Features

By Rosa Sulleiro and Julien Sengel
Agence France-Presse

BARCELONA/STRASBOURG — David Aguilar was five when he first discovered Lego, entering a world where it didn’t matter he was missing his forearm, and four years later, he built his first prosthesis with it.

Now on the verge of finishing a degree in bioengineering, he dreams of working to help other children who, like him, were born different. 

Aguilar was born without a right forearm as a result of Poland syndrome, a rare disorder which can cause severe abnormalities in the shoulder, arm or hand, but it has not stopped him from living his life. 

Now 22, this Andorran student — who has been obsessed with robots since he was a child — has little free time: Aside from finishing his degree, he gives motivational speeches, has written a book and taken part in an innovation conference run by NASA.

But getting here hasn’t been easy and his face hardens as he recalls the years when building things with Lego was his only refuge from bullying. 

“When I was a teenager, I carried on playing with Lego because it was a way of escaping the bullying, it really helped me ignore all the jibes I had to put up with every day,” he told AFP at his university residence near Barcelona.

During his teens, he set up a YouTube channel calling himself “Hand Solo”, a play on the name of smuggler-pilot hero Han Solo from the early “Star Wars” films. 

Over the years, he fine-tuned his construction skills and by the age of 17, he had managed to create a fully-functioning Lego prosthetic that allowed him to do his first-ever pushups with two arms. 

Since then, he has further refined his technique, proudly showing off his latest version, the MK5, which has a much more sleek robotic look and long pale-blue “fingers” which are activated by muscles operating a motorised pulley.

Long accustomed to life without his forearm, Aguilar doesn’t use a prosthesis every day but he knows that many people do, and that it can cost many thousands of euros for the newest models. 

“Since I made that first prosthesis, I realised that I had the power to help other people. And when I looked in the mirror and saw myself with two arms, I thought that other people really might need that too,” he said. 

Arming an 8-year-old

After he was awarded the Guinness World Record for creating the first functional Lego prosthetic arm in 2017, news about Hand Solo’s wizardry quickly spread. 

Finding his story online earlier this year, Zaure Bektemissova decided to write him an email from her home in northeastern France.

Her son Beknur, she wrote, was eight-years-old and had no arms. The doctors couldn’t make him a normal prosthesis and she was looking for help. 

“Prosthetics are mostly standard, they are big and heavy, so for his spine it was not a good idea,” she told AFP at her home in Strasbourg where the family has lived for two years since her husband took up a diplomatic post at the Kazakhstan consulate. 

Aguilar promised to try and at the end of August, Bektemissova and her son drove 1,300 kilometres to Andorra, a tiny principality in the Pyrenees mountains, sandwiched between Spain and France, to meet him and try out the new prosthesis he’d made. 

Made entirely of Lego, the lightweight device has a pincer-like grabble at the end which Beknur can control with a cord manipulated by his left foot. 

“Now I can grab things with my hand, before I couldn’t,” beams Beknur, throwing a ball to his brother. 

Having that extra bit of independence has really helped, his mum says.

“He can do a lot of things with it so his self-esteem is high now, compared to what was before,” she smiles. 

And the experience has inspired Aguilar.

“If I did it for Beknur, why not for any other boy or girl who’s missing an arm or a leg or a foot?” he says, his eyes alight with ideas. 

NEW YORK — Rapid population growth and global warming are increasing exposure to extreme heat in cities, aggravating health problems and making moving to urban areas less beneficial for the world’s poor, according to a study released on Monday.

The rise is affecting nearly a quarter of the world’s population, said the report published in the “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences”.

In recent decades, hundreds of millions of people have moved from rural areas to cities where temperatures are generally higher because of surfaces such as asphalt which trap heat and a lack of vegetation.

Scientists studied the maximum daily heat and humidity in more than 13,000 cities from 1983 to 2016.

Using the so-called “wet-bulb globe temperature” scale, a measure that takes into account heat and humidity, they defined extreme heat as 30ºC.

The researchers then compared weather data with statistics on the cities’ population over the same 33-year period.

They calculated the number of days of extreme heat in a particular year by the population of the city that year to come up with a definition called person-days.

The authors found that the number of person-days in which city dwellers were exposed went from 40 billion per year in 1983 to 119 billion in 2016.

Cascade Tuholske at Columbia University’s Earth Institute, a lead author of the study, said the rise “increases morbidity and mortality”. 

“It impacts people’s ability to work, and results in lower economic output. It exacerbates pre-existing health conditions,” he said in a statement.

Population growth accounted for two-thirds of the exposure spike, with actual warming temperatures contributing a third, although proportions varied from city to city, they wrote.

Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka was the worst-affected city, seeing an increase of 575 million person-days of extreme heat over the study period.

That was largely attributable to its population soaring from around four million in 1983 to around 22 million today.

Other big cities to show similar trends were Shanghai, Guangzhou, Yangon, Dubai, Hanoi and Khartoum as well as various cities in Pakistan, India and the Arabian Peninsula.

Major cities that saw around half of their exposure causing by a warming climate included Baghdad, Cairo, Kuwait City, Lagos, Kolkata and Mumbai.

The authors said the patterns they found in Africa and South Asia, “may crucially limit the urban poor’s ability to realise the economic gains associated with urbanisation”.

They added that “sufficient investment, humanitarian intervention, and government support” would be needed to counteract the negative impact.

In the United States, some forty major cities saw exposure grow “rapidly”, mainly in the Gulf Coast states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.

The study was carried out by researchers at New York’s Columbia, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, the University of Arizona at Tuscon and the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Introduced for the 2020 model year, the Jeep Gladiator marks the iconic American brand’s long-awaited return to the pick-up market since the Comanche’s 2001 retirement. Resurrecting Jeep’ 1962-88 pick-up nameplate, the modern Gladiator is in effect a double cab mid-size pick-up version of the latest JL-series incarnation of Jeep’s defining Wrangler SUV. 

Capable as a work truck but more of a lifestyle vehicle for most, the Gladiator is, however, at its best in Rubicon specification — as driven — where several off-road oriented hardware upgrades raise its game far above that of a run-of-the-mill workhorse.

Practical proportions

A thoroughbred with extensive off-road equipment and mod cons including a removable roof unique among pick-ups, it is hard to pin down a direct competitor to the Gladiator Rubicon. Somewhat comparable to much pricier off-roaders like the Land Rover Defender or lifestyle-oriented off-road pick-ups like the Ford Ranger Wildtrak, the Gladiator Rubicon’s closest competitor is, however, its own 4-door Wrangler Rubicon SUV sister. Near identical in most deign, capability and practicality considerations, the Gladiator is, however, the significantly more attainable of the two, by virtue of its pick-up body and relevant local duty classifications.

Virtually unchanged from detachable front bumper to C-pillar, the Gladiator shares the same utilitarian, upright and traditional Jeep design cues as the 4-door Wrangler, from iconic bonnet and wheel-arches and 7-slot grille to flat panels and exposed hinges.

Immediately recognisable as a Wrangler relation, but with a 1,000-litre cargo bed at the rear instead, the Gladiator is, however, significantly longer at 5,539mm. Longer than the Wrangler 4-door by 657mm, the Gladiator is more aesthetically proportioned, with its 178mm longer rear overhang better complementing a 479mm longer wheelbase and unchanged, exceptionally short front overhang.

Eager and responsive

Powered by Jeep’s familiar but excellent naturally-aspirated 3.6-litre V6 Pentastar engine — as available in Jordan — the Gladiator Rubicon develops 281BHP at 6,400rpm and 260lb/ft torque at 4,400rpm, and is estimated to be capable of approximate 9-second 0-100km/h acceleration and around 160km/h maximum. High revving, the Gladiator’s engine is smooth and eager to its 6,600rpm limit, and provides great throttle control to feed in exact power increments. Eager and progressive, the Pentastar’s delivery nevertheless also proves responsive from idling and through mid-range, with much of its torque broadly available across the rev range. 

Carrying is hefty 2,301kg mass with unexpected verve and versatility throughout a wide range of engine speeds and driving conditions and inclines, the Gladiator’s intuitively tuned 8-speed automatic gearbox deserves much recognition for unfailingly delivering the right gear for the right moment, which even makes use of manual mode shifting redundant for most circumstances. Driving the rear wheels for best fuel efficiency of around 12.4l/100km, combined, the Gladiator Rubicon’s transfer case however features a 4WD Auto mode, which allows for extensive off-road use and additional traction on tarmac when necessary.

Off-road hero

Dispatching most off-road situations easily in 4WD Auto mode, the Gladiator Rubicon also features lockable high and low range 4WD for more demanding situations, in addition to lockable rear and front axles, to maintain traction in extreme circumstances. Built using rugged body-on-frame construction and riding on tough front and rear live-axles with coil spring suspension for good axle articulation, the Gladiator Rubicon also receives chunky high profile off-road tyres and Fox dampers with hydraulic rebound stops for demanding off-road work. Disconnecting anti-roll bars meanwhile significantly improve wheel articulation and comfort off-road.

As close to unstoppable as regular production vehicles get, the Gladiator Rubicon is truly effortless off-road, with talents far exceeding most drivers’ needs or nerves. A very short front overhang allows for an excellent 43.4° approach angle, and with good front visibility and front camera, the Gladiator Rubicon is easy to place on road. Providing generous 283mm ground clearance, the Gladiator Rubicon enjoys good 20.3° break-over and 26° departure angles despite is significant length, which however slightly reduces manoeuvrability in some narrow trails compared to 4-door and especially nimble 2-door Wrangler versions.

Unexpected abilities

Great off-road as expected, the Gladiator Rubicon, however, proved much more dynamically adept than expected given its length, weight, height and off-road oriented chassis and knobbled tyres. Turning in, the Gladiator seems like it is building up to understeer into sharp corners, but instead grips hard and with some agility due to its engine being positioned far back. Leaning less than expected through corners, the Gladiator offers comparably good body control and near ideal weight balance. Meanwhile, coming back on throttle early, one can even induce slight but progressively telegraphed and easily controlled tail slides.

Unlikely rewarding on-road, the Gladiator Rubicon delivered surprisingly good but safe fun, with its busy steering offering better than expected road feel, while an un-intrusive stability control system allowed a more fluent driving experience. Reassuringly good in braking, the Gladiator Rubicon’s ride quality is slightly busier than more car-like vehicles. However, it is more settled, refined and stable than many pick-ups and some other SUVs. Ride quality is forgivingly comfortable in most circumstances, but slightly firm over sudden harp cracks and bumps. Stable at peed, wind noise is however more evident inside.

Comfortable and convertible

Pleasantly honest and rugged inside in build, materials and styling, the Gladiator Rubicon’s cabin comfortably seats five, and is notable for good rear headroom, which makes up for short rear door width. In front, the Gladiator’s tapered bonnet reduces outer footwells, but this is compensated for with the use of a comparably slim centre console. Driving position is comfortable and supportive for long hours, if not the most highly adjustable there is. Side and rear visibility is meanwhile ably aided by big mirrors, blind spot and rear crosspath warnings, and reversing camera and sensors.

Stylised in design, the Gladiator Rubicon cabin features intuitive off-road and other controls and buttons, separate gearbox and transfer case levers, and an upright dashboard with user-friendly Uconnect infotainment system with off-road gauges. Refined inside for the most part, the well-packaged boxy body is, however, highly versatile, and allows for a unique safari-like roll cage surrounded alfresco driving experience, with easily detachable roof panels and doors and flat fold-down windscreen, using a simple toolkit. Detached bolts are stored in a specific compartment in the rear under-seat storage compartment.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 3.6-litre, in-line, V6-cylinders

Bore x Stroke: 96 x 83mm

Compression ratio: 11.3:1

Valve-train: DOHC, 24-valve, variable timing

Maximum engine speed: 6,600rpm

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

Driveline: Low ratio transfer, locking front, centre and rear differentials

Gear ratios: 1st 4.71:1; 2nd 3.13:1; 3rd 2.1:1; 4th 1.67:1; 5th 1.28:1; 6th 1:1; 7th 0.84:1; 8th 0.67:1

Reverse/final drive/low ratio transfer: 3.3:1/4.1:1/4:1

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 281 (285) [209] @6,400rpm

Specific power: 77.9BHP/litre

Power-to-weight: 122.1BHP/tonne

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 260 (353) @4,400rpm

Specific torque: 97.9Nm/litre

Torque-to-weight: 153.4Nm/tonne

0-100km/h: approximately 9-seconds (estimate)

Top speed: approximately 160km/h (estimate)

Fuel consumption, city/highway/combined; 13.8-/10.7-/12.4-litres/100km

Fuel capacity: 83-liters

Steering: Power-assisted rack & pinion

Steering ratio: 13.3:1

Lock-to-lock: 3.24-turns

Turning circle: 13.65-metres

Suspension: Solid axles, coil springs, Fox gas-charged dampers with hydraulic rebound stops, electronically disconnecting anti-roll bars

Brakes, F/R: Ventilated disc, 330 x 28mm/disc, 345 x 22mm

Brake calipers, F/R: twin-/single-piston

Tyres: LT255/75R17

Price, on-the-road: Starting from (Sport)/as driven (Rubicon): JD 40,000/JD58,000 (without insurance)

By Christeen Haddadin
Certified Money Coach

For some, investing is no different than gambling: Market uncertainties, steep fluctuations, perhaps some easy wins but significant losses too! There are three types of people in the stock market to be aware of. 

Investors

Investors usually buy assets that can be traded in the long run and do not worry about market noise and price fluctuations due to economic or political circumstances. They would rather focus on the fundamentals of the companies they are buying into. As long as the company is growing its market share and increasing its sales, they are happy to keep that investment in their portfolio, believing that long term value and growth will be created over time.

Traders

Traders have experience in the stock market and might adopt “buy low, sell high” strategies. They look beyond fundamentals into technical analysis of the stock movement and future patterns.

Traders have the experience and skill to use technical indicators to decide on good entry and exit points for a particular share, especially when combined with company and related sector news and updates, such as financial and operational announcements or sector-related innovations or regulations. What traders do is minimise the risk of investing.

Speculative traders

Very different from traders who mitigate risk, speculative traders seek risk. They bid on risks and follow market hypes. Speculative investors might get lucky a couple of times and cash in big wins, but they are also more prone to considerable losses. 

Speculative trading means venturing into “under the spotlight” shares, which makes it interesting, exciting and holds the promise of quick riches as speculative returns are highly lucrative, but remember, the higher the reward, the higher the risk of losing your money.

What kind of investor should you be?

If you are not very familiar with the stock market and are looking for your money to grow slowly and steadily over the years, be an investor. Build the financial knowledge you need, explore your investment goals and risk appetite and find a long-term investment plan that suits your needs.

If you have the time, interest and mindset to trade (and, of course, the skill to trade), and are willing to take calculated risks for short to medium-term returns, you can be a trader.

However, if you have extra money that you are willing to part with and take a big risk on a substantial return, you can try your hand at being a speculative investor.

No matter what type of investor you are, having a clear investment strategy built on your risk tolerance, investment timeframe and at least a fundamental understanding of what you wish to invest in, puts you in a better position to build a portfolio that could grow over the years and fund your FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) goal. 

Reprinted with permission from Family Flavours magazine

By Sara Hussein
Agence France-Presse

TOKYO — Humans can probably live to at least 130, and possibly well beyond, though the chances of reaching such super old age remain vanishingly small, according to new research.

The outer limit of the human lifespan has long been hotly debated, with recent studies making the case we could live up to 150 years, or arguing that there is no maximum theoretical age for humans.

The new research, recently published in the Royal Society Open Science journal, wades into the debate by analysing new data on super centenarians — people aged 110 or more — and semi-super centenarians, aged 105 or more.

While the risk of death generally increases throughout our lifetime, the researchers’ analysis shows that risk eventually plateaus and remains constant at approximately 50-50.

“Beyond age 110 one can think of living another year as being almost like flipping a fair coin,” said Anthony Davison, a professor of statistics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, who led the research.

“If it comes up heads, then you live to your next birthday, and if not, then you will die at some point within the next year,” he told AFP.

Based on the data available so far, it seems likely that humans can live until at least 130, but extrapolating from the findings “would imply that there is no limit to the human lifespan”, the research concludes.

The conclusions match similar statistical analyses done on datasets of the very elderly.

“But this study strengthens those conclusions and makes them more precise because more data are now available,” Davison said.

The first dataset the team studied is newly released material from the International Database on Longevity, which covers more than 1,100 super centenarians from 13 countries.

The second is from Italy on every person who was at least 105 between January 2009 and December 2015.

 ‘One in a million’

The work involves extrapolating from existing data, but Davison said that was a logical approach.

“Any study of extreme old age, whether statistical or biological, will involve extrapolation,” he said.

“We were able to show that if a limit below 130 years exists, we should have been able to detect it by now using the data now available,” he added.

Still, just because humans can theoretically reach 130 or beyond, doesn’t mean we’re likely to see it anytime soon.

For a start, the analysis is based on people who have already achieved the relatively rare feat of making it to well over 100.

And even at age 110, your chances of making it to 130 are “about one in a million... not impossible but very unlikely”, said Davison.

He thinks we could see people reaching 130 within the century, as more people make it to super centenarian status, increasing the chances of one becoming that one in a million.

“But in the absence of major medical and social advances, ages much over this are highly unlikely ever to be observed,” he added.

For now, the oldest person on record is Frenchwoman Jeanne Calment, who died in 1997 at the confirmed age of 122.

Her true age was the subject of some controversy, with claims of a possible fraud, but in 2019 several experts said a review of the evidence confirmed her age.

Other pretenders to the throne of oldest person ever have a long way to go. The oldest verified living person in the world is Japan’s Kane Tanaka, a comparatively youthful 118.

LOS ANGELES — Britney Spears' father was removed from his controversial role as his daughter's guardian on Wednesday by a Los Angeles judge, ending a long and bitter legal battle by the pop princess.

Jamie Spears was suspended with immediate effect and replaced with a temporary conservator "in the best interests" of the singer, said Judge Brenda Penny, calling the present arrangement "untenable."

"Mr Spears is ordered to turn over all the conservatorship assets," said Penny.

Spears' father has controlled her life for the past 13 years, under a legal arrangement the 39-year-old US singer has slammed as "abusive."

Wednesday's move came after a years-long campaign that played out in public, and after the emergence in the last week of two new powerful documentaries featuring allegations that Jamie Spears had bugged his daughter's phone calls.

Spears' lawyer Mathew Rosengart described her father as a "cruel, toxic and abusive man."

"Britney deserves to wake up tomorrow without her father as her conservator," Rosengart said. "It is what my client wants, it is what my client needs, it is what my client deserves."

Dozens of supporters gathered outside the courtroom cheered and wept as news of the ruling emerged.

Spears' fiance Sam Asghari took to Instagram to post "FREE BRITNEY! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!" along with a photo of what appeared to be him handing the singer a rose.

In their motion filed this week, Spears' lawyers said: "Every day that goes by with him as conservator — every day and every hour — is one in which he causes his daughter anguish and pain."

'Kafka-esque nightmare'

Those claims were seemingly bolstered by a New York Times documentary released Friday that alleged Jamie Spears had surveillance devices secretly installed in his daughter's bedroom to record her conversations.

"It really reminded me of somebody that was in prison," a former security firm employee told the "Controlling Britney Spears" filmmakers.

The pop star's lawyers said the Times' allegations about her father showed "horrifying and unconscionable invasions of his adult daughter's privacy."

Jamie Spears denies any illegal surveillance took place.

Another new documentary — Netflix's "Britney vs Spears," released on Tuesday — claims the singer twice tried to hire her own lawyer in the early years of the conservatorship, but was denied.

In July, Spears was finally successful in appointing her own lawyer — Rosengart — and last month, her father filed a petition for the conservatorship to be ended.

The judge appointed accountant John Zabel as a temporary conservator of Spears' estate, in an arrangement she said can last until the end of the year.

Jamie Spears' lawyers repeatedly objected to his suspension, disputing the Times' allegations and questioning the veracity of his daughter's testimony that the conservatorship amounted to "abuse."

"There is not a shred of evidence to support suspension," said Vivian Thoreen, via video call.

Jamie Spears' 13-year record as guardian had been "impeccable" and he should not be temporarily replaced but instead the entire guardianship should be terminated immediately, they argued.

Rosengart insisted that this was simply a tactic and said Jamie Spears was afraid he would have to turn over "evidence of his corruption and worse."

Jamie Spears' immediate suspension is "what my client Britney Spears — who has been abused by this man not only for the past decade but since her childhood — wants and deserves," said Rosengart.

"Please hear the plea of my client" to "end this Kafka-esque nightmare," he added.

'Never fit to serve'

Spears' representatives and fans have long accused her father of profiting from the guardianship, which was set up after a highly public 2007 breakdown when the shaven-headed star attacked a paparazzo's car at a gas station.

The lawyers have said her father was "never fit to serve," citing in their petition allegations of his "reported alcoholism" and "trauma he caused his daughter since her childhood."

A hearing expected to formally dissolve the conservatorship will be held on November 12.