Features

MOUNTAIN VIEW, California — Google unveiled on Tuesday an artificial intelligence (AI) tool capable of handling routine tasks — such as making restaurant bookings — as a way to help people disconnect from their smartphone screens.

Kicking off the tech giant’s annual developers conference, Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai argued that its AI-powered digital assistant had the potential to free people from everyday chores.

Pichai played a recording of the Google Assistant independently calling a hair salon and a restaurant to make bookings — interacting with staff who evidently did not realise they were dealing with AI software, rather than a real customer.

Tell the Google Assistant to book a table for four at 6:00 pm, it tends to the phone call in a human-sounding voice complete with “ums” and “likes”, and sends you a message with the details.

“Our vision for our assistant is to help you get things done,” Pichai told the conference in Google’s hometown of Mountain View, California.

“It turns out that a big part of getting things done is making a phone call.”

Google will be testing the digital assistant improvement in the months ahead.

“Many of us feel tethered to our phones and worry about what we’ll miss if we’re not connected. We want to help people find the right balance and gain a sense of digital wellbeing,” Pichai said.

Getting things right

The conference opened with Silicon Valley facing a wave of criticism over issues such as private data protection, the spread of misinformation and the use of tech platforms for hate speech and violence, and with intense scrutiny of Facebook over the hijacking of data on millions of its users.

“It’s clear that technology can be a positive force and improve the quality of life for billions of people around the world.” Pichai said. 

“But it’s equally clear that we can’t just be wide-eyed about what we create.”

He added that “we feel a deep sense of responsibility to get this right”.

Much of the focus was on Google Assistant, the AI application competing against Amazon’s Alexa and others.

Pichai launched an overhaul Google News venue that put AI to work finding trusted sources for stories and balancing perspectives to provide fuller pictures of breaking developments.

“It uses artificial intelligence to bring forward the best of human intelligence — great reporting done by journalists around the globe — and will help you stay on top of what’s important to you,” Pichai said of overhauled Google News.

And, evidently popping news “bubbles” created by tailoring results to what people want to hear, everyone will be shown the same content on topics, according to product and engineering lead Trystan Upstill.

Google Assistant is also being taught to better understand people and interact with them more naturally — and will be getting new voices, including one based on the voice of singer John Legend, as well as programming to improve conversation performance.

“Thanks to our progress in language understanding, you’ll soon be able to have a natural back-and-forth conversation with the Google Assistant without repeating ‘Hey Google’ for each follow-up request,” Pichai said. 

More ‘shush’ time

In another effort to untether people from smartphone screens, a dashboard breaks down time spent on devices and how often they are unlocked.

Google also planned to add a “shush” mode to its Android mobile software, switching smartphones to a do-not-disturb mode when they are placed face down on a table.

YouTube watchers will be able to set a pop-up message to remind them to take breaks from viewing, according to Pichai.

“This is going to be a deep, ongoing effort across all our platforms,” Pichai said.

“To help you understand habits, focus on what matters, switch off and wind down.”

Google is seeking to make services more personal, relevant and intimate from maps to e-mail, Gartner analyst Brian Blau told AFP after the keynote presentation.

“The are taking a very human approach to technology, and convincing you people can continue to rely on Google,” Blau said.

“We have seen, as a central theme, trust.”

BONN, Germany — Tourism is responsible for a twelfth of world greenhouse gas emissions, and a vacation boom is complicating a global drive to slow climate change, scientists said on Monday.

Emissions from tourism, mostly by domestic travellers, were highest in the United States, China, Germany and India, according to a review of 160 nations led by the University of Sydney and published in the journal Nature Climate Change.

Tourism, including flights, hotels, food and even the production of souvenirs, emitted the equivalent of 4.5 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2013, the most recent data available, or 8 per cent of all man-made greenhouse gases, up from 3.9 billion in 2009, it said.

That was far above many previous estimates, using narrower definitions, that tourism accounts for just 2.5 to 3 per cent of world emissions, it said.

And on current trends, the $1 trillion tourism industry will emit 6.5 billion tonnes of carbon emissions by 2025, the review said, making it one of the fastest-growing source of the planet-warming gases that governments are trying to cut.

Flights were the biggest single contributor, according to the study by scientists in Australia, Taiwan and Indonesia.

“We recommend flying less and staying Earth-bound where possible, e.g. use public transport,” co-author Arunima Malik of the University of Sydney told Reuters in an email.

Lead author Manfred Lenzen said plane tickets would have to be far more expensive to reflect the harm caused by greenhouse gas emissions from burning jet fuel.

“If I flew from Melbourne to the UK return, I would pay at least an additional A$205 ($150) to offset my emissions; for a return trip between Sydney and Brisbane, about A$18 extra,” he wrote in a news release.

Almost 200 nations are meeting in Bonn this week to write a “rule book” for the 2015 Paris Agreement, which seeks to slash greenhouse gas emissions to avert more heat waves, downpours, droughts and extinctions.

Patricia Espinosa, head of the UN Climate Change Secretariat hosting the talks, said the tourism industry itself was making “good progress” to clean up.

“A lot of what the industry is selling depends on the preservation and conservation and the protection of the environment,” she told a news conference. 

The study added up all emissions from tourism but did not try to compare how a holiday compared with staying at home, where people also emit greenhouse gases, through everything from heating to commuting.

Even light drinkers who enjoy a single beer or glass of wine every night may still be more likely to die prematurely than people who drink less, a recent study suggests. 

Compared to people who drink less than 100 grammes of pure alcohol a week — roughly the equivalent of five to six glasses of wine or beer — those who consume 100 grammes to 200 grammes of alcohol weekly have an estimated life expectancy at age 40 that’s about six months shorter, the study found.

Drinking even more was associated with a greater risk of premature death. When people drank 200 grammes to 350 grammes a week of alcohol they had up to about a two-year reduction in life expectancy at age 40 compared with those who drank less than 100 grammes weekly. And people who drank more than 350 grammes a week had up to a five-year reduction in life expectancy at age 40. 

“Drinking less was associated with a longer life,” said lead study author Angela Wood of the University of Cambridge in the UK. 

While some previous research has linked light drinking to a lower risk of death, particularly from heart disease, results have been mixed and many earlier studies included some people who abstained from alcohol or stopped drinking for health reasons, researchers note in The Lancet. 

For the current study, Wood’s team examined data on almost 600,000 current drinkers who were 57 years old on average and did not have heart disease at the outset. 

About half reported consuming more than 100 grammes of alcohol a week. Slightly more than 8 per cent were heavy drinkers, consuming more than 350 grammes of alcohol weekly. 

Researchers followed half of the participants for at least 7.5 years. 

During the study, 40,310 people died, including 11,762 fatalities from strokes or vascular problems and 15,150 cancer deaths. There were 39,018 new diagnoses of cardiovascular disease including strokes, heart attacks, heart failure and deaths from other cardiovascular diseases. 

Higher alcohol consumption was associated with a greater risk of stroke, heart failure, and fatalities due to high blood pressure or a bulging or ruptured aorta. Any amount of drinking appeared to increase these risks. 

For non-fatal heart attacks, however, light alcohol consumption was associated with a slightly lower risk. 

The study was not designed to prove whether or how alcohol might directly impact the risk of specific health problems. Researchers also relied on survey data to assess drinking habits, which does not always reflect the amount people really drink. 

Still, guidelines in many countries allow more than 100 grammes of alcohol a week, and the results suggest that people should consider drinking less, Wood said by e-mail. 

“This study challenges some of the recommendations for healthy alcohol consumption, in particular for men, where we recommend up to two drinks a day in the US, twice the amount associated with higher risk of premature death seen in this study,” said Eugene Yang of the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle. 

“I think this study adds more uncertainty as to what is the right amount of alcohol to recommend for our patients,” Yang, who was not involved in the research, said by email. 

“I don’t think there is a simple answer, because it is not clear that there is an increased risk of premature death — these are all observational studies and we are not controlling the amount of alcohol people consume and then analysing the risk of death.” 

Still, moderation is key, said Giovanni de Gaetano, of IRCCS Istituto Neurologico Mediterraneo Neuromed in Pozzilli, Italy. 

“The difference between moderate and heavy drinking in relation to disease risk and mortality is well-established,” de Gaetano, who wasn’t involved in the study, said by e-mail. “Moderation is the key word of alcohol and health.” 

Not one partial to the adventures of Britain’s most iconic fictional gentleman spy, the opportunity to drive his car brand of choice was one a curious and highly anticipated occasion tempered by detached neutrality and devoid of sentimental preconception.

Virtually joined at the hip with the James Bond franchise in terms of public perception, Aston Martin’s DB11 Volante, however, proved that one needn’t appreciate the former to be charmed by the latter and especially so on home turf, where its fluent suspension was indispensible over “textured” British roads and quick folding roof mechanism invaluable for sudden weather changes.

Jutting and curvy

A sporting two-door 2+2 grand tourer combining adept handling, smooth ride comfort, stylish design and luxurious interior, the DB11 rides on a stiffer and lighter all-new bonded aluminium platform, and is the first of a new generation of Astons developed in collaboration with 5 per cent share-holding Mercedes-AMG, who provide a new engine and electronics.

Launched earlier this year, the driven rag-top Volante (Aston speak for convertible) version is exclusively powered by Mercedes-AMG’s 115kg lighter V8 engine rather than Aston’s in-house V12, to compensate for an additional 110kg of frame stiffening in the absence of a fixed-head roof.

Reflecting a more elegant and less aggressive profile compared to the fixed-head coupe version, the driven Volante version’s understated champagne to light beige launch colour little disguised the DB11’s exoticism. Judging by the overwhelmingly positive reactions it stirred during test drive on UK roads, the softer hue may, however, have taken some of the edge off of any perception of arrogance.

But regardless, it is all too easy to appreciate the beauty of the Volante’s low-slung form, and curvy Coke bottle hips juxtaposing its jutting front and rear fascias, vast gaping front grille, and slim U-shaped rear lights.

Burbling and brisk

Stirring to life with a bass-laden burble brimming with a sense of languid potential, the DB11 Volants’s prodigious Mercedes-AMG sourced twin-turbocharged direct injection 4-litre V8 engine is, however, highly responsive from standstill, owing to its use of two twin-scroll turbos on a “hot-V” position. Located between the two cylinder banks, the turbos’ short gasflow paths help much reduce turbo lag. With its engine note hardening to a thumping mid-range staccato before full-throated wail at top end, the DB11’s engine is responsive and eager rips through to a 7,200rpm rev limit. Vicious and relentless when prodded, it remains refined and smooth when driven forgivingly.

Tuned to produce 503BHP at 6,000rpm, the Volante’s engine also receives an additional 15lb/ft
torque over the fixed-head coupe model, for a total 513lb/ft achieved throughout a broad and seemingly ever accessible 2000-5,000rpm. Digging its huge 295/35ZR20 rear tyres into the ground, the Volante is thoroughly quick, with 0-100km/h arriving in 4.1-seconds and 0-200km/h in 8.8-seconds before continuing to a 300km/h top speed. Effortlessly capable of shifting the Volante’s hefty 1,870kg mass, its engine is mated to a smooth and swift-shifting 8-speed automatic gearbox (rather than Mercedes’ 9-speed) with manual mode paddle shifters to best harness its potential for performance and efficiency.

Fluent and flat

Riding on double wishbone front and multi-link rear suspension with adaptive Skyhook damping, the DB11 can be set in several and escalating driving modes which increase suspension stiffness levels, throttle response and steering weighting. Driving in its most forgiving default mode, the Volante’s ride was expectedly firm over jagged cracks and bumps at low speed, owing to its huge 20-inch low profile tyres. However, once it picks up speed, and through flowing, textured and snaking country lanes, the Volante’s ride becomes surprisingly supple and fluent over punishing vertical imperfections, where its added body stiffening seems to well compensate for the reduced of rigidity associated with convertible cars.

Taut and well containing cornering body roll even in its most comfortable setting, the Volante is eager into corners and agile throughout, and benefits from a limited slip rear differential which apportions power to the driven wheel that can best translate it into traction and forward motion. Meanwhile, a torque vectoring system uses light selective wheel braking to improve agility, manoeuvrability and stability through corners. A noticeably wide car at first when driving through narrow residential roads, one, however, soon develops an instinct for the Volante’s proportions, and once on open country lanes, it feels like a considerably lighter and smaller car.

Sophisticated and settled

Settled on rebound and over crests and dips through switchbacks and B-roads, the DB11 Volante is also reassuringly stable at speed, with little wind buffeting and good heating system allowing for cold weather top down driving. However, at the first sign of a drizzle, the Volante’s well-insulated electrically-operated 8-layer fabric roof raises in just 16-seconds to provide a more refined cabin ambiance. A more compact mechanism, the DB11’s roof frees up more boot room than its DB9 predecessor. However, this is a relative comparison, for while the DB11 Volante’s boot will accommodate weekend luggage for two, it is not exactly generous in absolute terms.

With its Mercedes-AMG engine, and other tri-star electronic components including its infotainment system, the DB11 has a distinct sense of familiarity for regular Mercedes drivers. Its steering had a similar feel and weighting on centre, but was, however, more alert and eager through corners. Regardless, the DB11 has its own distinct and elegantly upmarket sense of ambiance and occasion, with rich two-tone blue and cream leather, quality wood and metal accents, including front seat backs. Thoroughly well equipped with convenience and safety features, the Volante also proved to be unexpectedly practical, with its rear seats accommodating average sized adults.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

• Engine: 4-litre, twin-turbocharged V8-cylinders
• Bore x stroke: 83 x 92mm
• Compression ratio: 10.5:1
• Valve-train: 32-valve, DOHC, direct injection
• Gearbox: 8-speed automatic, rear-wheel-drive, limited-slip differential
• Final drive: 2.703:1
• Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 503 (510) [375] @6000rpm
• Specific power: 126.3BHP/litre
• Power-to-weight: 269BHP/tonne
• Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 513 (695) @2000-5000rpm
• Rev limit: 7,200rpm
• 0-100km/h: 4.1-seconds
• 0-200km/h: 8.8-seconds
• Top speed: 300km/h
• CO2 emissions, combined: 253g/km
• Fuel capacity: 78-litres
• Length: 4,750mm
• Width: 1,950mm
• Height: 1,300mm
• Wheelbase: 2,805mm
• Unladen weight: 1,870kg
• Weight distribution, F/R: 47 per cent/53 per cent
• Steering: Electric-assisted rack & pinion
• Lock-to-lock: 2.4-turns
• Suspension: Double wishbones/multi-link, adaptive dampers
• Brakes, F/R: Ventilated discs 400x36mm/360 x 32mm
• Brake callipers, F/R: 6-/4-piston callipers
• Tyres, F/R: 255/40ZR20/295/35ZR20
• Price: JD192,000 (exclusive of Jordanian taxes and duties)

By Marian Podoleanu

Health and Fitness Educator

We know that exercise makes us healthier and helps us lose weight, prevent injuries and build strength, but what effect does exercise have on our brains?

This year, let’s get “brainy” about our self-care so that we can plan, focus and process better for personal and professional success. Get your family engaged in an endurance sport like running, cycling, jogging, dancing, frisbee — any form of aerobic movement you enjoy for at least three times a week with an intensity that gets you sweating. Remember the benefits are for all ages! And take up yoga to learn how to breathe and practise it every morning before heading to work.

Most of us live in our minds, yet, very little housekeeping, maintenance or improvement is done for our brains. Cell biologist Bruce Spielgeman and his colleagues isolated the FNDC5 hormone and called it IRISIN after Iris, the Greek messenger goddess. Spiegelman foresaw the role of IRISIN as a ‘messenger’: “Exercise ‘talks to’ various tissues in the body.” 

Benefits of aerobic exercises

Studies on people ranging in age from four to 79 prove that aerobic activity in moderation and sustained for enough time to produce a sweat stimulates the muscle cells to produce IRISIN. This hormone is believed to stimulate the hippocampus, which plays an important role in helping our cognitive, memory and information processing capabilities. Stimulating IRISIN generation through sustained aerobic exercise: 

Helps maintain a healthy weight

Stimulates the growth of neurons and improves cognition

May slow the ageing process

Oxygen and water are well-being catalysts we cannot do without. The brain performs at its best when well hydrated and when the body captures enough oxygen to support the brain’s metabolic function. In practice, I have met very few people that know how to breathe. It is a practice we excelled at as kids but forgot as we grew older.

Remember that in order to succeed in life and give more of yourself to your family, company, friends and yourself, you must become more able, more focused and better planned to unleash the creative spirit within you. Have a fantastic 2018!

Reprinted with permission from Family Flavours magazine

PARIS — Women who shun fruit or eat lots of fast food take longer to get pregnant and are less likely to conceive within a year, according to a study released Thursday.

A nearly no-fruit diet compared to one loaded with three or more pieces per day added about two weeks, on average, to the time of conception, researchers reported in the peer-reviewed journal Human Reproduction.

And women who consumed fast foods such as burgers, pizza and deep-fried chicken four or more times a week compared to those who never or rarely touched the stuff took an extra month to become pregnant.

“These findings show that eating a good quality diet that includes fruits and minimising fast food consumption improves fertility and reduces the time it takes to get pregnant,” said lead researcher Claire Robers, a professor at the University of Adelaide in Australia.

Earlier research on food and pregnancy has focused mostly on the diet of women diagnosed with, or receiving treatment for, infertility. The impact of maternal diet before conception among women more generally has received scant scientific attention.

To help fill that gap, Roberts and a dozen colleagues in Australia, Britain and New Zealand combed through data gathered through questionnaires by midwives between 2004 and 2011 in all three countries for the Screening for Pregnancy Endpoints (SCOPE) survey.

Detailed answers given by nearly 5,600 women in the early phase of pregnancy focused on what they ate in the months preceding conception.

All of the women were first-time mothers, and only a relative handful — 340 — had received any kind of fertility treatment before becoming pregnant.

The results showed a clear link between the avoidance of fruits or a fondness for fast-food fare, on the one hand, and a longer “time-to-pregnancy” or higher risk of infertility, on the other.

At the extremes, for example, lots of fast food as opposed to none at all increased the risk of not becoming pregnant by 41 per cent.

The results were adjusted to take into account the potentially adverse impact on fertility of advanced maternal age, obesity, smoking and alcohol consumption.

A mother’s depression is linked with her children’s development from infancy through adolescence, according to a new study. 

Researchers studied 875 middle- or lower-class mothers in Chile and their healthy children over a 16-year period, evaluating participants roughly every four years. 

At any point during the study, about half of the mothers had symptoms of depression, and one-third were severely depressed, according to Patricia East of the University of California San Diego School of Medicine and her colleagues. 

At age five, children with severely depressed mothers had an average verbal IQ score of 7.3 (on a scale of 1 to 19), compared to a higher score of 7.8 in children without depressed mothers. 

The discrepancy “might not seem like a big difference, but it is truly significant and important and highly meaningful for children’s learning skills”, East told Reuters Health by phone. 

These children will have a smaller vocabulary and poorer comprehension skills, East said. 

The study team also found that depressed moms didn’t interact as well with their children, East noted. 

Researchers had observed the mothers’ emotional and verbal communication with their children during spontaneous interactions in the home. They observed how often mothers praised their children, read to them, conveyed positive feelings and hugged their child, among other things. 

Highly depressed moms were less responsive, affectionate, loving and warm. They did not invest emotionally or provide learning materials to their child as much as mothers who were not depressed, the authors write in the journal Child Development. 

They found that a mother’s level of emotional, verbal and educational support was more strongly linked with her depression level as children got older. 

Michael Schoenbaum, senior adviser for mental health services, epidemiology, and economics at the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland, told Reuters Health, “I was persuaded before this study that maternal depression has various adverse effects on children over the course of a child’s life in many different ways. This research reinforces that.” 

However, he cautioned, the study cannot prove that mothers’ depression was the cause of the children’s problems. 

“It’s bad for a child to have a mother with depression and it’s probably surely bad for a mother to have a child who isn’t developing optimally,” Schoenbaum told Reuters Health by phone. 

“I’m not comfortable concluding from their analysis, however carefully it was done, that we know the exact pathways that this happens. But this doesn’t detract from the big picture that maternal depression is something we need to treat,” said Schoenbaum, who was not involved in the study. 

The American Academy of Paediatrics (AAP) recommends screening new mothers for depression during the months after childbirth. 

“Paediatricians are not only there to monitor children’s health, they’re interested in how well a family is adjusting to a new baby,” said Nerissa Bauer of Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, who serves on the AAP’s section of developmental behavioural paediatrics. 

“We want to make sure we can identify a parent who is not feeling good and has depression as soon as possible to get them the help they need and to support them,” said Bauer. She was not involved in the research. 

Among the study’s limitations, the authors note, is that it is based on Chilean women whose parenting style may be different than that of women elsewhere. Also, it did not examine the effect of fathers and extended family on children of depressed mothers. 

“I hope if mom is depressed she’ll seek help or intervention so she’ll likely be a better parent and raise a child with higher verbal scores,” said East. 

Pregnant women who drink lots of coffee and other caffeinated beverages may be more likely to have kids who are overweight than mothers who limit caffeine during pregnancy, a Norwegian study suggests. 

Researchers examined data on caffeine intake for almost 51,000 mothers and weight gain for their babies during infancy. Compared with women who had less than 50 milligrammes of caffeine per day during pregnancy, those who had average intakes between 50 and 199 milligrammes daily were 15 per cent more likely to have a baby with excessive weight gain by age one, the study found. 

Infant weight gain increased as women’s caffeine consumption rose. With “high” intake of 200 to 299 milligrammes of caffeine a day during pregnancy, babies were 22 per cent more likely to have excessive weight gain, and with “very high” intake of at least 300 milligrammes daily, babies were 45 per cent more likely to gain excessive weight. 

“High maternal caffeine intake during pregnancy was related to excess growth from infancy and obesity later in childhood,” said lead study author Eleni Papadopoulou of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. 

“The results support the current recommendations to limit caffeine intake during pregnancy to less than 200 milligrammes of caffeine per day,” Papadopoulou said by e-mail. 

Because the study also found a risk of excess weight in children whose mothers consumed less caffeine, the results also add to the evidence suggesting that pregnant women might want to consider avoiding coffee and soda altogether, Papadopoulou added. 

“It is important that pregnant women are aware that caffeine does not come from coffee only, but that caffeinated soda drinks [e.g. cola-drinks and energy-drinks] can contribute with considerable amounts of caffeine,” Papadopoulou said. 

No research can definitively prove what level of caffeine is safe in pregnancy, because scientists will not ethically test drugs or supplements in women when there is a potential to harm mothers or their babies. 

Caffeine passes rapidly through the placenta and has been linked to an increased risk of miscarriage and restricted foetal development, previous research has found. 

Some studies in animals also suggest that exposure to caffeine in the womb might contribute to excessive weight gain by altering the baby’s appetite control or changing areas of the brain that play a role in regulating growth and metabolism, Papadopoulou said. 

Very high caffeine exposure was also associated with more rapid weight gain from infancy through age 8. However, the researchers only had complete height, weight and growth data through age 8 for 23 per cent of the children. For most of the kids, researchers estimated growth through age eight based on children’s development over their first 12 months of life.