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PARIS — Whenever the “widow” spider is mentioned, people tend to sympathise with the hapless male — best known for its tendency to end up as a post-coital snack.

Well, pity them no more.

Widow spider males have developed a rather gruesome method of saving their own skins, scientists recently revealed.

To avoid becoming the lunch of adult females, some males have taken to inseminating juveniles which have no external genitalia yet — penetrating right through their exoskeletons to deposit sperm.

The females retain the sperm and produce offspring later, when they have matured.

Unlike mating with adults, this option “rarely ends in cannibalism” of the males, the research team wrote in the Royal Society Journal Biology Letters.

“This means that many males actually have the chance to mate more than once,” study co-author Maydianne Andrade of the University of Toronto Scarborough told AFP — boosting their chances of reproductive success.

Andrade and a team were conducting unrelated research on two species in the “Latrodectus” or widow spider genus, when they observed the behaviour.

In both the Australian redback spider (L. hasselti), and the brown widow (L. geometricus), there is high competition among males for mating rights with females, which are several times larger than them.

Many males get to copulate only once in their life before being eaten — sometimes even during the encounter. 

Females, on the other hand, may mate more than once — thus reducing their original male partners’ chances of fatherhood. 

Precision required 

The researchers noticed that in the laboratory, and in nature, males mounted immature females whose genital organs and openings were still covered by a shell-like exoskeleton, which is shed before the creature reaches adulthood.

It appeared the males used their fangs to cut through the shell, then deposit their seed in the females’ sperm receptacles, called spermathecae.

“They manage to do this quite carefully, opening only this part of the shell, and as far as we can tell, without causing any injury to the female,” said Andrade.

And they had to do it at just the right time — as soon as the genitalia and sperm storage organs are fully developed but not yet exposed — just a few days before the final moulting.

The males put much less effort into courting juveniles than adult females, said the researchers — something that is usually done by drumming messages on the female’s web.

The altered mating behaviour did not seem to affect the juvenile females’ development or fertility.

The team said theirs was the first study to report successful insemination of immature female animals.

They discovered that as many as a third of widow spider females were being mated as juveniles.

“So even in this extreme system where females usually ‘hold all the cards’, males have evolved a way to shift the balance to favour their own reproductive success,” said Andrade.

When in the Arab World
Rana F. Nejem
Amman: Yarnu Publications, 2016
Pp. 233 

This new book is everything that the subtitle promises: “An insider’s guide to living and working with Arab culture.” The author, Rana Nejem, draws on decades of media, public relations and communications experience at Jordan Television, CNN, King Hussein’s Royal Court, and the British embassy in Amman, to write an ABC for expats on how to tailor their behaviour for success in the Arab world. In her words: “This book is about breaking through the stereotypes and the misconceptions. It is about understanding the people and demystifying the culture of the Arab world, the beliefs, values and social structures that determine how business is conducted and how things are done.” (p. 1)

“When in the Arab World” covers all the bases — from business and social protocol, to traditions, body language and wasta. Throughout, the main theme is how to develop and apply cultural intelligence. When one enters a foreign country or culture, it means “learning to respond in a different manner that is appropriate to the context… The point is to understand by focusing on the ‘why’ rather than the ‘what’ of what people do or don’t do; to approach the experience with respect for the other mixed with genuine curiosity, rather than judgement and fear”. (pp. 6-7)

As prerequisites for such understanding, Nejem provides basic information about the Arab countries and their history, and detailed explanations for social and cultural customs, and the belief systems that inspire them, whether family and tribal values, or Islam. In describing Arab society, Nejem focuses on the values and customs stemming from the Arabs’ bedouin roots, such as having large families, respecting seniors, and prizing hospitality, honour and dignity. (Peasant customs are not mentioned, though these are important in a number of Arab countries.)

The only weakness in the social section is the difficulty of capturing the transition that is taking place in Arab countries, though to different degrees. Nejem states that urbanisation is slowly eroding family and tribal ties, yet the society she describes is essentially the traditional one, only mentioning a different lifestyle taking hold in a few places, like Beirut, west Amman and Tunis. This is perhaps due to the book’s being weighted toward the Gulf countries which may be an accurate reflection of where most business is happening these days.

One of the most interesting parts concerns how persons from an honour-based society, such as the Arab one, perform in work situations. According to Nejem, people from honour-based societies are less inclined to express an opinion or to make a quick decision. Since a person’s words and actions will reflect not only on himself, but on his family or business community, most prefer to reach a consensus before sticking their neck out, and to avoid conflict or delivering bad news.

This may be frustrating for foreign business persons as it makes things less clear, and slows down the process of signing a contract or finishing a project, but Nejem has many practical suggestions for how to deal with this reality. She advises patience and, above all, stresses the need to understand that relationships and personal contact matter a lot. Making the book ultimately practical, she points out common mistakes made by foreigners, and suggests alternative behaviours.

Nejem’s writing style is refreshingly straightforward and upbeat, and further enlivened by quotes from a wide variety of expats who have lived and worked in the region. Those quoted hail from China, the US, Britain, Korea and other countries, and their comments illustrate Nejem’s main points in practice. Some of the comments are quite amusing, such as this story that happened in Jordan: A female expat went to the post office to pick up a package from her mother. When a group of uniformed employees motioned for her to come over, she was afraid she had done something wrong. It turned out they were gathered around a tray of kanafeh and wanted her to join them! 

Addressing such a broad topic in such a large region inevitably entails making generalisations, but Nejem constantly warns that there are always exceptions. “We deal with people, not cultures,” she reminds, and each person is an individual. (p. 2)

Moreover, there are differences between countries and generations. “Again, there is no right or wrong, just different — different approaches, different perspectives and different ways of organising time.” (p. 136)

All in all, Nejem takes the reader on a delightful cross-cultural journey, one with great usefulness for real sojourns in the Arab world.

VERBANIA, Italy — In one month it will be Emma Morano’s birthday. Though she has not invited anyone, people from around the world are still likely to turn up to celebrate with the last known person alive to have been born in the 19th century.

“I’m 116 years and on November 27, I’ll be 117,” this alert and chatty lady tells AFP in her room in Verbania, a town in northern Italy on Lake Maggiore.

On a marble-topped chest of drawers stands proudly the Guinness World Records certificate declaring Morano, born in 1899, to be the world’s oldest living person.

There is also a photograph of her and her doctor Carlo Bava holding eggs: the secret to her long life appears to lie in eschewing all received medical wisdom.

“I eat two eggs a day, and that’s it. And cookies. But I do not eat much because I have no teeth,” she says.

The egg habit dates from when she was diagnosed with anaemia at 20 in the wake of World War I and a doctor advised her to eat three a day, two raw and one cooked.

She maintained that regime for 90 years and is believed to have eaten over 100,000 eggs and counting.

“Emma has always eaten very few vegetables, very little fruit. When I met her, she ate three eggs per day, two raw in the morning and then an omelette at noon, and chicken at dinner,” said Bava, who has been her doctor for the past 27 years.

Now she lives mostly on biscuits “and does not want to eat meat because she doesn’t like it anymore and someone told her it causes cancer”, he said.

Morano is not even sure she will have a slice of her birthday cake, saying “the last time I ate a little, but then I did not feel good”.

A ‘precarious equilibrium’

She may still be some way off the previous record, held by France’s Jeanne Calment who lived to be 122, but Morano, the eldest of eight children who has outlived all her younger siblings, knows turning 117 will be an event to celebrate.

“People come. I don’t invite anybody but they come. From America, Switzerland, Austria, Turin, Milan... They come from all over to see me,” she says with an amused smile.

Birthdays aside, Morano is a solitary person. Having left her violent husband in 1938 shortly after the death in infancy of her only son, she lived alone, working in a factory producing jute sacks to support herself.

She clung to her independence, only taking on a full-time caregiver last year, though she has not left her small two-room apartment for 20 years, and has been bed-bound for the last year.

While her mind is alert, she is very deaf, speaks with difficulty and does not see well enough to watch television, spending her time instead either sleeping or snacking.

Bava puts her longevity party down to genetics — Morano’s mother died at 91 and at least two of her sisters lived to be over 100 — but said having a daily routine and her great strength of character had also likely played their parts.

“She is a very determined person. She has never wanted to go to hospital, she’s never received any particular [health] care. She’s suffered from a bit of bronchitis, had a [blood] transfusion, and some stitches, but always at home.”

“Now she’s well, she’s very well, but it’s clear she lives every day in a very, very precarious equilibrium,” he said.

Bava admits he feels a bit like “the keeper of the Tower of Pisa, which has been leaning for centuries. The day it topples over, someone will be held responsible.

“When Emma dies, people will hold me accountable.”

TRENTON, New Jersey — For the third time, Johnson & Johnson has been hit with a multimillion-dollar jury verdict over whether the talc in its iconic baby powder causes ovarian cancer when applied regularly for feminine hygiene.

Late Thursday, a St. Louis jury awarded $70.1 million to Deborah Giannecchini of Modesto, California, who was diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer in 2012. Giannecchini, then 59, said she had used Johnson’s Baby Powder for more than 40 years to keep her genital area dry, as many women do. She blamed it for her cancer and accused J&J of negligence.

Two other jury trials in St. Louis reached similar outcomes earlier this year, awarding the plaintiffs $72 million and $55 million.

But in J&J’s home state of New Jersey a judge recently threw out two other cases, ruling there was not reliable evidence talc causes ovarian cancer, a relatively rare disease.

Johnson & Johnson says its product is safe, and it is appealing all three losses. And investors do not seem worried that J&J is in financial trouble, even though the company faces an estimated 2,000 similar lawsuits. J&J shares fell 0.3 per cent Friday, about the same as the broader stock market, to close at $115.33.

The next trial is set to start in January, also in St. Louis.

Here’s what experts say about talc and cancer.

What is talc?

Talc is a mineral that is mined from deposits around the world, including the US. The softest of minerals, it’s crushed into a white powder. It has been widely used in cosmetics and other personal care products to absorb moisture since at least 1894, when Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Powder was launched. But it’s mainly used in a variety of other products, including paint and plastics.

Does it cause ovarian cancer?

Like many questions in science, there’s no definitive answer. Finding the cause of cancer is difficult. It would be unethical to do the best kind of study, asking a group of women to use talcum powder on their genitals and wait to see if it causes cancer, while comparing them to a group who did not use it.

While ovarian cancer is often fatal, it’s relatively rare. It accounts for only about 22,000 of the 1.7 million new cases of cancer expected to be diagnosed in the United States this year.

Factors that are known to increase a women’s risk of ovarian cancer include age, obesity, use of estrogen therapy after menopause, not having any children, certain genetic mutations and personal or family history of breast or ovarian cancer.

What research shows

The biggest studies have found no link between talcum powder applied to the genitals and ovarian cancer. But about two dozen smaller studies over three decades have mostly found a modest connection — a 20 per cent to 40 per cent increased risk among talc users.

However, that does not mean talc causes cancer. Several factors make that unlikely, and there’s no proof talc, which does not interact with chemicals or cells, can travel up the reproductive tract, enter the ovaries and then trigger cancer.

One large study published in June that followed 51,000 sisters of breast cancer patients found genital talc users had a reduced risk of ovarian cancer, 27 per cent lower than in nonusers. An analysis of two huge, long-running US studies, the Women’s Health Initiative and the Nurses’ Health Study, showed no increased risk of ovarian cancer in talc users.

What experts say

If there were a true link, Dr Hal C. Lawrence III says large studies that tracked women’s health for years would have verified results of the smaller ones.

“Lord knows, with the amount of powder that’s been applied to babies’ bottoms, we would’ve seen something,” if talc caused cancer, said Lawrence, vice president of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

The National Cancer Institute’s Dr Nicolas Wentzensen says the federal agency’s position is that there’s not a clear connection. Research director Elizabeth Ward of the American Cancer Society says it is unusual to have so much discrepancy between studies. “The risk for any individual woman, if there is one, is probably very small,” Ward said.

NEW YORK — Sale or no sale, Twitter users are bound to see changes as the beleaguered communication service tries to broaden its appeal to more people and advertisers.

A new owner could clean up Twitter and curb some of the nastiness that’s become synonymous with it. Or perhaps a new owner would just show more ads. Or let it languish while it mines the best of what Twitter now has into its existing products and services.

All of this is speculation, of course, and there might not even be a new owner. Twitter’s stock has plunged after rumoured bidders are, well, rumoured to be no longer interested. The company is scheduled to report its third-quarter earnings on Thursday, and analysts are expecting lukewarm results along with a dismissal of takeover rumours. Lay-offs are also likely.

A new parent — whether that’s Google (huh?), Salesforce (who?) or Disney (hmm...) — could inject fresh life into a 10-year-old company that’s never turned a profit and remains confounding to many people. Of course, none of these potential suitors have acknowledged interest in Twitter, let alone their plans for it. Even if Twitter stays independent, drastic changes to its service might just be what Twitter needs to be competitive with Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat.

How might it change?

Twitter becomes more like its new owner

Facebook’s absorption of Instagram and WhatsApp in recent years could offer clues. Both services have kept separate identities, to an extent, and have experienced user growth. But slowly, they are acquiring Facebook-like features. For example, Instagram no longer presents feeds chronologically; they are now sorted much like Facebook’s news feed, using some secret formula known only to Facebook.

Though the change has turned off some early Instagram users, its user base has soared, to 500 million as of June. That’s nearly 200 million more than Twitter, even though Instagram is three years younger. 

As Instagram gets more users and a mainstream appeal, its content has diluted somewhat. But many of the street photographers, graffiti artists and tween mini-celebrities who made Instagram what it is are still there — maybe just harder to find.

Stays the same but with more ads

Twitter has never turned a profit, and whoever buys it will need to fix this. That means boosting the user base, so advertisers would follow. That also could mean better targeting, so that ad rates go up.

Google, anyone? The search giant is the leader in online ads. Imagine what its might and muscle could do to Twitter’s ad business. YouTube hardly had any ads when Google bought it; now, ads are so prevalent that YouTube is able to charge $10 a month for an ad-free version called Red.

Instagram has also inserted ads into users’ feeds of perfectly composed snapshots featuring everything from cappuccino foam to seafoam. It started out slowly with a carefully curated ad here and there, but today you’re not likely to avoid ads when opening the app.

A tool for brands, not revolution

Jonathan Cowperthwait, a Twitter user since 2008, said he’d be worried if Google bought Twitter because the online search giant “is the worst” at social services that aim to foster online interactions, beyond e-mail. Its Google Plus service never took off; Orkut and Dodgeball closed. Cowperthwait said that rather than let Twitter live independently, Google might “try to shoehorn it back into their own social product”.

Salesforce, a company that provides Internet services to businesses, has also been mentioned as a contender, leading to a lot of head-scratching among users. Would Twitter become a business product, used for customer service and marketing instead of revolutions, neo-Nazi memes and political outbursts?

“Salesforce is a very technology-driven company,” eMarketer analyst Debra Aho Williamson said. “It seems they would want [Twitter] mostly for the data that Twitter has.”

The little bird falls out of the nest

Remember MySpace? It was — the — social network before Facebook came along. News Corp., the stodgy media conglomerate, bought it for $580 million in 2005. But users started falling off as MySpace failed to keep up with Facebook’s speedy innovations. After lay-offs and failed relaunches, News Corp. sold the fallen giant for $35 million in 2011, and that was just about the end of it.

It’s not unthinkable that Twitter could suffer the same fate under a big media company.

Silence!

Walt Disney’s reputation as a squeaky-clean, family-friendly company is perhaps the clearest antithesis to Twitter’s soul, as many users see it — even though Disney is much bigger than Mickey Mouse and owns ABC, Marvel and the “Star Wars” franchise, among other properties.

“My chief fear is that Disney will wield Twitter as one large PR machine to prop up their image and squash dissent,” said Timothy Hayes, an Ohio State University student who says he fell in love with Twitter in high school. “The Mouse is not above silencing [its] opponents.”

Some users, on the other hand, might welcome some thorough housecleaning that goes beyond the steps Twitter is currently taking to curb abuse and nasty behaviour on its service. One Twitter user, New York attorney Danny Mann, says that while Google has improved YouTube “in ways that were unimaginable at the time”, he finds many of his fellow YouTube users difficult to deal with. In this sense, it’s possible that even with Google’s weight behind it, the abusive and nasty nature of many Twitter comments would remain as is.

Do you want to watch all your movies in 3D and 4k definition? Do you really insist to have all your music in uncompressed 96kHz, 20-bit format? Chances are that most of time what we all are looking after is comfortable, practical viewing and listening, rather than pristine, top quality image or audio.

Over the last decade high-tech audiovisuals have reached a level of sophistication and realism that equals or surpasses what even our senses can perceive. This has been made possible thanks to the very advanced state of computers, software, electronics, global networks and all that goes in between. 

Whereas the nirvana of image and sound is at reach, the way we live today calls for something more causal, more convenient than supreme quality. Otherwise how can you explain that most people enjoy music on YouTube where even the best music videos come with average to poor quality sound?

True, the best audio system can reproduce recordings that bring the absolute, the true-to-life sound of concerts, of live instruments, to your living room. The fact is most of the time you are listening to music while doing something else and in such case just want unobtrusive background music, the kind that FM and Internet radios bring.

Tech savvy people know that FM or Internet streaming music is compressed (i.e. altered, damaged) so as to be carried easily over the airwaves or the network. Whereas absolute purists may say and rightly so that this is nothing but a compromise, the majority does not only gladly accepts it this way, but also thinks it is actually more comfortable on the ears than glorious high-definition sound — especially over extended periods of listening.

Indeed, because of, or thanks to the compression it undergoes, FM and Internet radio sound has a more even volume, with less loud and quiet passages, and therefore is easier to listen to, even if technically speaking this is somewhat cheating on the actual sound — in absolute terms.

I have often heard people telling me that watching a movie in 3D is great at the beginning but then becomes tiresome, exhausting after say 30 or 60 minutes. Again, comfort is of essence here.

Image and sound perception is a mind thing, before anything else. A lot takes place in our brain after our eyes and our ears have captured the initial incoming signal. Those who study psychoacoustics know it all too well.

Bose, Sony, Sennheiser and AKG are amongst the leaders in the now very popular noise cancellation type of headphones. These beauties gently wrap around your ears and subtract any distracting external ambient noise, so as to leave only the music you are listening to, for sheer sonic bliss. They are often used aboard airplanes to keep out the external sound of the engines.

Without diminishing the value of these headphones, audiophiles will tell you that even with traditional models, once you are immersed in the music you are listening to, external noise would not rally matter that much for your mind would be “subtracting it” automatically anyway.

In a similar manner, even if you are wearing tinted sunglasses, your mind will adjust and will be able to tell, to see the true colours of what is before your eyes.

MP3 music, YouTube music videos, FM and Internet radios, cheap earphones, small smartphones screens and other similar imperfect but practical means and devices are here to show that convenience and practicality come before absolute technical quality.

All this, luckily, is not preventing the industry from making available the amazing high-end audiovisual equipment that we still enjoy from time to time, in specific context and whenever we have the time.

Kids of lower socioeconomic status, those riding in rural areas, and those riding mostly on the sidewalk have higher risk of injury than others, according to a new review. 

Not surprisingly, injuries related to motor vehicle collisions are more severe than other bicycling injuries, the authors found.

“Personal characteristics like age and sex were not consistently associated with bicyclist injury among children and adolescents,” which was in surprising, said senior author Brent E. Hagel of Alberta Children’s Hospital in Canada.

The authors reviewed 14 studies on bicyclists younger than age 20 published between 1990 and 2015. Four studies took place in Australia, four in the US, three in Canada, two in Taiwan and one in Norway.

In terms of economic status and education level, children of parents in the lowest of four income groups (according to parental reports) were more likely to end up in an emergency room with a bicycling injury than those in the higher income groups.

Bicycling speed was not associated with injury requiring hospital admission; however, bicycling at a slow compared with normal speed was linked with a 10 times higher risk of presenting to an ED with an injury.

Children who began bicycling at ages 4 to 5 were injured earlier in their first year of bicycling compared with those who started bicycling at ages 6 to 7, the researchers found.

“Many of the higher quality studies identified environmental factors that were associated with bicycling injury risk,” they reported. 

For example, the risk of admission to a hospital or trauma centre for a head injury was greater in rural compared with urban areas and for children bicycling on the road or in public spaces (playgrounds, parks, or sports fields) compared with those bicycling in 

a residential area (all private places of residence including yard, garden, driveway and garage). 

Bicycling exclusively or extensively on the sidewalk compared with riding sometimes or always in the street was also associated with emergency department visits for bicycling injuries.

Results on cycling equipment, reflective materials, speed and bicycling behaviour were mixed. 

Injuries requiring hospital admission were four times more common in cyclists who collided with a moving vehicle than for others, as reported in Paediatrics. 

“As we indicate in the paper, these findings highlight the challenge of finding safe locations for children and adolescents to bicycle,” Hagel told Reuters Health by e-mail.

“Our focus was on children and youth,” but motor vehicle involvement and high traffic speed and volume exposure increase injury risk for cycling adults too, he said. 

“Therefore, traffic calming measures and dedicated bicycling infrastructure (e.g., separated bicycle tracks) would likely decrease risk in both adults and children,” Hagel said.

It could be that lower socioeconomic areas may be associated with greater motor vehicle traffic and other environmental exposures, like less bicycling infrastructure, which leads to more injuries, he said.

Bicycle skills training was not associated with reduced risk.

“We want children to bicycle for health and environmental benefits,” Hagel said.

Since skills training does not appear to reduce risk, “the best strategies would involve parents advocating for dedicated bicycling infrastructure such as separated bicycle paths as well as reduced speed limits and traffic calming measures to reduce the risk of injury for children who bicycle,” he said.

“In turn, drivers should avoid distractions [e.g., cellphone use] and obey the speed limits with a healthy respect for the damage a motor vehicle can do in a collision with a bicyclist or a pedestrian,” Hagel said. “If we create safer environments for bicycling, then it is likely that more children and adolescents will bike for transportation and recreation and this increased activity may create a healthier population if children carry their active transportation habits into adulthood.”

When I was in college, I loved coming home to my parents’ house at the end of each term. Along with the delicious food that my mother and grandmother cooked for me, what I really looked forward to was, sleeping in late. There were no lectures to attend, no notes to make, no visits to the library and no worry about going to bed hungry if I missed hearing the ding-dong of the dinner gong.

My mom would occasionally check on my breathing to make sure I was okay. She wanted to wake me up at the crack of dawn but my father urged her to let me sleep for as long as I wanted to.

“People take sleeping pills to get the kind of slumber that comes naturally to her,” my dad would announce to no one in particular. 

“Let her rest,” he reiterated, if anyone tried to awaken me. Nobody did. And so I slept to my heart’s content. 

This arrangement continued even after I got married and became a mum myself. The minute I reached my parents’ place, I handed the baby to them and went to sleep. And sometimes I slept a round-the-clock. Knowing that they would be looking after my kid better than I could, gave me the mental assurance to do that. I simply relished those hours of pure repose.

Soon, I was forced to grow up. My precious parents left for their heavenly abode and I was obliged to shoulder my own responsibilities. As our daughter became older, my sleeping pattern got erratic. My one ear and eye were forever tuned towards her and if she fell ill, I completely lost sleep altogether.

A few years later we were faced with an empty nest as she went away to pursue her university studies. This should have given me the freedom to go back to my original sleeping order but what actually happened was that I began disrupting my husband’s sleep. 

Any little worry I had would make me shake him to wakefulness. To watch him sleeping soundly while I was dying with anxiety irritated the hell out of me. Waking from deep sleep because of my real or imagined concerns annoyed him to no end too. We bickered and squabbled before eventually going back to a fitful sleep.

But I realised that the wheel had turned a full circle when our daughter came home for vacations. The child could not stop sleeping! Eight hours, ten hours, and fourteen hours at a stretch: whenever I peeped into her room, the dark haired head was always under the covers, with eyes tightly shut. I must confess that there were intervals when I discretely checked her exhalation to make sure everything was fine.

Once she started working, she had to live by the dictates of the alarm clock. It forced some unwelcome discipline into her life. But there was not the slightest change in her sleeping habits whenever she visited us.

After she missed having breakfast with us for the fifth time on her recent trip my spouse got worried. 

“Did she go to a party last night?” he asked me. 

“She had dinner with us,” I reminded him.

“Why is she sleeping so late?” he questioned. 

“People take tablets to get that kind of slumber,” I said.

“She’s on sleeping pills?” my husband was aghast.

“It’s called home leave syndrome,” I diagnosed.

“In other words, sleep of the innocent,” he agreed.

Established late last year, Hyundai’s premium Genesis sub-brand has been a long anticipated and open secret. Seemingly inevitable when the second generation Hyundai Genesis executive model arrived in 2014, bearing a unique be-winged badge, the Genesis brand is Korea’s first dedicated luxury automaker. Separated its mother brand, Genesis is intended as Hyundai’s bona fide presence in the lucrative premium automotive segment.

Hyundai’s answer to what Infiniti is to Nissan or Lexus to Toyota, Genesis’ first full-size luxury G90 saloon offering is a thoroughly updated, re-worked, re-styled and re-badged successor to Hyundai’s outgoing and proven Centennial flagship. Offered with three engine options, the G90 line-up includes a new powerful and efficient twin-turbo 3.3-litre T-GDI V6 engine and optional four-wheel drive, as driven at the brand’s and model’s recent Middle East debut in Dubai.

Stately proportions 

A longer, more luxurious and better appointed car with more advance technology than the Hyundai Centennial, the Genesis G90’s design as a more stately and statuesque quality to it. Incorporating more defined character lines along the flanks, the G90 has a greater sense of presence, with more harmonised convex surfacing, including bulging rear haunches reflecting the rear lights’ curvature. Seemingly more upright from side views, the G90’s rear side windows both run along the door width, while the C-pillar is thicker.

Similar to its direct predecessor with high upright boot-lid contrasting with curved shoulders at the rear, the G90’s front fascia and corporate face, is inspired by the last Hyundai Genesis executive saloon, which itself soon re-launches as the Genesis G80. Conservative and more upright, the G90 vast horizontally slatted chrome grille is flanked by slimmer deep set headlights with LED elements, and a more formal and assertive sensibility. However, one feels that the bonnet tip emblem could be re-located to add feature to the grille’s vast landscape.

Confident delivery

Available with familiar entry level 3.8-V6 and range-topping 5-litre V8 naturally aspirated engines, the G90’s new mid-range twin-turbocharged direct injection 3.3-litre V6 engine offers efficiency and mid-range performance benefits. Utilising integral turbo and exhaust manifolds and an electronic wastegate for reduced eight and enhanced responses, the G90 3.3T launches off the line with almost imperceptible lag — often expected of turbocharged engines. Fitted with larger stickier 275/40R19 rear tyres and optional HTRAC four-wheel drive providing added traction, the G90 3.3T pounces confidently and quickly from standstill.

Developing 365BHP at 6000rpm and abundant 375lb/ft torque throughout a broad and versatile 1,300-4,500rpm range, the G90 3.3T accelerates through 0-100km/h in 6.2 seconds and 80-100km/h through gears in 13 seconds in standard rear drive guise, with similar figures expected — but currently undisclosed — for the HTRAC version driven. Smooth and muscular in mid-range, the G90 pulls hard and flexibly when cruising, while power accumulation is eager and progressive through revs and until 6,000rpm, before tailing off if held in gear or landing in its torque-rich sweet spot when the next gear is engaged.

Smooth, stable and supple

Driven through a smooth and slick 8-speed automatic gearbox, the G90’s HTRAC four-wheel drive sends 90 per cent power to the rear wheels in default mode. Subtle and smooth operating, HTRAC’s electronic differential can divert up to 40 per cent to front wheels when additional traction, grip or stability is required. Meanwhile, three preselected and one customisable driving modes alter gearbox, throttle and stability control responses and suspension firmness for more comfortable or sportier driving — in Eco mode, HTRAC sends 100 per cent power rearwards for added efficiency. 

Riding on sophisticated adaptive multilink air suspension, the G90 is a smooth and supple drive, forgivingly soaking up road texture imperfections despite large wheels and low profile tyres. Dynamically, the G90’s handling sharpens somewhat in Sport mode, with better lateral weight and body lean control and tidier turn in. Adept and balanced the G90’s dynamics are an improvement on its predecessor, with Sport mode serving to subtly but effectively focus its comfortably wafting ride quality rather than attempting to alter the G90’s core characteristics.

Generous Genesis

Refined, smooth, stable and quiet at speed, the G90 benefits from low CD 0.27 aerodynamics, rigid structure and noise, vibration and harshness isolation optimisation features, including sound absorbent wheels, double sound proof glass insulation, three layer door seals, thicker carpets and headliner, and enhanced sound absorption materials. Spaced in all directions, despite seats being slightly high set, the G90’s generously proportioned cabin also benefits from a 115mm longer wheelbase than its predecessor. Comfortable and highly adjustable, the G90 provides a good driving position, and even features reclining rear seats.

Classy and comfortable inside, the G90 features high quality leathers, materials and textures and a warm inviting ambiance. Instrumentation and controls are user friendly and include a wide deep set 12.3-inch HD infotainment screen. Convenience, luxury, infotainment and safety features are exhaustively comprehensive, and include around view monitor, Lexicon sound system, three zone climate control and Smart Posture Caring, which can automatically determine a driver’s ideal seat position. Driver assistance systems include adaptive stop/start cruise control, automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, blind spot detection and lane keeping assistance.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 3.3-litre, all-aluminium, twin-turbo V6 cylinders

Valve-train: 24-valve, DOHC, variable valve timing, direct injection

Gearbox: 8-speed automatic, four-wheel drive

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 365 (370) [272] @6,000rpm

Specific power: 109.2BHP/litre

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 376 (510) @1,300-4,500rpm

Specific torque: 112.5Nm/litre

0-100 km/h: 6.2 seconds*

80-100km/h: 13 seconds*

Fuel capacity: 83 litres

Length: 5,205mm

Width: 1,905mm

Height: 1,495mm

Wheelbase: 3,160mm

Track, F/R: 1,640/1,639mm

Overhang, F/R: 860/1,165mm

Aerodynamic drag co-efficient: 0.27

Legroom, F/R: 1,175/960mm

Headroom, F/R: 1,045/966mm

Shoulder room, F/R: 1,500/1,470mm

Boot capacity: 484 litres

Suspension: Multi-link, active dampers

Steering: Electric assistance, rack & pinion

Lock-to-lock: 2.55 turns

Turning circle: 11.94 metres

Brakes: Ventilated discs

Tyres: 245/45R19/275/40R19

* At time of print, only specifications for rear-wheel drive version available

MIAMI — To reduce the risk of sudden death, babies should sleep in the same room as their parents but in their own crib or bassinet for the first year of life, US doctors said on Monday.

The new policy statement by the American Academy of Paediatrics (AAP) still says babies should sleep on their backs, on a clean surface free of toys and blankets, a guideline that has been in place since the 1990s and has reduced sudden infant deaths by about 50 per cent.

Still, some 3,500 infants die each year in the United States from sleep-related deaths, including sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and accidental suffocation and strangulation.

The main change to the AAP guidelines, which were last issued in 2011, is the specific call for infants to stay in their parents’ room for six months to a year if possible — but not sleep in the same bed.

“Parents should never place the baby on a sofa, couch, or cushioned chair, either alone or sleeping with another person,” said lead author Rachel Moon. 

“We know that these surfaces are extremely hazardous.”

‘One never forgets’

Experts say that urging parents to put babies to sleep on their backs instead of their bellies helped drive down the rate of sudden infant death from 120 deaths per 100,000 live births in 1992 to 56 deaths per 100,000 in 2001 — a 53 per cent reduction in one decade. That advice still stands.

Deaths from SIDS have plateaued in recent years, but it is still the leading killer of babies aged one month to one year.

Children may become entangled in bedding, or suffocate under bumpers or toys, get squeezed in the corner of a couch or armchair, get overheated, or simply stop breathing for no apparent reason. 

“It is nothing but tragic,” said Peter Richel, the chief of the department of paediatrics at Northern Westchester Hospital, who remembers losing two patients in the past 26 years to sudden infant death — a four-month-old boy and a two-week-old girl.

“Often there is nothing special to point to, other than they are just kind of taken away,” he said.

“It is something that one never forgets.”

Other risk factors for SIDS include smoking in the home, and exposing babies to drugs or alcohol.

Richel said that the new policy means doctors will have to change some of their long-held advice.

“Many paediatricians will suggest that by two months of age, infants go to their own room, and with the use of a monitor so that you can hear them cry out for a feeding,” said Richel.

“This really goes against that kind of usual advice, which is fine, because if it saves lives we are all for it.”

Latest data

The new policy is described in a paper called, “SIDS and Other Sleep-Related Infant Deaths: Updated 2016 Recommendations for a Safe Infant Sleeping Environment,” and will be presented Monday at the AAP National Conference and Exhibition in San Francisco.

“The most important thing to remember is that the crib should be free of all loose objects that could lead to strangulation or suffocation,” said Robert Glatter, an emergency physician at Lenox Hill Hospital, who was not involved in the research.

“This means that a bare environment is ultimately safest.”

The AAP policy also suggests placing newborn infants skin-to-skin with the mother “immediately following birth for at least an hour as soon as the mother is medically stable and awake”.

Breastfeeding is recommended, but mothers are urged to move the baby to a separate sleeping space afterward.

“If you are feeding your baby and think that there’s even the slightest possibility that you may fall asleep, feed your baby on your bed, rather than a sofa or cushioned chair,” said co-author Lori Feldman-Winter, a member of the Task Force on SIDS.

“If you do fall asleep, as soon as you wake up be sure to move the baby to his or her own bed,” she said.

The highest risk period for SIDS comes between the ages one to four months. SIDS is rare in babies older than eight months.

Other strategies include offering a pacifier at nap time and bedtime, and making sure infants get all their recommended vaccines.

Parents are warned against using expensive home monitoring systems, as well as wedges or positioners that may be marketed as reducing the risk of SIDS.

“We know that we can keep a baby safer without spending a lot of money on home monitoring gadgets but through simple precautionary measures,” Moon said.