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Last night I bid goodbye to our daughter at the airport. Both of us hid our tearful eyes from each other as her much awaited two-week vacation came to an end and she went back to the United Kingdom. Her life there involved juggling the responsibilities of her marriage, household and job, including all the office politics that accompanied it.

For the short span that she visited us, she only wanted to eat home-cooked meals and go for long walks. Every suggestion of dinner at fancy restaurants was turned down in favour of spending quiet evenings in our company. She came prepared with a lot of questions and I was surprised to notice how carefully she listened to my replies. 

“Mum, how would you deal with this scenario or what would you do in that situation” were her recurrent queries. Some answers came easily but for others I had to delve deep into the recesses of my memory and recall what my own father or mother would have advocated. And then I had to mould it to fit the present predicament and convey to her, as gently as possible. Telling anyone, even your own child, to fulfil his or her obligations, is not easy. 

My inner struggle must be visible to this keen-eyed youngster because she would keep trailing after me with a multivitamin pill, and urge me to swallow it, each morning. Too polite to tell me that I was ageing, this was her way of showing concern towards my wrinkles. “I worry about you ma, you must look after your health,” she admonished me on a regular basis.

On the evening of her departure, as soon as we reached the check-in counter, we were told that her flight to London — by the country’s national carrier — was initially delayed, and then cancelled. With the usual callousness that the ground staff displays towards all passengers, nobody came forward to offer any explanation. The next flight to the same destination was after two days. There was an option of flying immediately in their partner airline, but there was no availability in the class of travel that she had paid for. The refund was to be requested at the customer care centre after the culmination of the journey, which was another way of saying that there would be no reimbursement.

Our daughter had an important meeting that she was chairing in her professional capacity and it was imperative that she reached her office the next day. However, she had purchased this club class ticket with her own salary and she was not keen to travel in a downgraded seat for twelve hours. Her father, who was always looking for ways to extend her stay, was delighted with this turn of events. Clutching her hand baggage, he wanted to head straight back to the car and drive us home. But this meant that she would definitely miss her official function and I could sense the mental battle that she was going through. Always modest about her work, she was not vocal enough about the loss she would suffer jobwise. 

“Mom, what would you do?” she asked me suddenly. 

“We have just fifteen minutes to decide,” our son-in-law added. 

“What would you do mom?” our daughter repeated, looking at me for guidance.

“If I were chairing such an event, I would take any seat, even travel standing up,” I said.

“Thank you! Let’s go,” our daughter exclaimed, hugging me goodbye.

PARIS — Video gaming can be addictive in the same way as cocaine or gambling, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Monday in a much anticipated update of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11).

“After consulting with experts across the world, and reviewing evidence in an exhaustive manner, we decided that this condition should be added,” Shekhar Saxena, director of the WHO’s department of mental health and substance abuse, told AFP.

Online and offline “gaming disorder” is grouped with “disorders due to substance use or addictive behaviours” in the ICD’s 11th edition, the first major revision in nearly three decades.

The wording of the new entries has been known since January, when the WHO announced problem gaming would be recognised as a pathological condition.

Key symptoms include “impaired control” — notably the inability to stop playing — and focusing on the game to the exclusion of everything else.

“The person does so much gaming that other interests and activities are ignored, including sleeping and eating,” Saxena said by phone.

In extreme cases, gamers unable to pry themselves away from a screen drop out of school, lose jobs, and become cut off from family and non-gaming friends.

Symptomatic behaviour must continue for at least a year before it is considered dangerously unhealthy, according to the new classification.

Some 2.5 billion people — one-in-three worldwide — play some form of free-to-play screen game, especially on cell phones, but the disorder only affects a “small minority”, said Saxena.

“We are not saying that all gaming is pathological.”

The games industry raked in $108 billion dollars worldwide in 2017, more than double movie box-office receipts, according to Superdata, which tracks the games and interactive media sector.

Nearly 40 per cent of those sales are in east Asia, especially China and South Korea. Other important markets include the United States, Britain, France, Germany and Brazil.

In South Korea and the United States, clinics have sprung up to treat video game addiction, along with community and online support groups.

So-called “shooter games” such as “Fortnite” — described on the support website Game Quitters as the “hottest game in the world” — are either played online or on offline consoles. 

The inclusion of “gaming disorder” in WHO’s revised catalogue of diseases met with resistence, both from industry and some experts.

“The WHO process lacks transparency, is deeply flawed and lacks scientific support,” Michael Gallagher, president and CEO of the Entertainment Software Association, said in a statement in March.

In a study to be published in the Journal of Behavioral Addictions, a group of 36 researchers said there was insufficient evidence to warrant the new category.

“Given the gravity of diagnostic classification and its wider social impact, we urge our colleagues at the WHO to err on the side of caution for now and postpone the formalisation,” they wrote in a study reviewing academic literature.

The ICD identifies about 55,000 separate injuries, diseases, conditions and causes of death, and is widely used as a benchmark for diagnoses and health insurance.

LOS ANGELES — The opening weekend of “Incredibles 2” was, well, incredible.

The Disney-Pixar movie flew to a record-breaking launch of $182.7 million in 4,410 locations, easily landing the superhero sequel the best debut of all time for an animated film. That title was previously held by fellow Pixar sequel “Finding Dory”, which bowed with $135 million in 2016.

“Incredibles 2” also landed the eighth-biggest domestic opening of all time, and surpassed 2017’s “Beauty and the Beast” ($174.6 million) for the best debut for a PG-rated film.

Overseas, where it has opened in 26 per cent of the international market, Pixar’s 20th film collected $51.5 million, bringing its global total to $231.5 million.

With 14 years since the original film, 2004’s “The Incredibles”, enthusiasm has been strong for the follow up, and it seems that audiences and critics alike were not disappointed. The film boasts a coveted A+ CinemaScore, as well as a 94 per cent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

“The film shows the drawing power of the superhero genre, whether in the live action or animated realm,” box office analyst Paul Dergarbedian said. “The combination of the Pixar brand and Disney’s perfectly executed marketing and distribution strategy made the film an instant classic and a box office juggernaut.”

Disney’s Head of Distribution, Cathleen Taff, attributes the massive opening to pent up demand for another “Incredibles” film, along with positive word of mouth. It also helps that it’s been a while since a family film has hit multiplexes, she added.

“We’re so thrilled,” Taff said. “Brad and team put together a great film that delivers something for everybody. It was the perfect storm.”

“Incredibles 2” picks up directly following the events of the original film with the Parr family members attempting to balance having a normal life with their superpowers. Holly Hunter, Craig T. Nelson, Sarah Vowell, and Samuel L. Jackson reprise their voice roles, while Bob Odenkirk, Catherine Keener and Sophia Bush voice new characters. Brad Bird returned to write and direct the sequel.

“Incredibles 2” should set Disney back on track after “Solo: A Star Wars Story” disappointed earlier this summer. The expensive “Star Wars” film has had difficulty gaining traction at the box office since launching with $103 million over a four day weekend. Though every previous Disney-released “Star Wars” adventure has managed to fly past the $1 billion mark, “Solo” is struggling to cross $400 million.

Disney doesn’t exactly need to break a sweat, however. “Incredibles 2” scored the third biggest opening of 2018, meaning the three best debuts of 2018 all belong to the Magic Kingdom. Disney-Marvel titles “Black Panther” ($257.7 million) and “Avengers: Infinity War” ($202 million) secured the No. 1 and 2 spots.

Also opening this weekend was Warner Bros. and New Line’s “Tag”, which targeted a debut of $14.6 million in 3,382 theatres. The R-rated comedy — starring Ed Helms, Jake Johnson, Jon Hamm and Jeremy Renner — is based on a Wall Street Journal profile about a group of grown men who play a longstanding game of tag.

Though the film was aimed at male moviegoers, the audience breakdown was surprisingly 51 per cent female. Those over the age of 25 accounted for 78 per cent of audiences, while 58 per cent were under 35 years old. Attendees seem satisfied, giving the film a B+ CinemaScore and 74 per cent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

New Line’s latest title, “Game Night”, opened earlier this year with $17 million — a solid start given the film’s $16 million price tag. As of this week, the Jason Bateman/Rachel McAdams dark comedy has pocketed $117 million globally, including $69 million domestically.

The final wide release, “Superfly,” got a head start by opening on Wednesday. Sony’s remake of 1972 blaxploitation classic “Super Fly” pocketed $8.4 million in 2,220 locations during the five-day period. Well-known music video helmer Director X took the reigns on the $16 million project, which only began production in January and finished in time for its June release.

The film features all new songs written by rapper Future, who co-produced along with Joel Silver. “Superfly” stars Trevor Jackson, Jason Mitchell, Michael Kenneth Williams, Lex Scott Davis, and Jennifer Morrison.

The original 1972 “Super Fly”, starring Ron O’Neal and directed by Gordon Parks, was hugely profitable at the box office with a $30 million gross from a $500,000 budget. While the film became a cult hit, its soundtrack composed by R&B legend Curtis Mayfield became even more popular and ultimately outgrossed “Super Fly’s” box office earnings.

“Ocean’s 8” managed to steal the No. 2 spot in its sophomore frame, picking up another $19.5 million in 4,145 locations. The female-fronted heist spinoff had a series-best opening last weekend with $41.5 million. Its domestic tally currently sits at $79 million.

In fourth is “Solo: A Star Wars Story” with $9.3 million on 3,182 screens. In four weeks, the tentpole has made $193 million at the domestic box office.

Rounding out the top five is another superhero sequel, “Deadpool 2”, which scored $8.6 million in its fifth outing. To date, 21st Century Fox’s blockbuster starring Ryan Reynolds has amassed $294.5 million domestically.

At the specialty box office, “Gotti” earned $1.6 million in 503 locations. John Travolta and Kelly Preston star in the mobster movie, directed by “Entourage” star Kevin Connolly. The film, which had its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, was originally intended to be released by Lionsgate in 2017, but the studio sold it back to its producers two weeks before. Vertical Entertainment and Sunrider Productions are now co-distributing along with movie ticketing service MoviePass Ventures.

Meanwhile, Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s documentary is having a heroic moment of its own. Magnolia and Participant Media’s “RBG” crossed the $10 million mark in just seven weeks.

Finally, Morgan Nevill’s Mister Rogers documentary “Won’t You Be My Neighbour” brought in $985,000 when it expanded to 96 theatres. The biopic, which holds an impressive 99 per cent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, has picked up $1.7 million in two weeks. Next week, it will expand to over 300 theatres.

Adolescents who do not get enough sleep may be more likely to develop risk factors for heart disease like high blood pressure and excess body fat, a US study suggests. 

“Sleep matters,” said Dr Elsie Taveras of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. “Sleep quantity and quality are pillars of health alongside diet and physical activity.” 

Taveras and colleagues asked 829 teens to wear activity trackers on their wrists to log nighttime sleep and daytime activity for 7 to 10 days. They also examined risk factors for heart disease, stroke and diabetes by measuring teens’ waist circumference, blood pressure, cholesterol and a hallmark of diabetes known as insulin resistance. 

Overall, half of the teens slept for at least 7.4 hours a night, the study found. Only about 2 per cent of them got the minimum 8 hours a night recommended by the National Sleep Foundation for teens aged 14 to 17 or the minimum 9 hours a night recommended for youth ages 11 to 13. 

Most participants had what would be considered “low sleep efficiency,” because after falling asleep, they stayed asleep for only about 84 per cent of the time. 

Longer sleep and higher sleep efficiency — that is, staying asleep for more of the time — were associated with lower blood pressure, smaller waist circumference, less fat mass and lower cholesterol levels, researchers report in Pediatrics. 

While plenty of previous research has linked insufficient sleep to a wide range of health problems including obesity, diabetes, heart disease and mood disorders, many of these studies have focused on adults or failed to objectively measure sleep. 

“Interestingly, many of the relationships we observed in this study were independent of diet quality and physical activity as well as overall body fatness, which are some of the main pathways through which inadequate sleep is thought to influence cardiometabolic risk,” Taveras added in an email. 

The study wasn’t a controlled experiment designed to prove whether or how sleep quantity or quality might directly impact cardiometabolic risk factors in young people. 

It’s also unclear whether poor sleep might have caused health problems like excess fat or high blood pressure, or whether underlying medical conditions might have compromised teens’ ability to sleep. 

Even so, the findings underscore the broad influence sleep can have on other aspects of adolescent health, said James Gangwisch, a psychiatry researcher at Columbia University in New York City who wasn’t involved in the study. 

“Getting inadequate sleep increases hunger by affecting the appetite hormones leptin and ghrelin, which can lead to overeating and weight gain,” Gangwisch said by email. “Not getting enough sleep can also make you feel tired and stressed, making it more difficult to participate in regular exercise and to adhere to a dietary plan.” 

Parents need to teach children to make sleep a priority and help them develop a good bedtime routine, Gangwisch added. 

“The current study highlights the negative impact of insufficient sleep on physical health, but a child’s mental, and emotional capabilities are compromised as well,” Gangwisch said. “Simply going to bed earlier can pay huge dividends in terms of improved energy, mood, concentration and ability to learn.”

Are you all caught up on your favourite Netflix show, but that novel on your nightstand is gathering dust?

You are far from alone, according to a German study released on Thursday decrying a “dramatic” decline in book readership as more time is spent online.

The number of people buying books in Germany plummeted by nearly 18 per cent between 2013 and 2017, the study commissioned by the German Publishers and Booksellers Association found.

The drop was even steeper at 24 to 37 per cent among those aged 20 to 50 — the same age group that now spends more than three hours a day on the Internet.

“There’s growing social pressure to constantly react and be tuned in so you don’t get left behind,” Boersenverein head Alexander Skipis said in a statement accompanying the study, titled “Book buyers, where are you going?”.

Streaming services like Netflix with their binge-worthy television series in particular “exert a great appeal” and frequently replace books as a pastime, it said.

The findings are likely to make for grim reading in a country that prides itself on being well-read and is home to the world’s largest book fair.

The study, for which the GfK polling firm questioned 25,000 people, revealed that the long-held truism that every second German was a book buyer no longer stood up.

Last year just 44 per cent of Germans over the age of ten — or 29.6 million people — bought a book.

On a brighter note for the industry, those that are still bookworms are reading and spending more than before.

The average customer bought 12 books last year, up from 11 in 2013. The total amount spent jumped from around 117 euros ($138) to 137 euros.

The story is similar among e-books, with customer numbers slipping nearly eight per cent between 2016 and 2017 to 3.5 million, but the amount of titles purchased per person went up.

Reacting to the findings, the Publishers and Booksellers Association said the industry should seize the opportunity to present books as an antidote to today’s hectic, digital world.

“People are yearning for a time-out,” said Skipis, stressing that all age groups reported having a “very positive” attitude towards books.

Some respondents offered their own suggestions for how to better incorporate books in their lives.

These ranged from apps that made personalised recommendations to encounters with fans and authors to make the reading experience more interactive, and putting books in unexpected places like the gym.

Until the end of last year, and except for this dear cousin of mine who insisted on sending season greetings on otherwise beautiful printed postcards from the USA, and for the income tax department who would send various written, registered notifications and reminders, I had not received any important mail in my rented, physical post office box.

Bills, bank statements, personal and business correspondence, even advertising and promotional brochures, there is absolutely none of these that has not been converted to digital and that now comes to us via e-mail, as push-notifications on our smartphones, or that we treat and process online. As of this year, even the tax department, just like the other government institutions and services, they all are doing it electronically and online.

So why then a PO.Box? Is there still any use for it in the digital age?

Though I still have one, I stopped mentioning it on my business cards, my business correspondence letterhead, and in the signature contact details at the bottom of the e-mails I send. I just mention my e-mail address and my mobile phone number. This is how people reach you today, this is all the contact details you need: an email address and a mobile number.

When many years ago I first tried to rent a PO.Box in Amman, I almost had to beg the post office manager to get one. Recently I asked the staff at my post office centre in Dahyat Al Hussein how the situation was, in general. I was told that there were now plenty of available boxes to rent, that many people simply are not renewing their annual subscription and instead are giving up their box. This despite the very reasonable JD11 annual rent for a regular box.

Perhaps another exception to the fully-digital rule is the parcels service of the Jordan Post Company. Naturally parcels still cannot be digitised or e-mailed! You have to take delivery of them physically, whatever their contents. Whenever you receive a parcel through the Jordan Post service, they would mail you a printed notification to your PO.Box so that you can take it, go to the parcels bureau, and then claim your parcel.

However, this parcel service has been greatly challenged by all the private express courier services such as DHL, Aramex, UPS, TNT, FedEx, NEDCO and the like, and for many years now. Consequently the volume of parcel handling at the Jordan Post has significantly diminished. Understandably all these private services use digital methods to contact senders and recipients, and parcels usually are delivered to your door.

In addition to the fact that a traditional PO.Box system is in flagrant contradiction — violation should I say — with the push towards a paperless world, going physically to the post office to check incoming mail also is against the trend to avoid as much as possible transportation and driving, to decongest traffic and to save precious time that can be put to better use.

It is reasonable to assume that those in charge of the PO.Box system are doing serious thinking and are re-considering the entire concept. Not that the system is harmful of course, but it is rather a waste of human and financial resources that can reallocated to do something else, something more in line with the connected, digital world we are living in. I would not be surprised to see PO.Boxes abandoned for good in a maximum of five years from now.

People who smoke or have diabetes may be more likely to have calcium deposits in brain regions crucial for memory, a Dutch study suggests. 

The deposits were not associated with lower cognitive function, however. 

Researchers examined cognitive test results and brain scans for 1,991 patients visiting a memory clinic at a Dutch hospital from 2009 to 2015. Overall, 380 patients, or about 19 per cent, had calcification, or abnormal buildup of calcium, in the hippocampus, the region of the brain important for short-term and long-term memory. 

Diabetics and smokers were about 50 per cent more likely to have calcification in this region of the brain than other participants in the study, the researchers note in Radiology. 

The hippocampus is typically damaged in people who develop dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. 

“The hippocampus is an important area in the brain for memory storage, so we thought that calcifications in this area would be related with cognitive problems,” said lead study author Dr Esther de Brouwer of the University Medical Centre Utrecht in the Netherlands. 

But in these volunteers, hippocampal calcifications were not related to cognitive problems, de Brouwer noted in an e-mail. This was a surprise because researchers had expected that calcification might be related to vascular problems common with smoking and diabetes that could contribute to shrinkage of tissue, or atrophy, in the hippocampus and subsequent cognitive decline. 

Because the hippocampus has many layers, it’s possible the calcification didn’t damage the layers involved in memory, de Brouwer said. More research is needed to explore possible links between calcifications and cognitive problems, the study authors conclude. 

Participants in the study were 78 years old on average, although they ranged in age from 45 to 96. 

Each added year of age was associated with a 5 per cent greater risk of calcification in the hippocampus, the study found. 

Overall, 228 participants, or about 12 per cent, were smokers. Once researchers accounted for factors like age, sex, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes, the smokers in the study were 49 per cent more likely to have calcifications in the hippocampus than nonsmokers. 

A total of 317 participants, or about 16 per cent, had diabetes. After researchers accounted for smoking status and the other factors they examined for smokers, they found diabetics were 50 per cent more likely to have calcifications than participants without diabetes. 

The study wasn’t designed to prove whether or how smoking or diabetes might directly contribute to calcifications in the hippocampus or cognitive problems. 

Even though the study didn’t connect calcifications to worse cognitive abilities, calcium may accumulate more when people have unhealthy blood vessels, said Dr Rebecca Gottesman, a neurology researcher at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore who wasn’t involved in the study. 

“This study did suggest that the more risk factors you have, the more hippocampal calcification you have,” Gottesman said by e-mail. “And, other studies have suggested that a greater number of these types of risk factors can be associated with worse cognitive outcomes.” 

People should still work to avoid smoking, diabetes and other risk factors for cardiovascular disease, said Dr Andrew Budson, a neurology researcher at Boston University School of Medicine and author of “Seven Steps to Managing Your Memory: What’s Normal, What’s Not, and What to Do About It.”

“Everyone should work to reduce their cardiovascular risk factors by quitting if they are smokers, keeping their sugars under control if they have diabetes, reducing obesity that can be a risk factor for hypertension and diabetes, eating a Mediterranean style diet and engaging in aerobic exercise,” Budson, who wasn’t involved in the study, said by email. 

“Regarding hippocampal calcifications themselves, people shouldn’t worry about them as they are not related to cognitive function,” Budson added. 

People, who are not familiar with Indian food, club all the exotically prepared dishes, under one broad nomenclature and call it “curry”. However, if you ask any self-respecting chef from the Indian sub continent, nothing can be further from the truth. And that is because not only do special ingredients go into the making of each individual item but also, the same food can be made to taste differently by altering the tempering that goes into it. 

Many of us love spices, but do not know how to unlock their full potential. That is where tempering comes in, which is called “tadka” in the local language. The word itself conjures up images of such delicious aromas that one does not even have to be familiar with the process to understand it. The technique — in which whole or ground spices are momentarily roasted in oil or ghee (clarified butter) in order to release their essential oils — is what makes all the difference. This is then poured over the dish — where it produces a loud hissing sound as a final garnishing. 

As an aside, my pet peeve these days is to pick out the mistake writers make between “its” and “it’s”. Both of them are different terms and cannot be used alternatively. Suffice to say “it’s” is a contraction for the full form of “it is” or “it has” and “its” is something that the subject possesses. Example: “It’s an unfriendly dog but keeps wagging its tail.” 

Right! Now where tempering is concerned, the wide range of seasoning that goes into it, also varies from region to region. In Bengal, for instance, there are five primary spices, called the “paanch phoran”, comprising of fennel seeds, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, nigella seeds and fenugreek seeds that are used in the “tadka”. In the southern part of the country, curry leaves and dried red chillies are also included but the important thing is to make it fresh. It cannot be prepared in advance and stored in the refrigerator because the aromas that are the most important part of any “tadka” are completely lost.

One of the keys of making the perfect “tadka” is the order in which the spices are added. This should be done in rapid succession, rarely together, with those requiring longer cooking put earlier than the ones that get roasted easily. When mixed in very hot oil, the spices begin to splatter. The pan can be covered when they spit, but one has to move fast because the sizzling oil can burn the tadka and once that happens there is no way of saving it, other than starting all over again. 

Moreover, to add or avoid the stinky asafoetida in the tadka, is what gives the most enthusiastic of wannabe cooks, sleepless nights. This potent smelling spice is referred to as Devil’s Dung because of its strong odour and gets its name from the Persian word “aza” and the Latin word “foetida”, referring to its strange sulphurous stench. In Indian herbal medicine Ayurveda, asafoetida is used to stimulate appetite and digestion and to help neutralise flatulence caused by beans and other legumes.

“It is called Heeng in Hindi,” explained the legendary chef while giving the cooking demonstration. 

“You must just use a pinch of it,” he continued. 

“What will happen if we add more?” I asked. 

“I will not be held responsible,” the chef replied. 

He paused to emphasise the point. 

“For the gassy consequences,” he specified.

Global warming is expected to make vegetables significantly scarcer around the world, unless new growing practices and resilient crop varieties are adopted, researchers warned on Monday.

By the end of this century, less water and hotter air will combine to cut average yields of vegetables — which are crucial to a healthy diet — by nearly one-third, said the report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

A 4ºC increase in temperature, which scientists expect by 2100 if global warming continues on its current trajectory, reduces average yields by 31.5 per cent, said the report.

“Our study shows that environmental changes such as increased temperature and water scarcity may pose a real threat to global agricultural production, with likely further impacts on food security and population health,” said lead author Pauline Scheelbeek of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM).

Southern Europe, large parts of Africa and South Asia may be particularly affected.

The findings are based on a systematic review of 174 studies examining the impact of environmental exposures on the yield and nutritional content of vegetables and legumes since 1975.

Some previous research has pointed to a likely increase in crop yields as carbon dioxide rises, but the current review found that any such boost would be cancelled out by higher greenhouse gases, reduced water availability for irrigation and rising temperatures.

“We have brought together all the available evidence on the impact of environmental change on yields and quality of vegetables and legumes for the first time,” said senior author Alan Dangour, also of LSHTM.

‘Urgent action’ needed

“Our analysis suggests that if we take a ‘business as usual’ approach, environmental changes will substantially reduce the global availability of these important foods,” he added.

“Urgent action needs to be taken, including working to support the agriculture sector to increase its resilience to environmental changes, and this must be a priority for governments across the world.”

A second study in PNAS found that rising temperatures will increase the volatility of corn, the most widely grown crop on the planet. 

Researchers confirmed prior studies that showed global warming would likely cut back on corn growth.

They also showed that heat waves may boost inconsistency and volatility across various regions from year to year, leading to price hikes and global shortages.

“Previous studies have often focused on just climate and plants, but here we look at climate, food and international markets,” said lead author Michelle Tigchelaar, a University of Washington postdoctoral researcher in atmospheric sciences. 

“We find that as the planet warms, it becomes more likely for different countries to simultaneously experience major crop losses, which has big implications for food prices and food security.”

The vast majority of the global corn exports come from the United States, Brazil, Argentina and Ukraine.

“Under 4ºC warming, which the world is on track to reach by the end of the century if current greenhouse gas emissions rates continue, there’s an 86 per cent chance that all four maize-exporting countries would simultaneously suffer a bad year,” said the report.

Food production itself is a major contributor to climate change.

Agriculture, forestry and changes in land use together produce nearly a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions, making them the second largest emitter after the energy sector, said the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation.

The volume of food transported around the world also is exacerbating global warming.

The global demand for food is expected to soar as the world’s population is projected to grow to 9.8 billion people by 2050, up from 7.6 billion today, according to the UN.

Crops now take up 11 per cent of the world’s land surface, and livestock grazing covers 26 per cent of ice-free land, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Farming accounts for about 70 per cent of all water used globally, said the OECD.

Water scarcity already affects more than 40 per cent of the world’s population, according to the UN.

That number is expected to rise due to global warming, with one in four people projected to face chronic or recurring shortages by 2050, the UN said.