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With its long-standing motto of Vorsprung durch Technik — or ‘Advancement through Technology’ — as a background theme or inspiration, Audi unveiled the world’s most advanced self-driving car at an extravaganza event showcasing the brand’s direction and technologies for the near future. Taking centre stage at the one-brand Audi summit exposition in Barcelona, Spain, Audi’s fourth generation A8 luxury flagship saloon is slated to hit showrooms later this year as a 2018 model. Spearheading the Ingolstadt manufacturer’s drive towards a highly advanced automotive future, the A8 leapfrogs systems currently offered by Audi’s traditional premium German rivals.

With Audi AI (artificial intelligence) technology and zFAS central vehicle assistance control unit premiering with this model, the Audi A8 is the first series-production car with level three autonomous driving capability — measured on a scale of zero, with no assistance, to full self-driving cars at level five. A hallmark feature of the new A8, Traffic Jam Pilot allows for self-driving ability at 60km/h or less in certain situations. Autonomously starting, accelerating, braking, steering and handling situations where other vehicles cut in close in front, Traffic Jam Pilot requires the driver to be ready to re-take control when necessary rather than to be monitored with by the driver, as with rival systems.

Capable of self driving and remotely self parking, the A8’s autonomous abilities leverage ultrasound and radar sensors, laser scanners, camera-based systems, high performance data processor and rapid Internet connectivity. A significant step towards a “surely autonomous” future of driving, as predicted by Audi Board of Management Member for Technical Development Peter Mertens, Audi AI in future will encompass a broader range of self-learning functions, and along with My Audi connectivity platform and Audi E-tron electrified drive, will be what Audi stands for in the future, as elaborated by Mertens in his opening remarks at the Barcelona event.

Currently utilising supervised learning development methods for application in the A8, Audi AI is also evaluating deep reinforcement methods in artificial intelligence, and had scale models displayed at Barcelona, which could, through trial and error, navigate obstacles and self-park. However, for future, Audi AI is expected to develop into a broader system integrating and interplaying various technologies that will be able to interact with other vehicles and infrastructure. Audi AI will thus become a “thinking, empathetic assistant” able to anticipate driver wishes and “proactively support them”, whether suggesting and booking services or independently carry out tasks (parking, refuelling, charging and car wash) at specifically designated Audi AI Zones, according to Audi literature. 

In addition to driving efficiency and safety improvements that AI and autonomy is anticipated to eventually yield, Audi also highlights time-saving as another benefit, with its 25th Hour project looking at ways to adapt a fully piloted car’s interior and systems for optimal time-management for work or leisure during a journey. However, with fully automated driving still a way off into the future, Audi has founded the Beyond initiative, which takes a multi-disciplinary approach to research the legal, ethical and acceptance issues related to automotive AI. In the meantime, the introduction of the A8’s Traffic Jam Pilot system will be conducted in a step-by-step approach as and when the statuary framework in individual markets is clarified.

Much to the crowd’s pleasure during the opening spectacular, Audi’s iconic 1980s Pike’s Peak winning Quattro S1 racer and legendary driver Walter Rohrl were reunited on stage. With is distinctively viciously five-cylinder acoustics and angular, be-winged body, the S1 was a reminder of Audi’s past and a then-crucial moment in the brand’s development, much as the A8 stands to become yet another transformative moment. The loud and proud Quattro S1 was juxtaposed with Audi’s latest stealthy and silent Formula E racer. The first of the German brands to enter Formula E, Audi’s commitment to an electric future is already beginning to bear fruit.

Adopting certain hybrid electric technologies across the A8 model range, Audi will also introduce a dedicated A8 L E-tron Quattro hybrid model soon after, and is set to launch an all-electric series-production SUV in 2018, based on the E-tron Quattro Concept from the 2015 Frankfurt motor show. Committed to sustainability and efficiency in electric and combustion engine drivelines, Audi’s AI systems look to reducing urban pollution from drivers looking for parking spaces, while the company also plans to convert its Brussels E-tron plant, where its first electric cars are being built, into a CO2 neutral facility.

Audi A8: Technological tour de force

Set stands to become the most technologically sophisticated luxury car when it goes on sale, the Audi A8 was publically unveiled at the Audi summit days ago, but selected media had an opportunity to view the car in more detail and appreciate its design detail and expression the day before. Seemingly sitting on all four wheels with an authoritative stance to emphasise its Quattro four-wheel-drive, the A8 also features a flowing roofline and optional laser headlights. Dominated by its vast and upright hexagonal grille, the A8 detailed and fluent body surfacing and crisp ridges were of particular interest when viewed in a studio setting.

Under its sculpted bonnet the A8 will initially be offered with a turbocharged 3-litre V6 engine, with V8, W12 and full hybrid versions soon to follow. However, all models will feature a 48v hybrid technology, which utilises regenerative braking to charge. This system allows for significantly enhanced efficiency by allowing the car to coast with the engine switch off when coming to a stop, and for more extensive and smoother operation of the fuel-saving stop/start system. It will also power the A8’s innovative AI-integrated fully active suspension, which uses cameras to ‘‘read’’ the road and electromechanical to control each wheel for enhanced, ride comfort, handling and safety.

In addition to highly autonomous driving and parking and extensive safety and assistance technologies, the A8 features all-wheel steering across the range for enhanced agility, stability and manoeuvrability. Inside its plush leather and open-pore wood trimmed cabin, the A8 features a reductive horizontally-orientated design, with tactile buttons and 10.1-inch infotainment screen blending almost invisibly with high gloss black trim when off. From the screen and glass-look buttons and touchpad, one accesses vast infotainment features, including self-learning navigation system. Additionally, its touch pad is highly responsive to written input, while voice control recognises natural speech patterns.

Among the latest additions to Mercedes-Benz’ ever burgeoning model lines catering body styles to different niches, the GLC-Class Coupe is, however, an alternative spin-off of the GLC-Class mid-size SUV. Sporting a significantly lower roofline and rakishly angled hatchback at the rear in place of the SUV version’s more traditional estate-like body style, the GLC Coupe is a flashier, less practical vehicle than its taller GLC SUV sister. Virtually identical in mechanicals, platform and technology, the Coupe may be more of a fashionably impulsive alternative, but it is, however, imbued with enough of a sporting flavour to distinguish itself from the SUV.

Fashion statement

In essence a car-based vehicle with SUV proportions and ride height and a ‘4-door coupe’ body, the GLC Coupe sacrifices some practicality and space for fashion and design. A direct rival to the BMW X4 and is a junior scale model to complement Mercedes’ own GLE-Class Coupe. Smoother, less complicated or aggressive, and with more flowing lines than the former the GLC Coupe has a smaller and less imposing scale than the latter, and consequently, seems less excessive than and would be expected to have a broader appeal than either X4 or GLE Coupe. However, and regardless of the Coupe’s charms, the GLC SUV remains the better all-rounder.

Sharing the same width and wheelbase as the GLC SUV, the Coupe is, however, lower and longer at the rear overhang, and is the heavier of the two versions at 1785kg in GLC250 Coupe 4Matic, as driven. In terms of design, the Coupe has a distinctly sportier and flowing appearance, with broad two-slat chequered grille, big lower intakes, and assertively raised and ridged boned. Its rakishly arced silhouette, muscular haunches, sculpted side character line and big protruding sills all converge towards a slanted and pertly up-tilted rear end. Meanwhile, optional staggered 255/45R20 front and vast 285/40R20 rear tyres, further accentuate the GLC Coupe’s squat and urgent demeanour.

A sportier flavour

Powered by the ‘250’ iteration of Mercedes’ familiar direct injection turbocharged 2-litre four-cylinder engine, the GLC250 4Matic Coupe’s performance and characteristics are very similar to, but slightly lesser than, the GLC300 4Matic — powered by a more powerful variant, and featured in these pages on previous occasion. With the same faintly distinct four-cylinder chatter at idling, the GLC250 Coupe sounds throatier, growlier and fruitier acoustics when pushed hard. Crackling and rorting when upshifting at high load and rpm in Sport+ driving mode, the GLC250 Coupe, however, develops 33BHP and 14lb/ft torque less than the previously driven GLC300 SUV , and is 0.8-seconds slower through 0-100km/h, given the same gearing but a 50kg disadvantage.

Quick spooling with little turbo-lag from standstill, the GLC250 revs willingly to its 208BHP maximum at 5500rpm, but is best at its broad and brawny mid-range sweet spot, where it develops 258lb/ft throughout 1200-4000rpm.

Welling up with an urgent wave of accessible and versatile mid-range torque, the GLC250 is confident and quick inclines and when overtaking, which is aided by Mercedes’ new 9-speed automatic gearbox. Slick, smooth and quick shifting and with a broad range of ratios for responsiveness, flexibility, refinement and efficiency, the new gearbox is a big improvement on its 7-speed predecessor, and helps the GLC250 achieve brisk 7.3-second 0-100km/h acceleration, 222km/h top speed and modest 6.9l/100km fuel efficiency.

Buttoned down

Smooth, composed, refined and comfortable — if slightly firmer — the GLC250 Coupe drives very similar to the GLC SUV, as is to be expected. However, with firmer optional sports suspension and massively wide and lower profile rear tyres complementing its more aggressive design and optional AMG body styling, the driven GLC Coupe was more eager, agile and taut through corners. With quick and direct electric-assisted steering, the GLC250 Coupe is tidy and progressive turning in when driven moderately briskly, but pushed hard and aggressively into a corner and expected under-steer seems a little more pronounced than in the GLC SUV.

This is perhaps due to its staggered wheels with slimmer front and broader and grippier rear tyres, but a more committed cornering line can be achieved by turning in tight and early and perhaps by slight lift-off to pivot weight to the rear and outside wheel. With huge grip at the rear when leaned on, the GLC Coupe’s optional rear tyres are reassuring, while oversteer is caught and corrected quickly by aggressively cautious electronic stability controls, even when driving in the less intrusive but still active ‘‘off’’ setting. Meanwhile, the rear drive-biased 4Matic four-wheel-drive system sends more power frontwards to find additional traction and stability through corners and over loose surfaces.

Hunkered down

Stable and reassuring on highway and smooth if slightly firm over imperfections, the GLC250 Coupe is well controlled through corners with little body lean. Over crests and dips there is little vertical pitch while rebound is settled. Brakes are, meanwhile, confident. Well-insulated from noise, harshness and vibration inside, and with a supportive, comfortable and well adjustable seating position, the GLC Coupe has a hunkered down driving position and cabin ambiance. And while front visibility is good, the GLC Coupe’s low roofline, small glasshouse, rakish and thick pillars and wide accentuated body and surfacing does, however, restrict side, rear and over shoulder visibility compared to its SUV sister.

The GLC250 Coupe, however, feature a rearview camera and parking assistance system, which one relies on more often than in the SUV, while a tight turning circle helps manoeuvrability. Meanwhile, optional blindspot and lane-keeping assistance would be worthwhile options to invest in, among numerous driver assistance systems available.

Well-spaced and packaged in front, the GLC Coupe’s rear headroom is compromised compared to the SUV, but suffices, while luggage capacity is reduced somewhat. Luxurious and sporty with optional AMG Line interior, the Coupe features good quality finish, textures and materials, with uncluttered and user-friendly layouts, with forward jutting dashboard, clear cone-like instrumentation, and both touchpad and rotary controls for its tablet-style infotainment system.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 2-litre, turbocharged, in-line 4-cylinders

Bore x stroke: 83.1 x 91.9mm

Compression ratio: 9.8:1

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

Gearbox: 9-speed automatic, four-wheel-drive

Ratios: 1st 5.35 2nd 3.24 3rd 2.25 4th 1.64 5th 1.21 6th 1.0 7th 0.86; 8th 0.72; 9th 0.6

Reverse/final drive ratio: 4.8/3.27

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 208 (211) [155] @5500rpm

Specific power: 104.5BHP/litre

Power-to-weight: 116.5BHP/tonne

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 258 (350) @ 1200-4000rpm

Specific torque: 175.8Nm/litre

Torque-to-weight: 196Nm/tonne

0-100km/h: 7.3-seconds

Maximum speed: 222km/h

Fuel consumption, urban/extra-urban/combined: 8.4-/6-/6.9-litres/100km

CO2 emissions, combined: 159g/km

Fuel tank: 66-litres

Length: 4732mm

Width: 1890mm

Height: 1602mm

Wheelbase: 2873mm

Track, F/R: 1620/1619mm

Overhang, F/R: 831/1028mm

Aerodynamic drag co-efficiency: 0.32

Headroom, F/R: 988/972mm

Shoulder room, F/R: 1455/1436mm

Loading height: 824mm

Boot capacity, min/max: 500-/1400-litres

Unladen weight: 1785kg

Steering: Electric-assisted, rack and pinion

Turning circle: 11.8-metres

Suspension: Multi-link, anti-roll bars

Brakes: Ventilated discs

Tyres, F/R: 255/45R20/285/40R20 (optional)

PARIS — What inspires humans to acts of generosity? Economists, psychologists and philosophers have pondered this question for millennia.

If one assumes that human behaviour is primarily motivated by self-interest, it seems illogical to willingly sacrifice resources for others.

In an attempt to solve this paradox, some experts have theorised that giving satisfies a desire to boost one’s standing in a group. 

Others have suggested it fosters tribal cooperation and cohesion — a key element in mammal survival. Yet another explanation is that we give only because we expect to receive something in return.

The real answer, a study recently suggested, may be much simpler: Giving makes us happy.

Scientists conducted an experiment with 50 people at a lab in Zurich who reported on their own happiness levels after acts of generosity.

Consistently, they indicated that giving was a feel-good experience. 

At the same time, MRI scans revealed that an area of the brain linked to generosity triggered a response in another part related to happiness.

“Our study provides behavioural and neural evidence that supports the link between generosity and happiness,” the team wrote in the journal Nature Communications.

Trial participants were promised an amount of 25 Swiss francs (23 euros or $26) per week for four weeks. 

Half were asked to commit to spending the money on other people, while the rest could plan how they would spoil themselves. No money was actually received or spent by either group.

Don’t hoard, be happy

After committing to spending, the participants replied to questions while their brains were being scanned. The questions evoked scenarios pitting the participants’ own interests against those of the beneficiaries of their experimental largesse.

The researchers examined activity in three areas of the brain — one linked to altruism and social behaviour, a second to happiness, and a third area involved in decision making.

The group that committed to giving money away reported being happier than self-spenders, the team found — even without having acted on their pledges.

The degree of happiness they reported was independent of the amounts they committed.

The findings have implications for education, politics, economics and public health, said the researchers.

“Generosity and happiness improve individual well-being and can facilitate societal success,” they wrote.

“However in everyday life, people underestimate the link between generosity and happiness and therefore overlook the benefits of... spending” on others.

Fascinating questions remain.

“Can communication between these brain regions be trained and strengthened?” asked Soyoung Park of the University of Luebeck in Germany, who co-authored the study.

“Does the effect last when it is used deliberately, that is, if a person only behaves generously in order to feel happier?”

On Monday, a different study said humans were wired to help less fortunate people, but only if this does not upend the existing social pecking order.

Humans are big fans of bees. We rely on them to pollinate crops like almonds, watermelons and apples.

But bees probably are not big fans of humans — at least, not of our agricultural practices.

In particular, they ought to be offended by our fondness for a widely used class of pesticides called neonicotinoids (neonics, for short).

Studies in the lab have shown that some doses of neonics are outright lethal to many bees and that even sublethal doses can shorten a colony’s lifespan and harm its overall health. Results have been similar in small-scale field studies.

Still, exactly how these pesticides, which are applied to seeds before planting, would affect bees in the real world remains something of a mystery. Scientists have been locked in a fierce debate over how much — and for how long — bees encounter these pesticides in their daily lives. After all, the conditions in a field are far more complex than those in a lab.

Now, two studies published side by side in the journal Science attempt to answer this contentious question.

One of the studies was conducted in Canada. It combined large-scale field work and laboratory experiments to better understand real-world neonic exposure levels and their effects on honeybees.

The other was conducted in large fields in Hungary, Germany and the UK. Its goal was to understand how the effects of neonics vary between countries and how exposure during the flowering season affects the long-term health of a bee colony.

The research, published on Thursday, provides a lot of new information and poses still more questions. Here are some of the key takeaways:

—Bees are exposed to neonicotinoids for longer than we thought

In the Canadian study, biologist Amro Zayed and his team at York University in Toronto monitored 55 honeybee colonies in 11 locations from May through September 2014, a longer time than previously measured. They found that honeybees placed near cornfields planted with neonic-coated seeds were exposed to detectable levels of neonicotinoids for three to four months.

Even some of the bees placed far away from agricultural crops were exposed for around one month as the pesticide moved through the ecosystem. (More on that in a bit).

In the European study, a team led by Ben Woodcock and Richard Pywell from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in England studied bees in 33 sites, each split into areas that were treated with pesticides and areas that were not. They found that bees were exposed to neonics even in the untreated fields. This was particularly surprising considering that the chemicals have been restricted in Europe since 2014.

The researchers said this indicates that the pesticides remain in the environment long after a treated crop has been harvested.

In general, both studies showed that the concentrations of neonicotinoids that bees actually encounter in fields are indeed dangerous for bees.

Woodcock’s team found that, in Hungary and the UK, the more neonicotinoids there were in the ecosystem, the smaller the size of the honeybee colonies and the lower the fertility rate of wild bees.

Zayed and his team showed that worker honeybees died around five days sooner when exposed to neonics. That amounted to a 23 per cent decrease in lifespan.

Exposed worker bees also displayed different behaviour than unexposed bees. They tended to fly farther from the hive, as if they were lost. That symptom has been seen in previous studies.

The worker bees also were slower to recognise and remove dead or dying bees from the hive. This is important because removal keeps colonies healthy by eliminating potential sources of disease, Zayed said.

Perhaps most devastating, exposed honeybee colonies had difficulty keeping a laying queen. This can be catastrophic because if a replacement queen is not raised within three days of the previous queen’s death, no new eggs can be produced, and the colony will quickly die.

Between 70 per cent and 80 per cent of Zayed’s exposed colonies would have died without outside help, he said.

In both studies, neonicotinoids were found in untreated areas and plants.

Zayed’s group found that most of the contaminated pollen collected by Canadian honeybees actually was from untreated wildflowers, not from treated corn or soy.

While scientists do not know how neonicotinoids spread in the environment, there are several plausible explanations.

Since these pesticides can dissolve in water, it is likely that dispersal occurs when neonic-contaminated water is sucked up by other plants, Zayed said.

Richard Shore and Pywell, both researchers from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, said that water, soil and dust are all possible ways neonics might spread.

One of the biggest messages from the European study is that the real world is incredibly complex, said Maj Rundlof, who studies bees at the University of California, Davis and Lund University and was not involved in either of the new studies. The variation is so great, both within and between countries, she said, that there must be a wide variety of factors at play.

One is the particular combination of agrochemicals to which bees are exposed. Farmland may be treated with pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and more. Just as some medications can interact with others, Zayed said, agrochemicals can join forces to intensify harm to bees.

Zayed’s team analysed the toxicity effects of the two most common combinations found in their field tests. In one case, the results were startling: When the neonicotinoid thiamethoxam was combined with the fungicide boscalid, the neonic became twice as toxic to honeybees.

Additionally, the Woodcock team found that neonics had different effects in different countries. The pesticides did the least damage in Germany, and the team has a number of ideas as to why.

The German bee colonies were much healthier overall, with fewer instances of disease and parasites. They also had different diets, consisting of only about 15 per cent neonic-treated rapeseed; in Hungary and the UK, by contrast, rapeseed accounts for 40 per cent to 50 per cent of the diet.

— This does not necessarily mean we should ban neonicotinoids

The study authors and multiple other experts said it would be premature to ban neonicotinoids.

Norman Carreck, who researches bees at the University of Sussex and did not work on the new studies, said the EU’s 2014 moratorium on neonics has led to pest problems in England. The moratorium forced farmers to use alternative pesticides, and their effects on bees are mostly unknown.

“Farmers do an important job,” Zayed said. In making a decision about neonicotinoid use, we need to find a solution that “would reduce the cost to pollinators but at the same time still allow farmers to produce an economically viable crop”.

Pregnant women who drink non-diet sodas during pregnancy are more likely to have kids who carry extra body fat by age 7, researchers say. 

In the study of more than 1,000 mother-child pairs, each additional serving of sugary soda per day consumed in pregnancy was associated with higher increments of waist size and body mass in kids years later. 

“Sugary beverages have been linked to obesity in children and adults,” said study author Sheryl Rifas-Shiman of Harvard Medical School in Boston. 

Although past research has tied sodas and some fruit drinks to excess weight gain, obesity, metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes, few have looked at beverage intake during pregnancy, she and her colleagues wrote in Paediatrics. 

“Childhood obesity is widespread and hard to treat,” Rifas-Shiman told Reuters Health by e-mail. “So it’s important to identify modifiable factors that occur prenatally and during infancy so prevention can start early.” 

The researchers recruited 1,078 women from among patients at eight obstetric offices affiliated with Atrius Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates in eastern Massachusetts. 

The study team had in-person meetings with each woman at the end of her first and second trimesters, as well as during the first few months after her baby was born. In addition, kids were assessed in early childhood, around age three, and in mid-childhood, around age eight. Mothers also completed mailed questionnaires every year for the child’s first six birthdays. 

At all visits, researchers collected information about both parents and details of the household. During pregnancy, women answered questionnaires about what they typically ate and drank, including how much regular and sugar-free soda, fruit juice, fruit drinks and water they consumed each day. 

At the mid-childhood visit, when kids were between ages 6 and 11 years, the research team measured each child’s height, weight, waist circumference and skinfold thickness. With these measurements, they calculated body fat percentage and body mass index (BMI), a measure of weight relative to height. 

When researchers looked at data gathered during pregnancy, they found that more than half of mothers had consumed more than half a serving a day of non-diet soda during pregnancy, and nearly 10 per cent had consumed two or more servings a day. 

Mothers who drank more sugary drinks during pregnancy tended to be younger, had higher prepregnancy BMI, lower education, lower income, shorter breastfeeding times and were more likely to have smoked during pregnancy. 

About one quarter of the children were overweight or obese by mid-childhood, and BMI, waist circumference and skinfold thickness were highest among kids whose mothers drank at least two servings of sugary drinks per day. 

Only regular sodas were associated with this difference. Juice, diet soda and water consumed during pregnancy were not linked to a higher BMI score in kids. The research team also did not see differences based on the mother’s weight, race or ethnicity, the child’s gender or the amount of soda children themselves drank. 

“I was surprised that maternal intake seemed to be more important than child intake,” Rifas-Shiman noted. 

In the future, she and colleagues plan to study the long-term effects of efforts to reduce sugary beverage intake during pregnancy. They are now using new methods to analyse when children’s intake of sugary beverages matters the most for their weight and health. 

“I was struck that the differences in children’s body composition were seen in relation to intake levels that appear unremarkable, even less than one serving per day,” said Sian Robinson of the University of Southampton in the UK, who was not involved in the study. 

“We need to know more about the long-term effects of maternal nutrition on offspring health,” she told Reuters Health by e-mail. “Few intervention studies in pregnancy have longer-term follow-up data to describe the effects on children’s body composition.” 

“The links between sugar-sweetened beverages and obesity are well-established,” she said. “But this new data suggests mothers’ consumption is important and has public health relevance.” 

Instead of drinking milk or taking supplements to get adequate amounts of calcium, calcium-rich mineral water is an equally good source, researchers say. 

“The special feature of mineral water as a source of calcium is as a calorie-free alternative to milk and dairy products,” Theresa Greupner of Leibniz University Hannover in Germany told Reuters Health in an e-mail. “In a world with a steadily growing number of overweight and obese people it is important to reduce the energy intake and to promote alternatives to satisfy the calcium demand apart from high caloric milk and dairy products.”

Her team’s study, funded by the Association of German Mineral Water Bottlers, looked at how well the body absorbed calcium in five different products, each containing 300mg calcium: three types of calcium-rich mineral water, milk and a calcium supplement. 

Twenty-one men and women participated in the study. There was no difference in how calcium from the five different sources was absorbed, the researchers report in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, online June 19.

Other minerals in the water did not affect calcium absorption.

Most mineral waters list mineralisation on the label, and the higher the amount of calcium, the better the water is as a calcium source, Greupner said.

A person would need to drink two litres of 500 mg/L mineral water per day, or more than three eight-ounce cups of milk, to meet the German standard daily requirement of 1,000 mg calcium. In the US, 1,300 mg/day of calcium is recommended for adults. 

It’s well known in Italy that mineral water can be a good source of calcium, Dr Maria Luisa Brandi of the University of Florence in Italy told Reuters Health in a phone interview. 

Brandi, who wasn’t involved in the current study, and her colleagues showed in a 2004 study that calcium in mineral water was as well absorbed as calcium in milk.

“The concept is well established in medicine,” Brandi said. “We recommend water with high calcium content for osteoporotic patients.”

If your music listening habits date back to the end of the nineteenth century, you may consider updating them. It is not just about the MP3 format, YouTube and audio streaming over Internet. It is also about equipment, amplifiers, speakers, wifi and Bluetooth connectivity. They have changed everything.

The digital revolution did not only create compressed MP3 music, making it mainly a practical thing, albeit less acceptable and less pleasing to demanding audiophile ears. It also introduced new hardware to match the change. The scope of modification is huge. It is comparable to what digital photography did to film cameras.

Amplifiers that come with built-in wifi, USB and Bluetooth are more and more common. Not forgetting the optical links that today provide the utmost audio quality. Even record players (or turntables) are not what they used to be. 

Technics and Pioneer, the Japanese makers of quality audio equipment and two renowned leaders in the turntables market, seem to have the wind in their sails. Since circa 2010 analogue vinyl records, or LPs, are fashion again, making turntables a must if you think of yourself, as a sophisticated or refined listener; a purist. But if you still use a unit made before 2000, there are a few features that certainly are lacking in your equipment.

New turntables now come with two important features. The first is a built-in phono pre-amp, an electronic element that is a must to play records, and that used to be integrated in amplifiers, not in turntables. The second is a USB output port that allows you easily to digitise the record you are playing back and to convert it to digital files, such as MP3 for instance. It brings the best of both worlds, the analogue and the digital. Before this USB-based feature was available converting LPs to digital used to require complex equipment, time, effort and technical knowledge.

Denon, Pioneer, Onkyo and Yamaha, among others industries, now offer audio amplifiers that have little to do with the “old” models, except for the quality of the sound they can produce and that has consistently remained excellent through the years.

The integration of wifi and/or Bluetooth in these amps is an invaluable advantage, as it lets you play the music streaming from the web or stored in your computer, smartphone, tablet or any mobile device, directly through the amp, and without wires or cables. Without built-in wifi or Bluetooth you would have to buy an external and cumbersome wireless adapter to do the trick; which is what those of us who are still holding on strong to their old amp are doing!

Though myself a die-hard audiophile and a heavy consumer of music of all genres, I have not inserted a single CD in a player for the last six or seven years, if not even longer. But of course I listen to music all the time! It all goes wirelessly, mainly through the home network router, going out from computers and then reaching to the amplifier and to the speakers. Minimum wiring is used; maximum convenience is the reward. Moreover, there are countless mobile apps out there that let you control everything from the comfort of your smartphone, remotely.

The digital revolution and wireless networking have not only forced existing, time-honoured manufacturers, like the above mentioned ones, to modify and update their equipment, it has already created new companies that have introduced very creative ways to listen to digitally stored music. Sonos, for instance, is one such manufacturer that started very early to adopt the new digital ways and offers comprehensive sounds systems entirely designed and built around hi-tech, wifi and Bluetooth, from the onset. The American company introduces itself very eloquently on their website: “In 2002, we set out with a goal – to reinvent home audio for the digital age.”

Perhaps the most flagrant example of the new ways is the incredible choice in the market of small, battery powered Bluetooth speakers. They are inexpensive and they are everywhere. Whereas they may not be the best equipment to listen to delicate classical music or to some forms of jazz, they are hard to beat in terms of convenience and price. From Bose to Bang & Olufsen, from Creative to JBL, there is hardly a manufacturer that does not offer Bluetooth speakers. With prices from $50 to $200 for most good models, low cost is another attractive feature.

In addition to listening convenience and uncluttered setup, digital audio systems provide good library management for the music. This is another invaluable tool that has made drawers, shelves and closets full of CDs a thing of the past. Besides, for someone who today is a teenager CDs already belong to the past.

A higher risk of death is associated with long-term use of popular stomach acid reducers known as proton pump inhibitors, according to a new study.

These drugs are sold under brand names such as Prilosec, Nexium, Protonix, Zegerid, Aciphex and Dexilant, along with generic versions such as omeprazole, lansoprazole and pantoprazole. Originally available only by prescription, they are increasingly offered over the counter. The study looked at prescription use only.

Each year, an estimated 15 million Americans are prescribed proton pump inhibitors, commonly called PPIs. That figure doesn’t include over-the-counter sales.

Previous studies have indicated that long-term use of PPIs is associated with elevated risks for heart disease, fractures of various bones and other medical problems. The new analysis goes further by linking these medications to higher death rates.

Prolonged use of PPIs was associated with a 25 per cent greater risk of death, compared with people taking H2 blockers, another class of acid reducers. H2 blockers are sold under brand names including Pepcid, Tagamet and Zantac, as well as generic names such as famotidine, cimetidine and ranitidine.

For the new report, researchers examined millions of military veterans’ prescription records that spanned an average of nearly six years. Their findings were published Monday in the journal BMJ Open; the study can be found at j.mp/acidppi. The senior author was Dr Ziyad Al Aly of the US Department of Veterans Affairs’ health system in St Louis.

Acid reducers treat painful ailments including GERD (gastroesophogeal reflux disease), heartburn and peptic ulcers.

Physicians should prescribe PPIs when there’s a legitimate reason — but only long enough to provide benefits that outweigh the risks, the study’s authors said. The increased mortality associated with PPIs was proportionately connected to their duration of use.

Some makers of proton pump inhibitors said this week that their products are effective and safe when used for the recommended period, which is typically about two weeks per full course of the over-the-counter versions. They did not specifically address the issue of patients often taking prescription-level PPIs for much longer periods and at higher doses.

For the new study’s main analysis, VA records of 349,312 patients were analysed. Of those people, 275,977 were prescribed PPIs and 73,335 were prescribed H2 blockers. Between these two groups, the patients who took PPIs showed the 25 per cent higher death rate.

Two secondary comparisons were also made.

One found a 15 per cent increased death rate for PPI users compared to patients who did not use PPIs but may have taken another kind of acid suppressor (other than H2 blockers). Records from 3,288,092 patients were examined for that comparison.

In the other secondary comparison, the death rate was 23 per cent higher among PPI users compared to people who did not use any acid suppressor. A total of 2,887,070 patient records were examined for that analysis.

The study’s comparisons were observational, so the conclusions are not as definitive as a randomised, placebo-controlled clinical trial.

Another limitation is that the VA patients were “mostly older, white male US veterans”, the report’s authors said, so the results may not apply directly to a larger population. Also, the study did not get information on the causes of death for the targeted patient population.

However, the newly published findings are consistent with previous studies that showed long-term use of PPIs, but not H2 blockers, is associated with higher rates of disease. These include kidney disease, dementia and infection by the antibiotic-resistant superbug C. difficile.

Proton pump inhibitors work by a different mechanism than H2 blockers, explaining the differing responses. PPIs block stomach cells called parietal cells from releasing positively charged hydrogen atoms, or protons, into the stomach. This inhibits production of stomach acid, chemically known as hydrochloric acid.

H2 blockers stop the action of histamine, which stimulates parietal cells to produce hydrochloric acid. This indirect method is less efficient than that of PPIs, but is sufficient for many patients.

A study published in the journal JAMA Neurology last year found a 44 per cent increased risk of dementia among people using PPIs.

Proton pump inhibitors can cause nutritional deficiencies, because acid is needed to release essential nutrients such as vitamin B12. Since stomach acid kills pathogenic bacteria, use of acid reducers also has been linked to increased rates of food poisoning.

A 2015 study led by Stanford University researchers found that use of PPIs, but not H2 blockers, is associated with higher risk of heart attacks.

And in one of the most unusual side effects, PPIs have been found to cause visual hallucinations in some patients with wet macular degeneration.

After receiving wonderful farewell parties from my dear friends in Amman because of my impending relocation, I am back to writing my column and it is business as usual. I am behaving as normally as possible but it is difficult to, manoeuvre around the huge cardboard boxes that are currently blocking large parts of my home. The professional packers arrive tomorrow, but I have done more than half their job by now.

To distract myself, since morning I have been trying to ‘‘straighten my hair in a few minutes’’. I know I have fairly straight hair already and I do not really need to make it more so, but this advertisement of a magical hairbrush popped up in my spam mail, and instead of deleting it like I should have, I decided to read it till the very end.

It was one clipping of a happy woman who runs a hairbrush through her huge mass of unruly wavy curls, which within seconds turn smooth as silk. “Straighten your hair in a few minutes,” said the tagline even though the model achieved the results in the blink of an eye. I was fascinated and decided to buy the product immediately.

You must have realised by now that I am one of those gullible people who watches every YouTube video that teaches face contouring or cellulite controlling. Following one demonstration made the sides of my face and nose look patchier than the rest of it and the other gave me bluish bruises from the suction cup, but that is not the point. The idea is to enthusiastically follow what our nuns taught us in school, which was, ‘‘nothing ventured, nothing gained’’.

Incidentally, I always wonder at the personal lives of these mannequins who are portrayed as looking overjoyed even when they are doing dull household chores like vacuum cleaning or clothes washing. Are they really as cheerful as they are made out to be? Don’t they have any grievances? How do they manage to hide their sorrow? The last time I had a quarrel with my husband I sat through an entire event wearing big sunglasses and snivelling into my handkerchief like a tormented housewife, but here I digress. 

Soon, the particular hairbrush is procured and I run it over my head in the exact manner that is depicted in the recording. It comes with many features such as a two in one handle and straightener that leaves the hair smooth while also doing the work of a dryer, a three-year warranty, is tangle-free, provides 1000 watts of power, and has a slimmer design to make it compact enough to fit anywhere. 

Right! It claims to be perfect and is designed by busy women for busy women, the pamphlet explains. “The copywriter sounds like a copycat of Abraham Lincoln’s definition of democracy but no one can be busier than I am at this precise moment”, says the voice in my head. 

To use it one has to simply switch it on and start brushing. I do precisely that and a strong whiff of something burning assails my senses immediately. I am horrified to see the ends of my hair singe before my astonished eyes. 

“Strange smell!” my spouse announces as he walks into the room. 

“What?” I exclaim. 

“Short circuit somewhere?” he queries. 

“Like an electrical fuse?” I swing my singed strands away. 

“You burnt your hair!” he notices finally.

“Well, it is the latest style you know,” I explain.