Features

It’s happened before and it could happen again.

Roughly 2,700 years ago, an unusually powerful solar storm swept past the Earth, scientists announced in a new study. Though it had little to no impact on people in that long ago, pre-industrial and pre-technological world, such an event today would cause widespread power outages along with potentially disastrous communication and navigation failures.

The solar storm, which was in 660BC, was about 10 times stronger than any known event in the past 70 years, study lead author Raimund Muscheler said.

A solar storm of that strength would be “a threat to modern society in terms of communication and navigation systems, space technologies and commercial aircraft operations”, the study said.

Scientists studied ancient ice in Greenland to uncover clues about previous solar storms. Looking at an ice core that dated as far back as 100,000 years, researchers found radioactive isotopes that indicated a very powerful solar storm 2,700 years ago.

“If that solar storm had occurred today, it could have had severe effects on our high-tech society,” said Muscheler, a geologist at Lund University in Sweden.

Two examples of recent severe solar storms that caused extensive power outages took place in Quebec, Canada, in 1989 and Malmö, Sweden in 2003.

Solar storms are made up of high-energy particles unleashed from the sun by explosions on the star’s surface. These types of storms are part of what’s known as space weather, when energy that blasts off from the sun interacts with the Earth’s atmosphere and geomagnetic field. Separate but related space phenomena are known as geomagnetic storms.

The only visible effect down here on Earth from space weather is typically the aurora borealis, or northern lights, across Canada and the northern US.

Scientists said this is the third known discovery of a massive solar storm in historical times. This indicates that while the storms are rare, they are a naturally recurring effect of solar activity.

“That’s why we must increase society’s protection against solar storms,” Muscheler said. 

HONG KONG — Start-ups specialising in alternative protein, from eggless eggs to pea-stuffed burgers and cell-grown fish products, are piling into the Chinese territory of Hong Kong to tap the mainland’s booming multibillion dollar food market. 

At a time when traditional meat farmers have seen profits hurt by the US-China trade war and the spread of swine fever, companies such as Impossible Foods, JUST and Beyond Meat are luring affluent Asian consumers with products they say are more sustainable and environmentally friendly than conventional meat.

The global meat substitutes market was estimated at $4.6 billion last year and is predicted to reach $6.4 billion by 2023, according to research firm Markets and Markets. Asia is the fastest growing region. 

Backed by some of the world’s top billionaires including Hong Kong businessman Li Ka-shing, philanthropist Bill Gates and actor Leonardo DiCaprio, plant protein firms are expanding into China for the first time this year.

San Francisco-based JUST, valued at $1 billion and which counts venture capitalist Peter Thiel as one of its backers, is planning to launch its mung bean faux egg product in six Chinese cities starting next month.

“China is the most important market to JUST globally,” said Cyrus Pan, JUST’s China general manager. 

JUST has inked deals with Alibaba’s Tmall and JD.com to distribute its egg product starting in Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, Guangzhou, Chengdu and Shenzhen, before expanding to other cities. 

The company says the use of mung bean as its key ingredient is important for food security and appeals to the Chinese market given its tradition as a dietary staple.

China has a history of food safety scandals from melamine-tainted eggs, smuggled frozen meat years beyond its expiry date and recycled “gutter oil” to crops tainted with heavy metals. 

Nick Cooney, managing partner of Lever VC, a US-Asian venture capital fund focused on alternative protein startups, said firms like his are eyeing joint ventures, exports and product technology licensing opportunities in China.

“Chinese consumers seem to be more open to novel foods than those in nearly any other country,” he said. 

Beyond Meat, which makes burgers and sausages from pea protein, has seen sales in Hong Kong increase 300 per cent last year, said David Yeung, Beyond Meat’s distributor in the special administrative region. 

Backed by Tyson, the world’s largest meat processor, Beyond Meat filed for an initial public offering on the Nasdaq last November and plans to start distributing in the mainland in the second half of this year. 

Rival Impossible Foods, which makes burgers out of soy, has said plant-based meat will eliminate the need for animals in the food chain and make the global food system sustainable.

The group has received around $450 million in funding since 2011 with investments from Lee Ka-shing’s Horizons Ventures and Google Ventures. 

Since launching in five restaurants in Hong Kong last April, the group’s products are now in over 100 restaurants in Hong Kong and Macau. 

Impossible plans to open in mainland China within the next two years.

Asian tastes

Hong Kong-based Avant Meats, which uses cell technology to replicate fish and seafood products, is developing a cell-based fish maw prototype due for launch in the third quarter of this year, its Chief Executive Carrie Chan told Reuters. 

Fish maw, or swim bladders, are popular in Asian soups and stews and are used to add collagen to food.

Right Treat, another Hong Kong company headed by Yeung, is replicating Asia’s favourite meat — pork — using mushrooms, peas and rice for use in dumplings and meatballs. 

The company has seen its sales of its Omnipork triple since launching in Hong Kong in April 2018. It has since expanded to Singapore, Macau and Taiwan, and plans to sell in mainland China this year. 

“If we want to change the world, we must find ways to shift Asian diet and consumption, which means we must find ways to reduce Asia’s dependence on pork and other meat products,” said Yeung, who also runs Green Monday, a startup tackling global food insecurity and climate change.

Omnipork is available at more than 40 stores and will be stocked in major Hong Kong supermarket chains by the end of March, Yeung says. 

Advocates say meat substitutes are healthier and also use less water, produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions and use less land than producing the same amount of meat. 

Consumers, however, must be willing to pay a premium.

Omnipork retails for HK$43 ($5.48) for 230g versus HK$37 for the same amount of minced pork.

Impossible’s burger at HK$88 is more than double the price of a Shake Shack burger in Hong Kong.

Yet the explosion of alternative protein products across Hong Kong has given consumers such as Executive Recruiter Shazz Sabnani, greater variety.

“Before I had to rely more on vegetables and tofu-based products, whereas now I’ve introduced more of these fake meats to my diet.”

Still, not everyone is convinced about the fake meat trend.

Tseung So, a retired 70-year-old said the spaghetti bolognaise made with omnipork at Green Monday’s “Kind Kitchen” in Hong Kong, was not as tasty as real meat. 

“Why would we eat this when we can eat the same dish but with normal pork? I don’t think this will make meat eaters eat less meat but they will probably become more popular with real vegetarians.”

Healthy older adults, who have been obese for years, may be at higher risk of developing dementia than their peers who are not overweight, research from the UK suggests. 

The study team followed two groups of dementia-free adults aged 65 to 74 years for up to 15 years. One group, considered healthy, included 257,523 non-smokers who did not have cancer, heart failure or multiple chronic health problems; another group of 161,927 adults, deemed unhealthy, did smoke or have serious chronic medical issues. 

Over the first decade of the study, healthy people who were obese or overweight were less likely to develop dementia than healthy people at a normal weight, the study found. But after that, obesity was associated with a 17 per cent higher risk of dementia and being heavier no longer appeared to be protective. 

“When we looked long-term, being obese was definitely associated with increased risks of dementia,” said senior study author David Melzer of the University of Exeter in the UK. 

People with obesity often have other health problems like diabetes and high blood pressure that can independently increase the risk of dementia, previous research has found. But results regarding the connection between obesity and dementia have been mixed, with some previous studies suggesting that this excess weight might actually be protective. 

In the current study, 9,774 people in the “healthy” group were diagnosed with dementia. Slightly more than half of the dementia patients had lost at least 2.5 kilogrammes during the decade prior to their diagnosis. 

Weight loss prior to the dementia diagnosis might mask the connection between obesity and cognitive decline, Melzer said by e-mail. 

Alzheimer’s disease, the main cause of dementia, can develop slowly over up to 20 years before people get diagnosed, Melzer noted. 

“The same is true of damage to the arteries in the brain, which also contributes to dementia,” Melzer said. “This slow development of dementia makes it difficult to separate real risk factors from the effects of the disease.” 

Interestingly, obesity was associated with a lower short-term and long-term risk of dementia for the unhealthy group in the study. A total of 6,070 individuals in the unhealthy group developed dementia. 

“In general, losing weight, being more physically active, and getting blood pressures and cholesterol levels under control should make a big difference for dementia risk, plus risks of diabetes and heart disease,” Melzer said. 

The study was not designed to prove whether or how obesity might directly cause dementia in later years. Another limitation is that researchers lacked data to examine the connection between obesity and specific forms of dementia like Alzheimer’s disease, the authors note in Age and Ageing. 

In a separate study in the same journal, researchers led by Alexander Allen of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine also examined the connection between overweight and dementia, and also cast doubt on the idea that obesity is protective. 

The researchers analysed the link between excess belly fat in middle age and the risk of death from dementia over the next 40 years in about 19,000 male civil servants participating in a long-term health study. 

They found that weight loss over 30 years, starting in middle age, was associated with an increased risk of dementia in old age. Having excess fat in old age, however, was tied to a lower risk of dementia. 

While that may appear to suggest a protective effect of extra weight, in fact, the strongest connection, between weight loss over time and an eventual dementia diagnosis, points to the symptoms of developing dementia contributing to the weight loss, Allen and colleagues write. 

“These effects may reflect changes in appetite or other aspects of behaviour that result in reduced energy intake,” they note. “Thus, claims from previous studies that underweight increases the risk of dementia may be an artefact of the effects of reverse causality.” 

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Allen didn’t respond to requests for comment. 

“Regular weight checks could provide an easily measured marker for risk of frailty and subsequent detection of dementia,” Allen and colleagues write. “Whether this could allow early interventions to improve dementia outcomes could also merit further investigation.” 

SAN FRANCISCO — Google set out to disrupt the video game world on Tuesday with a Stadia platform that will let players stream blockbuster titles to any device they wish, as the online giant also unveiled a new controller and its very own studio.

The California-based technology giant said its Stadia platform will open to gamers later this year in the United States, Canada, Britain and other parts of Europe. 

For now, Google is focused on working with game makers to tailor titles for play on Stadia, saying it has already provided the technology to more than 100 game developers.

“We are on the brink of a huge revolution in gaming,” said Jade Raymond, the former Ubisoft and Electronic Arts executive tapped to head Google’s new studio, Stadia Games and Entertainment.

“We are committed to going down a bold path,” she told a presentation at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.

The Stadia tech platform aims to connect people for interactive play on PCs, tablets, smartphones and other devices.

Google also unveiled a new controller that can be used to play cloud-based individual or multiplayer games.

Stadia controllers mirrored those designed for Xbox or PlayStation consoles, with the addition of dedicated buttons for streaming live play via YouTube or asking Google Assistant virtual aide for help beating a daunting puzzle or challenge.

Chief executive Sundar Pichai said the initiative is “to build a game platform for everyone”.

“I think we can change the game by bringing together the entirety of the ecosystem,” Pichai told a keynote audience.

‘Netflix of gaming’

Google’s hope is that Stadia could become for games what Netflix or Spotify are to television or music, by making console-quality play widely available.

Yet, it remains unclear how much Google can grab of the nascent, but potentially massive industry.

As it produces its own games, Google will also be courting other studios to move to its cloud-based model.

Google collaborated with French video game titan Ubisoft last year in a limited public test of the technology powering Stadia, and its chief executive was in the front row at the platform’s unveiling.

A coming new version of blockbuster action game “Doom” tailored to play on Stadia was teased at the event by iD studio executive producer Marty Stratton.

“If you are going to prove to the world you can stream games from the cloud, what better game than ‘Doom’,” Stratton said.

Streaming games from the cloud brings the potential to tap into massive amounts of computing power in data centres.

For gamers, that could translate into richer game environments, more creative play options or battle royale matches involving thousands of players.

At the developers conference, Google demonstrated fast, cloud-based play on a variety of devices. But it offered no specific details on how it would monetise the new service or compensate developers.

Money-making options could include selling game subscriptions the way Netflix charges for access to streaming television.

“I think it’s a huge potential transition in the video game industry, not only for the instant access to games but for exploring different business models to games,” Jon Peddie Research analyst Ted Pollak said of Stadia.

“They say it’s the Netflix of gaming; that is actually pretty accurate.”

Ubisoft on board

Ubisoft, known for “Assassin’s Creed” and other titles, said it would be working with Google.

Its co-founder and chief Yves Guillemot predicted streaming would “give billions unprecedented opportunities to play video games in the future”. 

An “Assassin’s Creed” title franchise was used to test Google’s “Project Stream” technology for hosting the kind of quick, seamless play powered by in-home consoles as an online service.

The reliability and speed of Internet connections is seen as a challenge to cloud gaming, with action play potentially marred by streaming lags or disruptions.

Google said its investments in networks and data centres should help prevent latency in data transmissions.

In places with fast and reliable wireless, internet players will likely access games on the wide variety of devices envisioned by Google, while hard-core players in places where wireless connections aren’t up to the task could opt for consoles, according to Pollak.

“I think it is good news for everyone,” Pollak said when asked what Stadia meant to major console makers Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo.

The US video game industry generated a record $43.4 billion in revenue in 2018, up 18 per cent from the prior year, according to data released by the Entertainment Software Association and The NPD Group.

Kids with eczema — even mild eczema — may be more likely to have poor quality sleep than children who do not have this common skin disorder, a UK study suggests. 

Eczema, also called atopic dermatitis, can lead to scaly, itchy rashes that keep kids up at night. But researchers do not have a clear picture of how eczema affects kids’ ability to fall asleep, how often they awaken during the night, or how many total hours of rest they get. 

For the current study, researchers examined data on 13,988 kids, including 4,938, or 35 per cent, with eczema. All the kids had multiple sleep assessments between ages two and 16. 

Eczema did not appear to impact the total amount of sleep kids got. But compared to children without eczema, kids with mild eczema flare-ups were 40 per cent more likely to have lots of sleep disturbances, and those with severe eczema flare-ups had 85 per cent higher odds, the study found. 

Even when kids with eczema were not having active symptoms, they were still 41 per cent more likely to have poor sleep quality throughout childhood than kids without eczema. 

“As you might expect, the impairment was stronger among children with more severe disease and [kids who also had] asthma or allergic rhinitis,” said senior study author Dr Katrina Abuabara of the University of California, San Francisco. 

“However, what was somewhat surprising was that the risk remained elevated even among children with mild atopic dermatitis alone [and no other atopic conditions], and it remained elevated even during periods when atopic dermatitis was inactive,” Abuabara said by e-mail. 

Children with eczema are more apt to have asthma and allergies than kids without the skin disorder, some previous research suggests. 

When kids with eczema also had asthma or allergies, they were 52 per cent more likely to have poor quality sleep throughout childhood even when they did not have active flare-ups, the study found. And when children had asthma or allergies along with severe eczema flare-ups, they were more than twice as likely to sleep poorly. 

To assess sleep quantity, researchers surveyed mothers about what time kids usually went to bed and woke up; in the final survey 16-year-olds answered for themselves. Naptimes were included in total sleep hours until age seven. 

Researchers also asked about factors involved in sleep quality including the number of awakenings, difficulty falling asleep and nightmares. 

Kids with inactive eczema reported these sleep problems about as often as children with mild eczema symptoms. And, scratching episodes only accounted for 15 per cent of awakenings. 

These two findings suggest that flareups are not the only thing contributing to poor sleep quality in kids with eczema, researchers conclude in JAMA Pediatrics. 

One limitation of the study is that researchers largely relied on parents to report eczema symptoms and assess kids’ sleep. Some previous research suggests that parents tend to overestimate how long kids sleep and underestimate how often children awaken during the night, the study authors note. 

Kids also may not realise how eczema affects their sleep, said Dr Saxon Smith, a dermatologist at Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney, Australia, who was not involved in the study. 

“Children will not always be aware of… scratching in their sleep,” Smith said by e-mail. 

“This can lead to disrupted sleep in terms of the quality of the sleep, waking multiple times a night,” Smith added. “This in turn leads to manifestations of sleep deprivation including tiredness through the day, impaired concentration and poorer performance at school [or delayed developmental milestones],” Smith said. 

Kids who scratch less may sleep better, Smith said. 

Eczema can be treated using moisturisers, avoiding certain soaps and other irritants and with prescription creams and ointments containing corticosteroids to relieve itching. 

“Early intervention can lead to breaking of the itch-scratch cycle,” Smith advised. 

Versatile, practical and hugely spacious, the Ford Tourneo Custom multipurpose vehicle is a dedicated people mover that makes the biggest of SUVs seem cramped inside, and is ideally suited for larger families or businesses that need an 8- or 9-passenger capacity, and generous luggage room to boot. 

Expectedly functional and economical with its four-cylinder turbodiesel engine, the Tourneo Custom also proved to be comfortable, easy to manoeuvres and fun to drive, with excellent visibility for its segment, a nice slick-shifting manual gearbox and eager, almost hatchback-like, front-drive handling traits.

Versatile and practical

Essential a passenger car version of the latest incarnation of Ford’s iconic and utilitarian Transit van, the Tourneo’s light commercial vehicle origin and tall, boxy and uniformly shaped body ensure passenger space and cargo volume that cannot be matched by car-based MPVs or SUVs. Accommodating a massive 2,000-litres luggage behind its third row seats in long-wheelbase (LWB) guise, as tested, the Tourneo’s cargo volume expands to 2,800-litres with rear seats folded, and yet much more as it effectively becomes a van with both its configurable second and third row seats removed.

Unpretentious, angular and practical, the Tourneo’s design is that of form strictly following function, yet features somewhat prominently bulging wheel-arches and a sculpted front bumper with big lower intake and deep foglight housings. Tall thin vertical rear lights flank its huge rear tailgate, and huge 1,400mm wide and 1,340mm tall opening, with a low 589mm liftover height. Rear seats are accessed easily even in tight spots through useful 1,320mm tall and 1,030mm wide sliding doors with step-in running boards either side, while large, wide-swinging front doors allow similarly easy front access.

Confident and frugal

Bearing strong familial resemblance to Ford’s cars is the Tourneo’s big and hungry hexagonal grille and swept back headlights. Behind its big grille, the Tourneo is powered by a transversely-mounted turbocharged 2.2-litre common-rail diesel 4-cylinder engine offered in two states of tune. Driving the front wheels through a quick and smooth shifting 6-speed manual gearbox, the more powerful version of the Tourneo — as driven — develops 123BHP at 3,500rpm and 258lb/ft torque at 1,450rpm. Capable of attaining 157km/h top speed, the Tourneo Custom LWB returns frugal oil-sipping 6.5l/100km combined cycle fuel efficiency.

Refined and with little diesel clatter evident from inside, the Tourneo’s four-pot oil-burner pulls hard and confidently through its on-boost sweet-spot between maximum torque and power. And while this band is narrower than a petrol engine’s, and with slight turbo lag from idle as typical of turbodiesels, the Tourneo’s slick gear change and intuitively light clutch make it rewarding when quickly working through gears to keep revs in its mighty maximum thrust mid-range. Though not exactly swift, the Tourneo accelerates at good pace and overtakes with flexible confidence on motorways.

Eager and agile

Smooth, comfortable, settled, refined and
reassuring on motorways as expected, but for very slight buffeting in strong wind at speed when driven unloaded, owing to its tall and upright utilitarian shape, the Tourneo Custom LWB’s nimble handling, however, proved unexpectedly impressive. Eager and willing to be hustled along a brisk pace through corners and winding roads as if a sporty hatchback among large MPVs and vans, the Tourneo Custom’s steering is light, well-weighted and quick for its segment. Tidy turning in to corners its electric steering feels alert and communicative.

With good levels of resistance on turn-in and unexaggerated 215/65R16 tyres providing balance and feel for grip versus slip, the Tourneo lends confidence and trust in its agile abilities and handling limits. Grippy in front with progressive oversteer if pushed too hard on entry, the Tourneo leans somewhat less than expected through sharp corners but is a more engagingly sporty drive than most in its segment. Nimble and maneuverable for a large people mover, its long wheelbase ensures excellent rear grip, but makes its more reassuring and less playful at the rear.

Configurable comfort

Comfortably absorbing road imperfections with its tall tyres and independent front suspension, the Tourneo’s ride is smooth and settled considering its rugged leaf spring rear suspension, and would be better still when loaded with more passengers.

Agile for its 2,020kg weight and 5,339 length, the Tourneo Custom LWB also benefits from a tight 12.8-metre turning circle and excellent front and side visibility owing to it commanding and comfortable driving position, short bonnet and low waistline. Rear visibility is meanwhile aided by big side mirrors and a reversing camera.

Airy and pleasant inside with user-friendly controls and infotainment system, quality in-segment finish and an airy ambiance, the Tourneo’s biggest draw is its hugely spacious and versatile cabin. Driven in 9-seat configuration with independent driver’s seat and two-seat front bench, its second and third reclining, folding, tilting and removable rows accommodate a further six passengers and are configurable to 30 positions including conference seating.

Equipment levels are generous, and with a 5-star EuroNCAP safety rating, include six airbags, three-point safety belts all-round, three Isofix child seat tethers, ABS, and roll-over mitigation and brake assist systems.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 2.2-litre, turbodiesel, transverse 4-cylinders

Bore x stroke: 86 x 94.6mm

Valve-train: 16-valve, DOHC, common rail direct injection

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

Final drive: 4.19:1

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 123 (125) [92] @3,500rpm

Specific power: 56BHP/litre

Power-to-weight: 61BHP/tonne

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 258 (350) @1,450rpm

Specific torque: 159.2Nm/litre

Torque-to-weight: 173.2Nm/tonne

Maximum speed: 157km/h

Fuel consumption, combined: 6.5-litres/100km

CO2 emissions, combined: 172g/km

Length: 5,339mm

Width: 1,986mm

Height: 2,022mm

Wheelbase: 3,300mm

Overhang, F/R: 1,011/1,028

Side door entry height/width: 1,320/1,030mm

Liftgate entry height/width: 1,340/1,400mm

Luggage volume, behind 3nd row/3rd row folded: 2,000-/
2,800-litres

Seating: 8/9-passengers

Fuel capacity: 80-litres

Towing mass, braked/unbraked: 1,600/750kg

Steering: Electric-assisted rack and pinion

Turning circle: 12.8-metres

Suspension, F/R: MacPherson struts, anti-roll bars/leaf springs

Brakes, F/R: Ventilated discs, 308 x 33mm/discs, 308 x 16mm

Tyres: 215/65R16

People with chronic health problems who suffer from depression may find their mood improve when they do aerobic exercise, a research review suggests. 

Patients with long-term medical issues are two to three times more likely to develop depression than the general population, researchers noted in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, online February 6. When these patients do become depressed, their chronic illnesses often worsen and their risk of dying goes up. 

For the current study, researchers examined data from 24 studies with a total of 4,111 patients living with chronic illness and symptoms of depression. All of the smaller studies randomly assigned some patients to do aerobic exercise and others to comparison groups that just got usual medical care. 

Patients who exercised at least two to three times a week were more likely to see a reduction in depression symptoms than people who did not do aerobic exercise at all, the study found. There was a more pronounced effect when people exercised four to five times a week, but this difference was too small to rule out the possibility that it was due to chance. 

“One of the key messages that we see often around aerobic exercise is: something is better than nothing and more is better than less, said senior study author Dr Simon Bacon of Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. 

“To some degree our study reinforces this point,” Bacon said. 

Most exercise guidelines recommend 150 to 250 minutes a week — and up to an hour a day — of moderate intensity aerobic exercise to prevent weight gain or to achieve modest weight loss. 

Depression symptoms eased by a similar amount regardless of whether people in the exercise groups met activity guidelines of at least 150 minutes a week. 

“This suggests that even short regular bouts of aerobic exercise may be enough to reduce depression,” Bacon said. 

Exercise programmes in the smaller studies lasted from four to 24 weeks, and half of them were at least 12 weeks long. 

Half of the workout programs also involved at least three sessions a week. 

Each workout lasted an average of 42 minutes, although sessions ranged from 20 to 80 minutes. 

Some studies only included supervised workouts at gyms, while others started out with this approach and then transitioned patients to home workouts. 

Even though these smaller studies were controlled experiments, the types of exercise programs and patients included were so varied that researchers could not determine whether any specific workout programme might be ideal for patients based on their specific medical issues. 

Still, the results add to evidence suggesting that exercise can improve mental health and minimize the risk of developing psychiatric problems, said Dr Adam Chekroud, a researcher at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, who was not involved in the study. 

“Overall, exercising for 30-60 minutes three-four times a week is generally a great target, but people do benefit from lighter exercise regimes that might be shorter in duration or lower in intensity,” Chekroud said by email. 

“If folks are not able to exercise, walk, or swim, there are still lots of ways to help improve their mental health,” Chekroud added. “Options include talk therapy, where you speak to a counsellor and learn ways of handling your thoughts, feelings, and emotions; or medications that can also help reduce symptoms.” 

WASHINGTON — Some of the biggest names in media and tech are gearing up to move into streaming, in what could be a major challenge to market leader Netflix.

Apple is expected to make its move with an announcement March 25 on its media plans, with a war chest estimated at some $1 billion and partners including stars like Jennifer Aniston and director J.J. Abrams involved in content.

Walt Disney Co. has announced its new streaming service Disney+ will launch this year, as will another from WarnerMedia, the newly acquired media-entertainment division of AT&T.

The new entrants, with more expected, could launch a formidable challenge to Netflix, which has some 140 million paid subscribers in 190 markets, and to other services such as Amazon and Hulu.

“It’s really going to change the industry,” said Alan Wolk, co-founder of the consulting firm TVREV who follows the sector.

Wolk said he sees seven or eight powerful players in streaming which will lead to “huge competition for new shows and hit shows”.

These rivals are coming into the segment which has been transformed by the spectacular growth of Netflix and a growing movement by consumers to on-demand television delivered over Internet platforms. 

In the US alone, an estimated 6 million consumers have dropped pay TV bundles since 2012, while on-demand services such as Netflix, Hulu and Amazon have been surging, according to Leichtman Research.

But just as Netflix has disrupted traditional “linear” television, rivals are now moving to disrupt Netflix.

Feeling pain 

Netflix is likely to feel pain, not only from the new rivals, but also from the loss of content from the big libraries of Disney and Time Warner.

These Hollywood firms “have big libraries, so the cost of their content is much lower than it will be for Netflix, which has to pay for all its content”, said Laura Martin, analyst with the research firm Needham & Co.

“Netflix will lose subscribers to these new entrants,” Martin said.

AT&T’s WarnerMedia will launch its service later this year that combines the content from its premium HBO channel (known for “Game of Thrones”) and the vast Time Warner library or films and shows. 

Disney’s service will have its films and TV shows, along with the library it is acquiring from Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox, a deal closing in the coming days. That includes the “Star Wars” and Marvel superhero franchises and ABC television content.

JP Morgan analyst Alexia Quadrani predicts Disney will eventually scale up to become as big as Netflix, or even bigger by signing up 45 million US subscribers and 115 million internationally.

Quadrani cited Disney’s “unmatched brand recognition, extensive premium content, and unparalleled ecosystem to market the service”.

The analyst said Disney benefits from its global ecosystem that develops good customer relationships from its theme parks, hotels, cruises, and consumer products.

Wolk agreed that Disney “is in a good spot” because of its strong brand and content but predicted that consumers may be overwhelmed by the growing options.

“I think there will be a lot of churn,” Wolk said. “People will subscribe to one service to watch one show, and then it becomes easy to cancel and take another.”

No panic, yet

Some analysts say Netflix has no reason to panic — yet.

“Netflix has figured this business out, they know what consumers want,” said Dan Rayburn, a streaming media analyst with Frost & Sullivan.

But Rayburn said that over time, rivals may be able to leverage their user base and infrastructure to eat away at Netflix’s advantage.

“What does Netflix own? Nothing,” Rayburn said.

“If you’re Amazon or AT&T you can give this stuff away and be a loss leader, that’s the big value.”

Still, he said any company that wants to challenge Netflix needs to be “quick and nimble” and that it remains to be seen if the legacy players can do that.

Richard Greenfield of BTIG Research also questioned the capability of the legacy entertainment firms to compete in the world of new media.

“We believe legacy media has missed their window to compete with Netflix [and other tech platforms] unless they are willing to truly go all-in,” Greenfield said in a recent research note.

‘Innovator’s dilemma’

Greenfield said that means moving the focus away from the box office and getting better control of content.

“Disney is battling a classic innovator’s dilemma that makes it hard for them to truly pivot to direct-to-consumer, not to mention, they and the rest of legacy media do not really appreciate how important technology is to success in direct-to-consumer streaming,” Greenfield wrote.

Daniel Ives of Wedbush Securities said Apple could be the wild card, but that the iPhone maker might need to acquire a content provider like CBS or Sony Pictures to be a major player.

Apple “is definitely playing from behind the eight ball in this content arms race with Netflix, Amazon, Disney, Hulu, and AT&T/Time Warner all going after this next consumer frontier”, Ives said in a note to clients.

“While acquisitions have not been in Apple’s core DNA, the clock has struck midnight for Cupertino in our opinion and building content organically is a slow and arduous path, which highlights the clear need for Apple to do larger, strategic [deals].”

By the Royal Health 

Awareness Society

People joke about stress but it really is becoming a massive health problem. Think about what you are doing in your life to alleviate stress — not make it worse.

The fight-or-flight response

Since the beginning of time, humans have been endowed with a fierce and powerful weapon. One that made us stronger and more lethal within seconds of spotting a dangerous lion or a venomous snake: pupils would dilate to make us see better and look scarier to our opponent, our cognitive abilities instantaneously sharpened to make better decisions and improve our odds of survival when the situation called for it. This seemingly too-good-to-be-true weapon is called the stress response, and while it is the reason for our survival as a human race, today this two edged sword emerges in daily situations (juggling multiple tasks or at the approach of an important deadline). Now, chronic stress has been named the culprit in a spectrum of health diseases.

Effects of stress on your body

When the human body spots a threat, whether it is an actual tiger or your angry boss dressed in tiger print, the body, through the release of certain hormones, orchestrates a series of reactions carried out by all systems. 

The musculoskeletal system tenses in stressful situations and as the situation passes, the muscle tension is relieved. When the stress is chronic, however, painful conditions develop and you become more prone to tension-type headaches and migraines, and other types of pain in the shoulder, neck and head area.

Other systems responsible for tasks related to the body’s vitality, such as your heart and lungs, react negatively to chronic stress. This manifests clearly in individuals with established diseases, asthmatics, for example, experience an increase in the frequency of their asthma attacks. Since stress causes your heart to beat harder and faster, chronic stress puts you at increased risk for hypertension, heart attack and stroke.

And it does not end there. Those “butterflies” in your stomach upon experiencing stress is only one of the many effects of stress on the gastrointestinal system. Changes in appetite are not uncommon in those suffering from chronic stress, where some avert from food and others do the opposite. In the former instance this can cause malnutrition and in the latter case obesity if sustained for a long time. Acid reflux and heartburn also result from, or are exacerbated by, stress.

Breaking the cycle of stress

Stressed people drink more alcohol, smoke more and eat less nutritious foods than non-stressed individuals. It is a vicious cycle — you may eat, smoke or drink more when stressed yet those unhealthy behaviours only magnify the problem. Stress is a key risk factor in addiction initiation, maintenance and relapse.

Finding ways to cope with stress and prevent it from becoming a daily experience will enable you not only to enjoy life, but also preserve your health. Coping mechanisms can take the shape of daily habits, such as physical, meditative and breathing exercises or listening to soft music. When those mechanisms, however, are not effective, seek professional help to prevent stress from developing into an even more serious health problem.

Reprinted with permission from Family Flavours magazine