on Mister Rogers has grossed $15.8 million, making it the highest grossing documentary of the year, as well as the 16th-highest earning of all time.

Roadside Attractions and Miramax’s “Whitney” pulled in another $535,385 from 208 screens. The Whitney Houston documentary has made $2.6 million to date.

Heatwaves can sap productivity by slowing down thinking, even in the young and healthy, a small study suggests. 

Harvard researchers found that during a summer heat wave, students living in dorms without air conditioning consistently scored lower on daily cognitive tests over the course of nearly a week than students in buildings with AC. 

“For the first time, we’ve been able to find a detrimental effect of heat waves in young healthy adults,” said lead author Jose Guillermo Cedeno Laurent, a research fellow and associate director of the Healthy Buildings Program at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston. 

“Among that group [who had no AC] there were longer reaction times and lower accuracy compared to an identical group of students who lived with air conditioning,” he told Reuters Health in an e-mail. 

The researchers followed 44 undergraduate and graduate students in their late teens and early 20s for 12 consecutive days during July of 2016. Twenty-four of the students resided in buildings constructed in the 1990s that were equipped with central air conditioning, while 20 lived in Neo-Georgian-style low-rise brick buildings built between 1930 and 1950 with no cooling system. 

The researchers designed their experiment so that the 12 days included a five-day heat-wave, preceded by five days with more moderate temperatures, and followed by two days of cooler weather. Temperatures inside the building without air conditioning averaged 26.3ºC and ranged as high as 30.4ºC. 

Average temperatures in the air-conditioned buildings were 21.4ºC ranging up to 25ºC. 

Each morning the students took two tests of cognition on their smartphones. One test, which required students to correctly identify the colour of displayed words, measured their reaction speed and ability to concentrate and block out distractions. The other test, which presented basic arithmetic problems, measured mental quickness and working memory. 

During the heat wave, students in buildings with no cooling had 13.4 per cent slower reaction times on the colour-word tests and 13.3 per cent lower scores on the math tests, compared to those living in dorms with air conditioning. 

Much previous research on the effects of extremely hot weather has been in vulnerable populations that are at risk of dying: either the very young or the very old, the study authors note in PLOS Medicine. 

“This study looks at the effects of heat in a population we all think of as generally being resilient,” said study coauthor Joe Allen, co-director of Centre for Climate, Health and the Global Environment at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. 

And while much media coverage has been on people dying prematurely, “the fact is, millions are impacted by heat waves”, Allen said. “And with climate change, and the increased duration of heat waves, we’re going to see an increased impact on performance and learning.” 

The new study “is adding to a very quickly growing literature on the effects of heat exposure on student outcomes”, said Jisung Park, an assistant professor of environmental health sciences at the Fielding School of Public Health at the University of California, Los Angeles. “It’s very consistent with other studies showing that hot temperatures, whether at home or in the classroom, can have a detrimental effect on learning.” 

No one knows exactly why we do not seem to be as smart when we’re hot. But it may be that the body is pulling blood away from certain parts of the brain as it tries to cool itself down, said Park, who was not involved in the current study. 

“Of course, the elephant in the room is that heat waves are going to be much more frequent,” Park said. “While a 2 degree increase in average temperature may not sound like much, an additional 30 days of temperatures above 35ºC each year may sound more urgent.”

First launched in 2010, face-lifted in 2014 and now due to be replaced with a new model expected in Jordan for 2019, Volvo’s somewhat long-serving second generation S60 compact executive saloon, however, remains a classy, comfortable and smooth ride.

Innovative when it first appeared, the S60 is packed with a host of standard and optional driver assistance and safety systems, and as driven in second to entry-level S60 T3 guise, it features a confident and capable down-sized 1.5-litre engine that is more efficient and powerful than the 1.6 it replaced.

Understated and elegant

Developed during Volvo’s last push to breakthrough into the premium end of the automotive market, the S60 has an understated sense of elegance, and is a car appreciated best by those in the know. Best looking from front three quarter views, with a noticeably snouty and assertive grille, the face-lifted S60, however, adds more heavily browed, slimmer and more dramatic single-piece headlights, in place of the 2010 models more rounded two-piece headlights. The revised model also features slimmer and broader lower intakes and other restyled front and rear bumper elements.

Less complex yet more dramatic in current iteration, the Volvo S60’s protruding grille is flanked by pinched V-shaped surfacing, while its bulging bonnet ridge flows from grille to A-pillar base. Meanwhile, subtly rising side crease and waistline converge with a rakish roofline at short and pert rear deck. From rear view the S60 features stylish boomerang-like rear lights, somewhat reminiscent of the Maserati 3200GT. For the facelift version, the S60 received slim horizontal bumper-integrated dual exhaust ports. However, more rear wheel-arch definition would have lent the S60 a more grounded and assertive stance.

Mid-range muscle

Powered by turbocharged direct injection 1.5-litre 4-cylinder engine driving the front wheels since its last model refresh, the current S60 T3 develops 150BHP at 5,000rpm and 184lb/ft torque through a wide 1,700-4,000rpm plateau. Though designed with a bigger bore to stroke design like most high revving engines, the over-square design T3 is, however, low revving. Efficient and smooth even without the use of a balancer shaft, the T3 is also usefully flexible in mid-range. Frugal with 5.8l/100km combined cycle fuel consumption, its CO2 emissions are similarly low at 134g/km.

Downsized, yet more capable, the current S60 T3 proved quicker and more responsive than expected, and weighing in at 1.6-tonnes, it nonetheless performs confidently, and is at its best when riding on its broad, muscular and versatile mid-range wave of torque, but becomes somewhat less eager in delivery the farther it strays beyond 5,000rpm. Despite a brief moment of turbo lag at idling, the T3 livens up as its turbo spools and delivery wells up. And with a hint of torque-steer as tyres put power to tarmac, the S60 T3 accelerates through 0-100km/h in 5.8-seconds, on the way to a 210km/h maximum.

Eager, smooth 

and supple

At its best being hustled along in rich and responsive mid-range, the S60 T3 driving character is that of a refined and comfortable compact executive with somewhat hot hatch-like front-drive handling. 

Tidy into corners, the S60 grips in well — with its smooth and light steering providing a good compromise between refinement and road feel. Eager turning in, the S60 suspension setup is also seemingly eager to shift weight to the rear and outside to tighten a cornering line, which the stability controls then rein in with similar enthusiasm by cutting power, but with less intervention and more fluency when in a less cautious driving setting.

Riding on 215/55R16 tyres, the S60 walks a fine line between braking and out right grip on the one hand, and steering feel and ride compliance on the other. In most situations it works well, with most bumps, lumps and cracks dispatched with supple absorption. 

On poorly maintained low traction tarmac, more mechanical grip would be welcome, in lieu of electronic assistance, but the upside is that the S60 drives mostly with sporty agility and a more comfortable ride than many competitors. Meanwhile, body roll is kept well in control while vertical reflexes are settled on rebound from dips and crests.

Confident quality

Confident and stable and reassuring at speed, the S60 provided a good quality of ride, cabin refinement and isolation from road imperfections and noise. 

Inside, its driving position is well-adjustable with deep lowering and supportive seats and versatile steering adjustment. Spacious in front with generous headroom even when fitted with a sunroof, the S60’s rear space and 380-litre boot volume are decent for its segment. Ergonomics were also good, with user-friendly controls, symmetric layouts and a new, more modern instrument cluster design since first driven at its initial launch.

Well-finished with quality leathers, soft textures, metallic trim and wood, the Volvo S60 has a well-built and conservatively elegant feel inside. Functional yet pleasant, it features usefully generous storage spaces and a signature curved “floating” front console. 

Competitively priced, the S60 T3 comes with an extensive equipment list as available in Jordan, including USB connectivity, Isofix child seat latches and Volvo’s City Safety driver assistance system, which can avoid or mitigate collisions at up to 50km/h, in addition to numerous comfort, convenience, infotainment and safety features.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 1.5-litre, turbocharged, transverse 4-cylinders

Bore x stroke: 82 x 70.9mm

Compression ratio: 10.5:1

Valve-train: 16-valve, DOHC, direct injection, variable valve timing

Gearbox: 6-speed automatic, front-wheel-drive

Ratios: 1st 4.044:1; 2nd 2.371:1; 3rd 1.556:1; 4th 1.159:1; 5th 0.852:1; 6th 0.672:1

Reverse/final drive: 3.193:1/3.365

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 150 (152) [112] @5,000rpm

Specific power: 100.1BHP/litre

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 184 (250) @1,700-4,000rpm

Specific torque: 166.9Nm/litre

Rev limit: 6,000rpm

0-100km/h: 8.6-seconds

Top speed: 210km/h

Fuel consumption, combined: 5.8-litres/100km 

CO2 emissions, combined: 134g/km 

Fuel capacity: 67.5-litres

Length: 4,635mm

Width: 1,866mm

Height: 1484mm

Wheelbase: 2,776mm

Overhang, F/R; 943/916mm

Track, F/R: 1,578/1,575mm

Ground clearance: 136mm

Aerodynamic drag co-efficient: 0.28

Headroom, F/R: 999/951mm

Legroom, F/R; 1,064/852mm

Shoulder room, F/R: 1,447/1,401mm

Loading height: 656mm

Luggage volume, min: 380-litres

Kerb weight: 1,625kg

Steering: Power-assisted rack & pinion

Turning Circle: 11.3-metres

Lock-to-lock: 2.71-turns

Suspension, F/R: MacPherson struts/multi-link, anti-roll bars

Brakes: Ventilated discs, 316mm/discs, 308mm

Braking distance, 100-0km/h: 37-metres

Tyres: 215/55R16

Price, on-the-road: JD30,900-34,900 (w/ third party insurance)

Today’s moms-to-be are more likely than women from their mothers’ generation to become depressed while pregnant, a study suggests. 

Stresses of the modern world may be driving the increase, said the study’s lead author Rebecca Pearson, a lecturer in psychiatric epidemiology at the University of Bristol in the UK. 

“Our data suggest that the symptoms driving the increase in total scores were those related to feeling overwhelmed and stress and anxiety rather than feelings of being down and unmotivated,” Pearson said. “This supports theories that it is potentially a consequence of the fast-paced modern world.” 

While postpartum depression is a well-known problem, in the past decade there has been a paradigm shift to recognising that symptoms usually appear before the baby is born, said Dr Priya Gopalan, chief of psychiatry at Magee-Womens Hospital of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Centre. 

“What we traditionally called postpartum depression actually starts in the third trimester,” said Gopalan, who is not affiliated with the new research. “The paradigm shift has done away with all the myths that have been perpetuated about pregnancy being a happy time for all moms.” 

As reported in JAMA Network Open, Pearson’s team compared 2,390 women who had babies in the early 1990s to 180 women of the next generation who were either daughters of the original group or were partners of sons of the original group. The average age in both sets of women was about 22 or 23 years. 

Among the older generation, 408, or 17 per cent, had high scores on depression screening tests, as compared to 45, or 25 per cent, of the current generation. 

Daughters of women who became depressed during pregnancy had an especially high risk of developing prenatal depression themselves. In fact, they were three times as likely to develop prenatal depression as women with mothers who did not become depressed in pregnancy. 

Factors that Pearson suspects are driving higher rates of depression in the younger generation include, “the rise in the female work force putting pressures on young women to juggle families and careers, social media and the internet , which can increase social comparisons and information overload, financial pressures, especially house prices and the need for joint incomes to afford life in the UK, and less family and community support and increased pressures on intimate partner relationships”. 

Are findings in British women applicable to American women? “Absolutely,” Gopalan said. “We have definitely seen increased rates of depression over time. This is a thing in the US as well.” 

Gopalan and other experts now recommend that women who develop depression during pregnancy get treatment, including medication if needed, to protect both the women’s health and that of their babies. 

“We have lots of studies that have come out in the last three years comparing depressed moms who didn’t get treatment to those who were depressed but did get treatment,” Gopalan said. “We now know that depressed moms who take medication have babies that do better in terms of development. Depressed moms [without treatment] just don’t bond with their babies like non-depressed moms would.” 

Like Pearson, Inger Burnett-Zeigler believes that a lot of younger women’s depressive symptoms are driven by anxiety. 

“They’re anxious about expectations around motherhood and balancing that with their other obligations,” said Burnett-Zeigler, a clinical psychologist and an assistant professor in the department of psychiatry at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. “A lot of them are feeling overwhelmed and are worried about who is going to help them. They are worried about whether the baby will be OK and whether they will be OK as moms.”

Another factor is that people do not live as close to family as they once did, Burnett-Zeigler said.

“A lot are not surrounded by family to support them,” she said. “Even though they have partners, they still feel isolated.”