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PARIS — The first audio recordings on Mars reveal a quiet planet with occasional gusts of wind where two different speeds of sound would have a strange delayed effect on hearing, scientists recently said.

After NASA’s Perseverance Rover landed on Mars in February last year, its two microphones started recording, allowing scientists to hear what it is like on the Red Planet for the first time.

In a recently published study in the Nature journal, the scientists gave their first analysis of the five hours of sound picked up by Perseverance’s microphones.

The audio revealed previously unknown turbulence on Mars, said Sylvestre Maurice, the study’s main author and scientific co-director of the shoebox-sized SuperCam mounted on the rover’s mast which has the main microphone.

The international team listened to flights by the tiny Ingenuity helicopter, a sister craft to Perseverance, and heard the rover’s laser zap rocks to study their chemical composition — which made a “clack clack” sound, Maurice told AFP.

“We had a very localised sound source, between two and five metres from its target, and we knew exactly when it was going to fire,” he said.

The study confirmed for the first time that the speed of sound is slower on Mars, travelling at 240 metres per second, compared to Earth’s 340 metres per second.

This had been expected because Mars’ atmosphere is 95 per cent carbon dioxide — compared to Earth’s 0.04 per cent — and is about 100 times thinner, making sound 20 decibels weaker, the study said.

But the scientists were surprised when the sound made by the laser took 250 metres a second — 10 metres faster than expected.

“I panicked a little,” Maurice said. “I told myself that one of the two measurements was wrong because on Earth you only have one speed of sound.”

They had discovered there are two speeds of sound on the surface of Mars — one for high-pitched sounds like the zap of the laser, and another for lower frequencies like the whir of the helicopter rotor.

This means that human ears would hear high-pitched sounds slightly earlier.

“On Earth, the sounds from an orchestra reach you at the same speed, whether they are low or high. But imagine on Mars, if you are a little far from the stage, there will be a big delay,” Maurice said.

“All of these factors would make it difficult for two people to have a conversation only five metres apart”, the French CNRS research institute said in a statement.

It was otherwise so quiet on Mars that the scientists repeatedly feared something was wrong, the CNRS said, possibly provoking memories of two failed previous attempts in 1999 and 2008 to record sound there.

“There are few natural sound sources with the exception of the wind,” the scientists said in a statement linked to the study. 

The microphones did pick up numerous “screech” and “clank” sounds as the rover’s metal wheels interacted with rocks, the study said.

The recording could also warn about problems with the rover — like how drivers sense something’s wrong when their car starts making strange noises.

Maurice said he felt the “scientific gamble” of taking microphones to Mars was a success. 

Thierry Fouchet of the Paris Observatory, who was also involved in the research, said that listening to turbulence, such as vertical winds known as convection plumes, will “allow us to refine our numerical models for predicting climate and weather”.

Future missions to Venus or Saturn’s moon Titan could also now come equipped with microphones.

And Perseverance is far from done eavesdropping. While its core mission lasts just over two years, it could remain operational well beyond that — the Curiosity rover is still kicking nine years into a planned two-year stint.

PARIS — However quickly the world slashes greenhouse gas emissions, it will still need to suck carbon dioxide (CO2)  from the air and oceans to avoid climate catastrophe, a landmark UN report said.

Long seen as marginal or an industry ploy to avoid curbing emissions, carbon dioxide removal (CDR) is today a necessary weapon in the battle against global heating, according to the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). 

“This is the first IPCC report to state clearly that carbon dioxide removal is needed to achieve our climate targets,” said Steve Smith, head of Oxford Net Zero at the University of Oxford.

The Paris Agreement calls for capping global warming below 2ºC, and most countries have signed on for a more ambitious limit of 1.5ºC. 

Even under the most aggressive carbon-cutting scenarios, several billion tonnes of CO2 will need to be extracted each year from the atmosphere by 2050, and an accumulated total of hundreds of billions of tonnes by 2100. 

“Carbon dioxide removal is necessary to achieve net-zero C02 and greenhouse gas emissions, both globally and nationally,” the report concludes.

This will compensate for sectors where emissions will be hard to abate, such as aviation, shipping and cement. 

And depending on how successfully carbon pollution is drawn down, CDR may be needed to cool Earth’s surface if the Paris treaty temperatures targets are breached. 

There are a variety of ways that “negative emissions” can be achieved, but all would be needed to be ramped up significantly to make a dent in the approximately 40 billion tonnes of CO2 currently emitted each year.

Drawing down carbon pollution remains the absolute priority. 

“It is critical that an equitable and orderly roadmap for the transition away from fossil fuels is agreed,” said David King, head of the Climate Crisis Group and Britain’s former Chief Scientific Advisor.

“But we must also put significantly more resource into greenhouse gas removal.”

Virtually all of the IPCC models laying out pathways for a liveable future reserve an important role for technology called BECCS, or bioenergy with carbon capture and storage.

The recipe is pretty straightforward: grow trees, burn them for energy, and bury the CO2 emitted underground, in an abandoned mineshaft for example.

By 2050, the IPCC says, BECCS could be called upon to extract just under three billions tonnes of CO2 per year.

Restoring forests and planting trees that absorb and stock CO2 as they grow also figure prominently in development scenarios achieving net-zero emissions at or near mid-century, accounting for the same level of carbon removal at mid-century. 

But what works on paper — and in so-called integrated assessment models — has not materialised in reality. 

One of the few commercial-scale BECCS facilities in the world, in Britain, was dropped last year from the S&P Clean Energy Index because it failed to meet sustainability criteria.

“I don’t see a BECCS boom,” said Oliver Geden, a senior fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs and an expert on CDR. 

The area required, meanwhile, for tree-planting schemes — up to twice the size of India — would compete with food and biofuel needs.

Many businesses, including fossil fuel companies, rely heavily on carbon offset schemes based on afforestation to compensate for continuing carbon emissions.

The newest CDR method, a chemical process known as direct air carbon capture and storage, is attracting interest.

Climeworks’ direct air capture facility in Iceland — the largest in the world — removes in a year what humanity emits in three or four seconds.

Other CDR methods at various stages of experimentation and development include enhancing the capacity of soil to sequester carbon; conversion of biomass into a charcoal-like substance called biochar; peatland and coastal wetland restoration; and so-called enhanced weathering of rocks rich in minerals that absorb CO2.

Potential ocean-based methods include boosting marine alkalinity, either by directly adding alkaline minerals or an electrochemical processing, and stimulating the growth of phytoplankton, tiny organisms that stock carbon through photosynthesis and then sink to the ocean floor when they die.

A metaphorical mountain goat among SUVs, the Suzuki Jimny is an efficient, practical and uncomplicated vehicle that is thoroughly capable, manoeuvrable and above all else, fun! Conceptually the Jimny is something of a cross between a Lada Niva and Mercedes-Benz G-Class, but has a history that stretches back even longer than both of these late 1970s arrivals. First launched in 1970, the Jimny’s basic formula and dimensions have changed little over the years, but have been honed, refined and perfected for its current, fourth generation. 

Diminutive but undiluted

An affordable, easily maintained and small, serious off-roader like the Lada, the Jimny has always employed a rugged off-road oriented body-on-frame chassis and still uses a tough old-school front live-axle – like the far pricier G-Class used until its previous generation — and unlike its Russian competitor’s uni-body and independent front suspension set-up. Adopting more refined coil spring suspension since its 1998 third generation, rather than leaf springs, the fourth generation’s design has fully embraced the Jimny’s playfully rugged character since its 2018 arrival. 

High-riding, narrow and upright with short overhangs and short wheelbase for excellent off-road angles and manoeuvrability along the tightest trails, the Jimny’s design is one where form clearly follows function. Qualifying for Japanese ultra small “kei” car specification without the export version’s chunkier and wider wheel-arches, the current Jimny’s grille, headlights and body are meanwhile more upright and employ straighter lines than its predecessor. Aggressively angular yet playfully diminutive, available aftermarket bodykits can even transform the Jimny’s appearance to that of a micro-scaled G-Class tribute.

Eager and efficient

Offered with a 0.65-litre turbocharged 3-cylinder engine for domestic ‘kei’ car service, export versions of the Jimny are, however, powered by a naturally-aspirated 1.5-litre 4-cylinder engine. Positioned longitudinally and powering the rear wheels for normal balanced on-road driving, the Jimny’s perky and progressive engine develops 101BHP at 6,000rpm and 96lb/ft torque at 4,000rpm. Eager to rev and responsive to throttle input and lift-off, the Jimny’s engine may not be particularly powerful, but is fun, engaging and provides adequate power and mid-range versatility for most conditions.

Weighing just 1,135kg and with a connectedly lightweight and unfiltered driving experience, the Jimny feels reasonably paced and can accelerate through 0-100km/h in an estimated 14-sconds. But with an un-aerodynamic shape and 140km/h top speed, one needs to be more calculating when overtaking at speed, and to rev the engine hard on steeper inclines. Smooth and quick enough for daily driving, the Jimny would, however, be expected to be more engagingly rewarding with its standard 5-speed manual gearbox, rather than the featured 4-speed automatic available in Jordan.

Nimble manoeuvrability

With more aggressive gearing, and broader and closer ratios, the manual gearbox version would be expected to deliver quicker better responsiveness, flexibility and refinement. With improved acceleration at around 12-seconds, the manual gearbox would most importantly better suit the Jimny’s character as small, fun and unpretentiously agile urban and off-road runaround. That said, both versions feature lockable four-wheel-drive for off-road driving, and a low range transfer case to engage reduced ratio four-wheel-drive for the more demanding low-traction and steep incline off-road conditions.

A nimble drive with tiny dimensions, tight 9.8-metre turning circle and upright body panels and big glasshouse providing excellent visibility, the Jimny is easily manoeuvrable and accurately placed on road. Its re-circulating ball steering is well suited for off-road driving but delivers decent road feel as mated to comparatively slim but comfortably absorbent 195/80R15 tyres. Turn-in is nippy and eager, while tight corners are dispatched with agility. Leaning slightly through corners, the Jimny is better controlled than its dimensions and generous 210mm ground generous clearance would suggest.

Up-beat character

Dispatching lumps, bumps and potholes with effortless ease, the Jimny’s short wheelbase and live axle suspension can make it slightly bouncy as each side responds to vertical travel on the opposite side. However, this not a particularly pronounced effect, especially as tempered with more refined coil springs. That said, the payoff being such a set-up allows for excellent off-road wheel articulation and wheel contact with the ground. Meanwhile, excellent 37° approach, 28° break-over and 49° departure angles are complemented by an electronic selective braking traction system.

Narrow but tall, the Jimny’s cabin features good front headroom and adequate, if not generous space for two rear passengers, while limited 85-litre luggage volume expands to 377-litres with rear seats folding. Meanwhile, its doors and side-swinging rear gate provide easy cabin access. With plenty of hard-wearing plastics, the Jimny’s up-beat, tough and utilitarian cabin features big buttons, dials and instrumentation. Better equipped with basic creature comforts than its Lada rival, the Jimny’s JD22,500 may not be high in absolute terms, but is dearer than the former’s JD12,500-14,500 pricing range.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 1.5-litre, in-line 4-cylinders

Bore x stroke: 74 x 85mm

Compression ratio: 10:1

Valve-train: 16-valve, DOHC, multi-point injection

Gearbox: 4-speed automatic, four-wheel-drive, low ratio transfer

Gear ratios: 1st 2.875:1; 2nd 1.568:1; 3rd 1:1; 4th 0.697:1

Reverse/final drive: 2.3:1/4.3:1

High/low gear ratios: 1.32:1/2.644:1

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 101 (102) [75] @6,000rpm

Specific power: 69BHP/litre

Power-to-weight: 90BHP/tonne

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 96 (130) @4,000rpm

Specific torque: 89Nm/litre

Torque-to-weight: 114.5Nm/tonne

0-100km/h: approximately 14-seconds (estimate)

Top speed: 140km/h

Fuel consumption, combined: 6.8-litres/100km

Fuel capacity: 40-litres

Tread, F/R: 1,395/1,405mm

Approach/break-over/departure angles: 37°/28°/49°

Gross vehicle weight: 1,435kg

Steering: Power-assisted re-circulating ball

Turning circle: 9.8-metres

Suspension: Live axle, trailing arms, coil springs

Brakes, F/R: Discs/drums

Tyres: 195/80R15

Price, JD22,500

By Nashwa Beheiry
Digital Banking Expert

Despite our financial status, we might need to borrow money at some point in our lives. It could be for buying a house or a car, paying school fees or coping with an emergency such as medical expenses, or establishing a business.

Women tend to bear the burden of managing household spending. Some may borrow money without understanding the consequences of their actions. Moreover, family members may take advantage of their relatives by making them sign checks or loan contracts under their name or engage in other forms of financial exploitation.

Parents in Jordan tend to provide less financial education and assistance to their daughters. That’s why we see high numbers of women in debt, unable to fulfil financial obligations on their shoulders and facing the threat of being sued.

It is crucial to understand that by placing your signature on checks, bills, contracts, agreements, or any document, you are binding yourself to the terms of that document and you will face severe legal consequences.

Types of agreements

• Borrowing money from individuals, relatives, friends, neighbours (by signing a bill or a check)

• Contracts with financial institutions, such as banks and licensed financial organisations, credit cards issuers

• Deferred payments to suppliers (creditors) Contracts with non-governmental organisations (NGOs)

• Rent contracts with landlords

• Utility provider agreements such as mobile phones, Internet, etc... 

Tips before signing contracts or agreements

• Making sure you fully understand all details before signing

• Keeping a copy of every document you sign The contract must not have any unfilled blank spaces; if it does, cross them off

• It is your right to take a contract home for more careful reading or to get a legal or an expert opinion

• Never signing anything under the pressure of anyone, a salesperson, a friend or even a relative; take your time to understand what you are committing yourself to

• Asking yourself, can you afford the rent or the instalments? 

• If you are buying a house or a car, will you be able to sell it if you had to and cover your outstanding loan balance

• Some contracts tend to commit for a certain period with strict cancellation conditions, such as bank loans, gym memberships, or mobile phone plan contracts

• Ensuring everything you agreed upon verbally is stated clearly in the contract. This is especially important for terms like interest rates, down payments, discounts, fees and penalties

In a nutshell, read, understand, analyse and seek help if necessary before you put your signature on anything. Above all, educate your children, specifically your daughters, with financial literacy to prevent them from falling into financial problems.

Reprinted with permission from Family Flavours magazine

By Carole Guirado and Eric Randolph
Agence France-Presse

CANNES, France — TV companies will need to radically adapt themselves to the fast-evolving world of online entertainment if they hope to survive, experts have warned. 

Broadcasters are already playing catch-up with online gaming giants in the battle for the attention of young audiences and the advertising dollars that follow. 

On the horizon is the so-called “metaverse” — a loose term covering the growing eco-system of interactive online worlds, games and 3D meeting places that are already attracting millions of users. 

While older consumers are still wedded to traditional TV, viewership among under-35s has halved in a decade, according to Statista, and will drop precipitously as the metaverse develops.

“Young people have evolved from passive spectators of TV to active players, and they’ve turned away from screens to smartphones,” said Frederic Cavazza, co-founder of Sysk, a French firm specialising in digital transformation.

“TV channels are going to die with their audiences.”

‘Part of the story’

To reach young people, broadcasters will have to compete with gaming platforms like Roblox, Fortnite and Minecraft — seen as precursors to the metaverse — that are already establishing a dominant position. 

Half of all 9-12-year-olds in the US use Roblox at least once a week, according to media research firm Dubit — doing everything from playing games to watching concerts to just hanging out with friends.

The audiences can be enormous: 33 million people watched rapper Lil Nas X perform on Roblox in 2020 — more than three times the number that watched him on TV at the Grammys this week. 

Broadcasters must choose whether they are sticking with a shrinking market for traditional TV programming, or start bringing their characters and brands into metaverse platforms, said Matthew Warneford, co-founder of Dubit.

“It means bringing people into a world, making them part of the story, playing alongside their friends — the same way that Disneyland allows you and your friends to be in their world with Mickey Mouse,” he said.

‘Stay relevant’

TV companies have time to adapt, but they face a major challenge in catering at once to older people watching traditional broadcasts, middle-aged people shifting to streaming and young people wanting interactive and social entertainment. 

“If we want to stay relevant, we will have to position ourselves across all these usages,” said Kati Bremme, head of innovation for France Televisions.

The national broadcaster is still in research mode, she said, toying with augmented and virtual reality to build immersive cultural and sporting experiences. 

The biggest challenge, however, may be financial. 

Up to now, TV firms have been insulated from tech disruption because their advertising revenue was largely unaffected — unlike other traditional media like newspapers.

That could change “faster than people realise”, said Warneford.

It was previously hard to move TV ads into the gaming world because they were created by individual companies “who locked them down and captured all the value”, he said. 

But with the more open field of the metaverse, brands will have much more scope to promote themselves and sell goods directly to users. 

Indeed, fashion and luxury labels are already making millions selling virtual clothes and accessories on Roblox, Fortnite and other platforms. 

“If they want to reach young people, do companies keep going to TV or do they go to where young people actually are — in gaming and the metaverse?”

By Amélie Bottollier-Depois
Agence France-Presse

PARIS — Individuals along with economy-wide efficiencies can make a major difference in the drive to avert the worst of global warming, UN climate experts say, estimating that sharp cuts to demand for energy-guzzling services could slash emissions up to 70 per cent by 2050. 

Avoiding airplanes, eating less meat, insulating your home could all make a dent, particularly when broad swathes of societies embrace change, says the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). 

While research often focuses on cutting emissions in the supply of goods and services — energy generation, transport, agriculture, construction — the IPCC has for the first time dedicated a whole chapter of its climate solutions report to the demand that drives these industries. 

“Having the right policies, infrastructure and technology in place to enable changes to our lifestyles and behaviours can result in a 40-70 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050,” said Priyadarshi Shukla co-chair of IPCC working group that produced the 3,000 page report.

But where can “this untapped potential”, as Shukla calls it, be found?

Day-to-day choices

“Avoid, shift, improve” — these are the key ways to curb demand, the report says. 

You can avoid energy-intensive behaviour, switch to low-carbon technologies and improve the efficiency of existing tech. 

In general, there are plenty of opportunities for improvement in the ways people travel from point A to point B. 

You can change an internal combustion engine car to an electric one (“improve”), or even “shift” your daily commute to cycling or walking. 

The biggest potential for avoidance is reducing long-haul flights. If people took fewer long distance flights and took the train where possible, overall aviation emissions could be reduced by 10 to 40 per cent by 2040. 

Meanwhile, increasing energy efficiency in homes and other buildings takes first place in the “improve” category. 

And the most important “shift” you can make is to adopt a plant-based diet. But becoming a vegetarian or even vegan would have less of an emissions impact than cutting out one long-haul flight a year. 

The report also highlights the need to reduce all types of waste, from energy or food for example. 

“Choosing low-carbon options, such as car-free living, plant-based diets without or very little animal products, low-carbon sources of electricity and heating at home as well as local holiday plans,” can reduce an individual’s carbon footprint by up to nine tonnes of CO2 equivalent, says the IPCC. 

Unequal

Most people in the world never take long-haul flights in the first place and do not have access to nutritious food. 

Billions of people have a carbon footprint far below nine tonnes of CO2 equivalent. 

For example, the average carbon footprint per inhabitant in Afghanistan is less than one tonne, according to the report, while in most western developed nations it is well over 10 tonnes. 

And within countries there can also be an enormous split between the lavish energy consumption of the rich and the meagre carbon footprint of poorer people. 

In fact, about half of the world’s emissions can be attributed to the consumption of the richest 10 per cent of the global population, the report said.

At the bottom of the wealth pyramid, the poorest half of the world contributes around 10 per cent of consumption emissions. 

“Wealthy individuals contribute disproportionately to higher emissions and have a high potential for emissions reductions while maintaining decent living standards and well-being,” the report said. 

Beyond behaviour

The responsibility for transforming the world’s energy use and economic system to deal with climate change cannot be borne on the shoulders of individuals alone, the report stresses.

While people can make a difference with their lifestyle choices, the IPCC says transformative change involves more than just individuals’ consumption choices.

There also need to be shifts in culture and social norms, business investment, political drivers from institutions, and changes in infrastructure.

PARIS — Patrice Abela first knew something was wrong when his eldest daughter was learning to walk and her feet left trails of blood behind her, yet she showed no sign of distress.

She was soon diagnosed with congenital insensitivity to pain, an extremely rare and dangerous genetic disorder that dooms sufferers to a lifetime of hurting themselves in ways they cannot feel.

Abela, a 55-year-old software developer in the southern French city of Toulouse, then watched in horror as his youngest daughter was revealed to have the same condition.

Now aged 12 and 13, the two girls spend around three months of every year in hospital. 

“When they take a shower, they perceive hot and cold, but if it burns they don’t feel anything,” the father of four told AFP.

“Due to repeated infections, my eldest daughter lost the first joint of each of her fingers. She also had to have a toe amputated.”

Repeated knee injuries have left both girls only able to move around using crutches or a wheelchair.

Abela said they may not feel physical pain but lamented their intense “psychological pain”.

Aiming to raise awareness about the disease and “challenge the scientific community”, Abela plans to run the equivalent of 90 marathons in fewer than four months. He plans to start on April 12, following the route of this year’s Tour de France from Copenhagen to Paris. 

Danger everywhere

A life without pain might sound like a dream come true but the reality is more like a nightmare.

There are only a few thousand known cases of the condition worldwide. The low number is believed to be partly due to sufferers often not living into adulthood.

“Pain plays a major physiological role in protecting us from the dangers of our environment,” said Didier Bouhassira, a doctor at the centre for pain evaluation and treatment at Ambroise-Pare hospital in Paris.

In the most extreme cases, babies will “mutilate their tongue or fingers while teething”, he told AFP.

Then comes “a lot of accidents, burns, walking on fractured limbs which heal badly”, he added.

“They have to be taught what is innate in others: to protect themselves.”

But when there are no warning signs, danger lurks everywhere.

Appendicitis, which announces itself in others via symptoms like pain and fever, can fester into a devastating general infection of the abdomen.

“Blindness can also occur because the eye must always be kept moist and the nervous system controls these processes via the so-called blink reflex,” said Ingo Kurth of Germany’s Institute of Human Genetics.

New painkiller hopes

Congenital insensitivity to pain (CIP) was first recognised in the 1930s, and numerous studies have since identified a genetic mutation that blocks a person’s ability feel pain.

“We have learned that there are now more than 20 genetic causes of congenital or progressive insensitivity to pain,” Kurth told AFP.

There is no cure and “no real drug breakthroughs have been made so far”, Kurth said.

“But our understanding of the molecular causes of CIP continues to reveal new targets, and based on this, hopefully new therapies will be developed in the coming years.”

There are also hopes that studying how CIP works could lead to the development of a new kind of painkiller, prompting huge interest from pharmaceutical giants seeking a fresh product in the billion-dollar industry of pain relief.

In this way, the unlucky few with CIP could contribute to the creation of a treatment that would help everyone in the world — except themselves.

By Isabelle Tourne and Daniel Lawler
Agence France-Presse