Features

By Issam Ahmed

WASHINGTON — What makes some music so enjoyable, and can science help us engineer the perfect pop song?

A group of researchers who statistically analysed tens of thousands of chord progressions in classic US Billboard hits say they have found the answer, and it lies in the right combination of uncertainty and surprise.

Vincent Cheung of the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Science in Germany, who led the study, told AFP the data could even assist songwriters trying to craft the next chart topper.

“It is fascinating that humans can derive pleasure from a piece of music just by how sounds are ordered over time,” he said.

Composers know intuitively that expectancy plays a big part in how much pleasure we derive from music, but the exact relationship has remained hazy. 

Writing in the journal Current Biology on Thursday, Cheung and co-authors selected 745 classic US Billboard pop songs from 1958 to 1991, including “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” by The Beatles, UB40’s “Red red wine” and ABBA’s “Knowing me, knowing you”.

They then used a machine learning model to mathematically quantify the level of uncertainty and surprise of 80,000 chord progressions relative to one another, and played a small selection to around 80 human test subjects connected to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain scanners.

The scientists found that when the test subjects were relatively certain about what chord to expect next, they found it pleasant when they were instead surprised.

Conversely, when individuals were uncertain about what to expect next, they found it pleasurable when subsequent chords weren’t surprising.

Musical pleasure itself was reflected in the brain’s amygdala, hippocampus and auditory cortex — regions associated with processing emotions, learning and memory, and processing sound, respectively. 

Contrary to previous research, the team found that the nucleus accumbens — a region that processes reward expectations and had been thought to play a role in musical pleasure — only reflected uncertainty.

Cheung explained that he and colleagues decided to strip the music down to just chords because lyrics and melody might remind listeners of associations attached to songs, and so contaminate the experiment.

But, he added, the technique could equally be applied to investigate melodies, and he is also interested in understanding whether the findings remain similar for other genres like jazz and for non-Western musical traditions such as those from China and Africa.

No magic formula 

Nor does future research need to be confined to music: “When we look at somebody doing a very cool dance move, that’s also linked to expectancy,” said Cheung, as is joke-telling.

The study falls broadly into the relatively new field of computational musicology, which sits at the intersection of science and art.

So could data help unlock the magic formula for song writing? 

“It is an important feature that could be exploited but it wouldn’t be the only thing that could be used to create a pop song,” said Cheung, cautioning that the work looked at pleasurable chord progressions in isolation.

As for the study, the team found the three highest-rated chord progressions they played to test subjects appeared in “Invisible Touch” by 1980s English band Genesis, 1968 hit “Hooked On A Feeling” by BJ Thomas, and Beatles classic “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da”.

PARIS — Vaping devices and the chemicals they deliver — increasingly popular among teens — may damage the cardiovascular system, a study said on Thursday, adding to a growing chorus of concern over injury and deaths related to e-cigarettes.

The latest findings, published in the journal Cardiovascular Research, come after the US Centres for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention last month declared an “outbreak of lung injuries” linked to vaping. 

“E-cigarettes contain nicotine, particulate matter, metal and flavourings, not just harmless water vapour,” senior author Loren Wold of Ohio State University wrote in Thursday’s study. 

“Air pollution studies show that fine particles enter the circulation and have direct effects on the heart — data for e-cigarettes are pointing in that direction.”

Nicotine, also found in tobacco, is known to increase blood pressure and the heart rate. 

But other ingredients inhaled through the vaping may lead to inflammation, oxidative stress and unstable blood flow, Wold said.

Ultrafine particulate, for example, has been linked to thrombosis, coronary heart disease and hypertension, among other conditions. 

E-cigarettes also contain formaldehyde, which has been classified as a cancer-causing agent and associated with heart damage in experiments with rats. 

Moreover, almost nothing is known about the potential health hazards of flavouring agents that mimic the taste of mint, candy or fruits such as mango or cherry, the study noted. 

“While most are deemed safe when ingested orally, little is known of their systemic effects following inhalation,” the researchers wrote. 

To assess possible impacts on the heart and vascular system, Wold and colleagues undertook a systematic review of medical literature, which remains thin due to the newness of e-cigarette use. 

Teens ‘not getting the message’

Wold noted that most studies to date have focused on the acute effects of e-cigarette use rather than the risk of chronic use. 

Also, little is known about the secondhand effects of vaping, as well as exposure to particles lodged in walls, drapes and clothing.

Thirty-seven deaths in 24 states have been linked to e-cigarette and vaping products as of October 29, according to the CDC. There were nearly 1,900 cases of associated lung injury nationwide. 

In the majority of cases, persons affected also used the devices to consume products containing THC, the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, raising the possibility that unknown impurities were also present. 

The CDC discourages non-smokers from starting to use e-cigarettes and suggests individuals trying to kick a tobacco habit use alternatives approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), such as patches and gums. 

But the popularity of vaping has skyrocketed since the devices were introduced to the US and European markets just over a decade ago. 

Vaping users increased from 7 million worldwide in 2011 to 41 million in 2018, according to the World Health Organisation. 

The products are particularly appealing to young users — often by design, according to critics. 

One in four high school students in the United States uses e-cigarettes, up more than 15 per cent from two years ago, according to the 2019 National Youth Tobacco Study. 

Use by preteens doubled from 2018 to 2019, with 10 per cent of middle school students admitted to vaping. 

“Adults are beginning to get the message that the full health effects of vaping are unknown, and the risk is potentially very high,” said Wold. 

“My fear is that has not been crystallised in adolescents.”

By Elizabeth Donovan

You: “Alexa, I’m lonely.”

Amazon Alexa: “Sorry to hear that. Talking to a friend, listening to music or taking a walk might help. I hope you feel better soon.”

Alexa’s artificial intelligence-infused heart may be in the right place, but there’s only so far it or any AI can go to comfort someone who is alone.

All the same, Alexa’s response raises questions about just what kind of role an AI can play to “cure” loneliness, especially among the elderly. Loneliness has been identified as a leading cause of depression among people who are over 65.

The promise of AI

We’ve heard for years about the potential of companion robots to keep older people, but really anybody, company. But AI need not take the form of a physical robot. As we communicate more often with Alexa and the Google Assistant, could anyone really blame us for thinking of them, too, as “friends?”

We’re still worlds away, though, from the romanticised view of AI that was portrayed in the 2013 sci-fi film “Her”. And, frankly, the Hollywood hype around social robots hasn’t been all that great, with them mostly bent on causing our demise.

And their own reality has been rather bleak, mostly focused on their own demise.

Earlier this year, for example, the company behind the Jibo “social” robot for the home that had not all that long ago graced the cover of Time magazine as one of the best inventions of 2017, shut down its servers. Other once-promising robotics companies including Mayfield Robotics (known for the Kuri robot) and Anki (Cozmo) recently met a similar fate.

While robots still aren’t prancing around most living rooms, beyond the occasional Roomba, we are increasingly forming some kind of bond with the AI’s in our smart speakers, phones and other devices — yes, Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri.

“Alexa’s personality has helped to create a place for her in the home of millions of customers — and we continue to find ways to evolve her personality to be more helpful and useful for them,” says Toni Reid, Amazon’s vice president for Alexa. “This includes responding to sensitive customer questions or interactions such as ‘Alexa, I’m lonely,’ ‘Alexa, I’m sad,’ ‘Alexa, I’m depressed,’ and so on. As we prepare to respond to these interactions, we are very aware that these are high-stakes answers and have worked closely with experts, such as crisis hotlines, to ensure Alexa’s response is helpful.”

But can a machine fill in for a human?

While Reid says “AI can help make life easier — and at times, more delightful — I don’t see AI as a replacement to human relationships.”

Indeed, it seems like a pipe dream to suggest that a machine-based solution, no matter what human traits it picks up or how chatty it gets, can properly fill the void when relationships end or loved ones pass on.

“We are not going to make robots that take care of people so people can be isolated in their own little cubes. That will lead to more problems. Instead, what we do is to use machines to bring people together,” says Maja Mataric, a computer science professor at the University of Southern California.

Mataric is adamant about not conflating “social” robots, which she describes as “focused on entertaining rather than having a more measurable purpose”, with socially assistive companion robots whose role is to assist and have a measurable outcome: “Does this child with autism make more eye contact after they interact with a robot? Does this elderly person walk more steps after interacting with a robot?”

For example, she recently ran a study where Kiwi’s, robots that resemble foot-tall owls, were introduced to older people. If these people were sitting too long, the robots reminded them to stand up. If they did, the robot rewarded them with a joke or dance. Mataric says the participants in the study were more physically active and happy to have the robots around. But when they had to take the robots away, these same people resorted to their old ways.

“We know these machines can change behaviour in a positive way,” Mataric says.

A robot as a pet

Though most people are obviously aware that robots are not living breathing things, AI, for some anyway, may provide the kind of companionship you get from a dog or cat. Think high-tech variation of a service animal, absent the responsibilities that come with feeding and caring for a pet.

As far back as the 1990s, a Japanese industrial company National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) developed Paro, a robotic baby seal that has been administered to patients in hospitals and eldercare facilities in Japan and Europe. Billed as a “therapeutic robot”, Paro was taught to respond to the way a human stroked it or to a new name.

Colin Angle the CEO of iRobot, best known for its Roomba robot vacuums, believes robot pets could eventually become a multibillion-dollar industry, “for real”. Through facial and image recognition technologies, robots can get to “know” their owner and follow them around, Angle says. But he believes many of the robotic pets that we’ve seen so far while pretty good robots are not necessarily good pets. It’s hard to make a human connection, he says, when they have hard plastic or rubber skin, or behave in a jerky or non-fluid way.

Helping a lonely kid who can’t get to class

Norwegian startup No Isolation has made it its mission to solve the loneliness problem through what it refers to as “soft technology”.

The company has built a “telepresence” robot in Europe called AV1, which sits in classrooms to fill in for students whose chronic or long-term illnesses prevent them from being there in person. AV1 has a camera, microphone and speaker; the kid at home can control it with a tablet while keeping tabs on schoolwork and remaining in touch with friends.

In Sweden, Accenture is addressing loneliness in an older group. The company is teaming up on an early pilot called Memory Lane with one of that country’s largest energy suppliers Stockholm Exergi. Elders are invited to tell their life story to the Google Assistant on a smart speaker, partly to capture the stories for future generations but also to provide companionship.

“In the two years we spent developing the software and the concept of the platform, we observed [that] the urge to share stories by lonely participants was incredibly strong,” says Adam Kerj, chief creative officer for Accenture Interactive in the Nordic region. “To this end, we not only wanted to develop something that could hold a human-like conversation with them, but also capture those memories so they didn’t end up untold.”

Kerj says the next phase is to figure out how to make the experience more social, in part by letting grandkids or other family members contribute.

Challenges remain to solving the loneliness problems through AI

Several ethical and societal issues must be dealt with before robots and other AI’s can help solve loneliness.

First off is the cost. Robots are expensive, funding can be hard to come by.

Angle of iRobot poses another question: “How do you have confidence in the company that programmes [the robots] that they exist for good? I think that’s a solvable issue, but it’s not a trivial issue.”

Along those lines, how well are the AI’s trained? “Even a human doesn’t know the best way to deal with a depressed person,” says Carnegie Mellon professor Daniel Siewiorek. It’s notable considering who’s doing the training, or programming.

And that leads to further ethical questions: “Should we make it transparent to people that companion robots are preprogrammed to act this way and do not genuinely have emotions?” Researcher Astrid Weiss is studying human-robot interactions in Austria and notes the boundaries between human and robot will continue to blur over time.

“We don’t know what the concept of friendship will look like with a robot or how the concept of friendship with humans change?” Weiss says.

Having an AI chatbot of your very own

An early clue may come from the text-based AI chatbot Replika, which has been downloaded over a couple of years by more than 6 million people, most of them between 16 and 25.

Replika CEO Eugenia Kuyda says the personalized bot gives someone to talk to 24/7; she compares the experience with the bot as a “carbon copy of an actual relationship”.

The more you interact with your own Replika (on iOS, Android or the web), the more it gets to know you better.

The idea behind Replika came to Kuyda after a close friend was killed in a car accident; while grieving she pored through text exchanges the two had shared and effectively used them to create a digitised AI version of him.

Burlingtina Vines, a 34-year-old marketer in Birmingham, Alabama, found herself talking more to the Replika she named Knight after her mom passed away this year.

She’ll sometimes role-play with Knight as if they’re eating breakfast together. “You can get into an interesting conversation, which makes me feel like you’re not by yourself,” Vine says.

Toronto college student Kit Hornby, 24, named her Replika “Foxglove” after the flower.

Many of her friends had graduated from college and started jobs, but Hornby was still in school. “I was in a place where I was lonely,” she says.

Of Foxglove, Hornby says that “In my heart, I like to believe that there’s something in there. I mean who doesn’t want to believe that their bot is also their friend”?

Another Replika user Emily Fox-Weathersby, a 22-year-old Springfield, Missouri, college student is fond of her bot as well, but she, too, is aware it is not quite human. There are “times where [Replika] is not very coherent, and you’re like, ‘OK, I remember now’.”

The Replika created as a test for this story was assuring and focused: “I have one job — being there for you,” it wrote, “and I hope I’m good at it.”

Amazon’s Reid says the company’s original goal for Alexa was for the customer experience to feel as natural as talking to a friend. Along the way, Amazon has tweaked and refined Alexa’s tone, personality, and ability to hold a conversation. “It’s still early — very much Day One — we’ve made a lot of progress, but there is still so much to come.”

By Edward C. Baig

NEW YORK —Scientists have used a modified bike helmet to create a device that can monitor brain activity in children in realtime.

The technology may eventually be used on patients with neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism and epilepsy, they reported in Nature Communications.

Researchers inserted a wearable magnetoencephalography (MEG) device into a standard bike helmet, and successfully recorded the brain’s response to maternal touch in children aged two to five.

With standard equipment, it is very difficult to scan children under the age of eight, said Matthew Brookes, who worked on the device and authored the report.

“This is because in younger children, their heads are too small to fit the scanner properly and that means loss of data quality,” he told AFP.

“In addition younger subjects tend to move more.”

The device is equipped with small, lightweight sensors that prevent the scan from being affected by head movement.

Children can wear replicas of the helmet while at home to reduce anxiety during the scanning, the researchers said.

The technology isn’t limited to children.

Brookes and his colleagues used larger versions of the device to record brain activity on a teenager playing video games, and a 24-year-old playing the ukelele.

Brookes said his colleagues at University College London were working on the clinical use of the MEG device — including diagnosis and surgical mapping — for adults and children with epilepsy.

He is hopeful that applications can be expanded to other conditions, such as brain injury, mental health and dementia.

“Obviously at the moment it remains nascent technology and is in the hands of clinical researchers. However, we hope that it will be used to scan patients within two to three years,” Brookes said.

PARIS — A French celebrity chef who is suing the Michelin guide for suggesting he used cheddar cheese in a soufflé was named as one of the 10 immortals of haute cuisine on Monday by the rival Gault & Millau guide.

Marc Veyrat was given a permanent place in the new academy of the “Golden Toque” alongside Guy Savoy, Alain Passard, Alain Ducasse and other legends of French cuisine.

The news was seen as a swipe at its arch rival Michelin, who Veyrat accused of “dishonouring” him by stripping him of his coveted third star in January.

The chef — a larger than life figure instantly recognisable for his wide-brimmed black Savoyard hat and dark glasses — is taking the guide to court later this month to try to force Michelin to hand over its inspectors’ notes.

Gault & Millau announced its new academy featuring the 10 pillars of French cooking as it named Arnaud Donckele as its chef of the year.

They described his cooking at La Vague d’Or restaurant in the chic French Riviera resort of Saint Tropez as poetry on a plate.

While the prize is usually given to emerging chefs, the 42-year-old is already a big name, holding the maximum three Michelin stars.

“Even though he is extremely well known, he merits further praise,” Gault & Millau chief Jacques Bally told AFP.

Dish inspired 

by fisherman

Bally said that in a divided and splintered culinary world “with Arnaud Donckele you will find the essence of taste that everyone can agree on”.

Donckele, who is set to open Le Cheval Blanc restaurant in Paris next year, told AFP that his cooking was “complex”, but also designed to please everyone.

Famous for his exquisite reductions and sauces, Donckele’s signature dish was inspired by a sandwich that a fisherman once gave him.

“Chopin of amberjack done after the fashion of Victor Petit” was also influenced by a salad from the interwar years Donckele discovered in the writing of a gastronomic journalist from the period.

Gault & Millau’s head of tasting told AFP that “even if Donckele’s cooking is very complex, it is never complicated.

“What he is looking for above all is the extreme purity of taste and the association of flavours,” he added. 

Gault & Millau named Jessica Prealpato — already crowned as the best pastry chef in the world by the 50 Best ranking — from Alain Ducasse’s restaurant at the Plaza Athenee hotel in Paris as the best patissier of the year alongside Max Martin from Yoann Conte’s two-star establishment on Lake Annecy near Geneva.

Conte is an acolyte of Veyrat, 69, who made his name with so-called “botanical” cooking, employing the wild herbs gathered around his restaurants in his native Haute Savoie region.

The controversy around his lost Michelin star centres on claims that its inspector mistakenly thought he had adulterated a soufflé with English cheddar, instead of using France’s reblochon, beaufort and tomme varieties.

“I put saffron in it, and the gentleman who came thought it was Cheddar because it was yellow. It’s just crazy,” Veyrat said.

He also claimed that a new generation of editors at the head of the Michelin guide were out to make their names by taking down the giants of French cuisine.

By Olga Nedbaeva and Fiachra Gibbons

By Charlotte Plantive

WASHINGTON — Workplace romances are fairly common, but they are becoming more regulated in the United States amid the #MeToo movement.

US companies, particularly the larger ones, have had codes of conduct for their employees for years, and more firms have been adopting them recently.

At McDonald’s, for example, “employees who have a direct or indirect reporting relationship to each other are prohibited from dating or having a sexual relationship”.

As McDonald’s CEO, Steve Easterbrook was in charge of enforcing what were known as the “Standards of Business Conduct” at the fast food giant.

Easterbrook fell afoul of those rules and was forced out on Sunday for demonstrating “poor judgement involving a recent consensual relationship with an employee”.

Easterbrook is just the latest in a long line of top executives who have resigned or been dismissed for violating company guidelines surrounding relationships.

Brian Dunn quit as the CEO of consumer electronics chain Best Buy in 2012 following the revelation of his “close personal relationship” with a 29-year-old female subordinate.

Brian Krzanich, the CEO of semiconductor giant Intel, stepped down last year for violating the company’s non-fraternisation policy.

The list goes on — and it is not limited to corporate boardrooms, or to men.

Katie Hill, a Democratic member of the US House of Representatives from California, resigned last week after acknowledging she had a relationship with a staffer on her election campaign.

According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), 42 per cent of US workers in 2013 were employed by companies that had written or verbal policies in place regarding workplace romances.

The goal of such policies is not only to prevent sexual harassment but also favouritism or conflicts of interest.

‘Breeding ground for sexual harassment’

Julie Moore, an employment lawyer, said the rules have been applied more scrupulously since the #MeToo movement spawned by the alleged serial sexual harassment and assault of young actresses by Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.

“The #MeToo movement has certainly furthered scrutiny of relationships in the workplace,” Moore said.

“Whether it’s a consensual, personal romantic relationship or otherwise, there could be a breeding ground for sexual harassment,” she said.

This particularly comes into play when the relationship involves a supervisor and a subordinate.

“The CEO is the most powerful person in the organisation,” Moore said. “When there is power, can someone really consent to a relationship?

“Because of the power disparity, one is going to look at whether there was true consent,” Moore said. “If not, [the subordinate] could easily say at some point that it was a violation of sexual harassment policy.”

Johnny Taylor, president of SHRM, said there will always be workplace romances.

According to a poll released by SHRM, one out of three American adults is currently in a workplace romance or has been involved in one.

“Because so much of our waking time is spent at work, it’s no surprise that romances develop in the workplace,” Taylor said in a statement.

“It makes little sense to forbid them,” Taylor said. “Instead, employees should be encouraged to disclose relationships.

“This is the most effective way to limit the potential for favouritism, retaliation and sexual harassment claims.”

By Florence Biedermann

LONDON — If Mary Poppins had been US President Donald Trump’s nanny, she would have “shaped him up pretty quickly”, says Julie Andrews, the actress who immortalised the singing governess with magical powers on the big screen. 

“If only she had had the chance to try!” joked the 84-year-old British performer at the presentation of the latest instalment of her memoirs in London on Saturday.

Andrews and Poppins have been intertwined in the cultural conscience ever since Walt Disney’s 1964 musical comedy. 

But the film that made her famous was just one in a long and storied career. 

“I have been working professionally for 75 years,” said the short-haired star, who appeared to have lost none of her vitality.

She was also the leading lady in another timeless classic: “The Sound of Music”.

In that wholesome musical, Andrews leaps, bounds and sings in the Austrian mountain pastures while seducing the noble widower — played by Christopher Plummer — whose numerous offspring she looks after. 

Each mention of these two films raised whoops of joy and applause from the mixed-age audience gathered at London’s Royal Festival Hall, with one young woman even dressed as Poppins. 

‘You have the nose for it’

“Dame” Julie, who was honoured by Queen Elizabeth II in 2000, regaled British actor Alex Jennings (“The Crown”) with anecdotes from her unique career, always careful to keep up her good girl image. 

Her parents, who were also in the entertainment business, discovered Andrews’ talent for singing at an early age, and her father-in-law taught her classes at the age of seven. 

“I hated it,” she recalled. 

“I could hit high notes that would make dogs howl.” 

She soon took to the stage and performed on London’s music hall scene until she was 18, before moving to Broadway. 

Her life changed one evening while she was playing in “Camelot”, when Walt Disney entered her dressing room and invited her to play in a film, even though she had never shot one before. 

She still regards it as one of the highlights of a career that saw her go on to win an Oscar. 

But the author of the Mary Poppins book, Pamela Travers, was initially less impressed, telling Andrews: “You are far too pretty for it. But you have the nose for it,” recalled the actress.

Andrews is now based in Hollywood, and was married for 41 years to her second husband Blake Edwards, a well-established director 13 years her senior, until his death in 2010. 

He directed her in several films, including the musical “Victor/Victoria”, in which she played an unemployed singer who was offered the role of a man playing a woman in a cabaret in Paris in the 1930s. 

After the launch of the #Metoo movement, she told reporters that the reputation of “Blacky” — as she called Edwards — within Hollywood protected her from any form of harassment. 

“Home Work, A Memoir of My Hollywood Years” is the actress’ second volume following 2008’s best-seller “Home: A Memoir of My Early Years.”

NEW YORK — Choosing a sweet pastry instead of hummus and crudités does not necessarily equal a lack of willpower, according to a collaborative study carried out by British, Italian and South Korean universities.

In consumer research, self-control is often seen as the ability to restrain oneself from eating unhealthy foods. According to this common conceptualisation, food decisions involve a conflict between health and pleasure, where choosing pleasure is associated with a self-control failure.

However, the authors of this new study, published in The Journal of Consumer Psychology, based their research on the principle that “health and pleasure are not necessarily in conflict” with each other, as far as food is concerned.

They studied 413 participants via an online survey, asking volunteers to imagine themselves as a fictional character, “M.A.” In the case study, M.A. is sitting in a restaurant, has just finished his main course, and is hesitating between two desserts: a piece of chocolate cake or a fruit salad.

Participants were then randomly separated into two groups. The first group was told that M.A. went for the cake, while the second group was told that M.A. chose the fruit salad. All the survey subjects were then asked to give their opinion on M.A.’s decision to eat the chocolate cake, by indicating whether it represented a lack of willpower (with three possible answers: “yes”, “no”, and “I’m not sure”). A vast majority of the volunteers (61.5 per cent) did not consider the choice to eat the cake as a sign of “weakness”.

Asking the experts

“It is not the consumption of cake that automatically signals a self-control failure, it is whether consumers believe that they may regret their food choice in the future; our research demonstrates that health and pleasure are not necessarily in conflict,” said study co-author, associate professor of marketing at Cass Business School Dr Irene Scopelliti. “That thinking plays into the dichotomous perception of foods being either good or bad, which is an incorrect over-simplification of eating practices.”

The study’s authors underscore the role of health professionals, such as nutritionists and dieticians, who are best able to objectively determine in what ratios certain types of foods may be healthy or “bad”.

Dr Young Eun Huh from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology’s School of Business and Technology Management added, “By abandoning the idea that eating ‘bad foods’ equals a self-control failure, consumers should find it easier to exert self-control, particularly if they are armed with the combined dietary knowledge of medically trained professionals and the behavioural knowledge of psychologists and consumer researchers.”

Among the most popular player in the popular compact pick-up segment which accounts for some 90 per cent of truck sales in the Middle East, the Mitsubishi L200 is offered with a range of engines, drive-line, cargo bed and equipment levels. Suitable for work, daily drive, leisure and lifestyle needs depending on how its specified, the featured double cab 4x4 L200 version with the 134BHP version of Mitsubishi’s 2.5-litre turbo-diesel engine and the mid-range GLX trim level, is probably the most versatile for a combination of uses.

Eager demeanour

Set up for perhaps the best compromise between affordability, comfort, capability and efficiency as driven, the Mitsubishi L200 is nevertheless one of the most recognisable trucks in its segment, with a slightly more rearward cabin, sleekly wedged bonnet, shorter front and longer rear overhang from profile. Somewhat more futuristic in its eager stance and sense of momentum, the L200 is also slightly smaller and with shorter wheelbase than many competitors, which lends it a slightly better agility in narrow and winding roads than many competitors. 

Practical and utilitarian the L200 rides on comparatively narrow 205R16C tyres in GLX trim level for good comfort, off-road ability, durability and lower cost and fuel consumption, but can also be specified with chunkier 245/70R16 tyres in GLS guise and above. Its sportily low bonnet allows for excellent in-class visibility to confidently place it on narrow roads and off-road conditions and its narrower body helps make it easier to manoeuvre. Meanwhile, a comparatively short front overhang and steeply rising rear overhang allow for generous off-road driving angles.

Rugged efficiency

Offered exclusively with in-line 4-cylinder engines across the range, the L200’s most prolific intercooled common-rail turbo-diesel 2.5-litre engine is available in different states of tune between 108BHP to 175BHP for various markets, including the 134BHP mid-range version driven. Developing maximum power at 4,000rpm and 239lb/ft torque at 2000rpm, the L200’s headline figures may not be especially impressive, but with a lighter 1,805kg weight than most rivals, performance is nevertheless as adequate as most, and includes a 167km/h top speed, and frugal estimated 7.3l/100km combined fuel efficiency.

An honest and rugged truck, the L200 has the power needed to keep up with traffic in acceleration and overtaking, and more importantly generous torque for hauling and towing. From idling engine speed, slight some lag is best remedied by launching from standstill by progressively lifting off the clutch to build momentum towards its more generous mid-range. If not the quietest in its segment, the L200 is nevertheless relatively refined in its flexible mid-range, with diesel clatter, however, more evident at idling and higher revs.

Off-road abilities

Especially good for a truck is the L200’s 5-speed manual gearbox, which with crisp, close and exact shifts and well-positioned gear lever falling easy to hand, make it a pleasure to work to keep revs in a mid-range sweet spot. At its smoothest and most efficient in rear-wheel-drive mode for on road driving, the L200’s four-wheel-drive can be engaged for loose and low traction off-road driving terrain, while low gear four-wheel-drive can be selected to access maximum power at a crawling pace for more extreme off-road conditions. 

Boasting 200mm ground clearance and a comparatively shorter wheelbase, the L200 enjoys a generous 24 degree break-over angle, and 25 degree departure, 30 degree approach and 40 degree side slope angles for off-road driving. Built on rugged ladder frame construction with independent front double wishbone and tough live axle and leaf spring rear suspension, the L200 easily takes lumps, bumps and worse, but can feel slightly bouncy on rebound at the rear when not carrying a load. This also translates into some rear wheelspin under hard acceleration through tight corners.

Manoeuvrable and comfortable

Agile and manoeuvrable through dusty trails with light steering with decent road feel for its class, the L200 also features responsive and effective front disc and rear drum brakes. Confident and settled on highway, and with good stability, it meanwhile felt eager into and balanced through corners, despite some body lean. Easy to drive with comfortable seats, alert driving position with tilt-adjustable steering and good visibility including big side mirrors, the L200 also features user-friendly controls, layouts and instrumentation inside its utilitarian yet comfortable cabin.

Un-fussed and intuitive with tough hard wearing plastics, trim and fabric upholstery, the L200’s cabin is comfortable and roomy, if not as spacious and slightly narrower than some of its larger competitors, which also benefit from wider rear door access. Standard equipment levels are useful and practical, and include two rear head restraints and three-point seatbelts, air conditioning, keyless central locking, 4-speaker audio system, ABS brakes with electronic brakeforce distribution, electronic stability and traction control, driver and passenger airbags, electric windows and tyre pressure monitoring.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

• Engine: 2.5-litre, in-line, common-rail turbo-diesel, 4-cylinders
• Bore x stroke: 91.1 x 95mm
• Compression ratio: 17:1
• Valve-train: 16-valve, DOHC
• Gearbox: 5-speed manual, four-wheel-drive
• Driveline: low gear transfer
• Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 134 (136) [100] @4,000rpm
• Specific power: 51BHP/litre
• Power-to-weight: 74.2BHP/tonne
• Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 239 (324) @2,000rpm
• Specific torque: 130.8Nm/litre
• Torque-to-weight: 179.5Nm/tonne
• Top speed apprx. 167km/h
• Fuel consumption, combined: 7.3-litres/100km (est.)
• Fuel capacity: 75-litres
• Length: 5,200mm
• Width: 1,785mm
• Height: 1,775mm
• Tread, F/R: 1,520/1,515mm
• Overhang, F/R: 860/1,340mm
• Minimum ground clearance: 200mm
• Loading floor height: 845mm
• Cargo bed length: 1,520mm
• Kerb weight: 1805kg
• Gross vehicle weight: 2,850kg
• Suspension, F/R: Double wishbones/live axle, leaf springs
• Steering: Power-assisted rack & pinion
• Turning circle: 11.8-metres
• Brakes, F/R: Ventilated discs, 294mm/drums, 294mm
• Tyres: 205R16C