Features

By Heather Somerville
San Jose Mercury News (TNS)

LOS GATOS, California — Grandmothers are wearing Fitbit, Jawbone bracelets pack the shelves of big-box stores and Apple’s smartwatch is expected to be one of the most coveted Christmas gifts this year.

Wearable technology — wireless-connected gadgets that come in the form of eyeglasses, bracelets, wristwatches and other small accessories for the body — have gone from nerdy and outlandish devices to popular purchases for the average consumer, a sign of how comfortable we have become with tracking our daily activities, whether it’s how well we sleep or how many calories we burn.

Now entrepreneurs are working to push the technology to new heights, creating gadgets that don’t simply collect data on the body but can alter the user’s physical and mental state. It’s a largely underexplored area that offers the potential to alleviate pain and improve brain functionality, but also carries a host of concerns about whether using start-up technology to change our body chemistry poses unnecessary risks.

Thync, a start-up based in the Bay Area town of Los Gatos, launched publicly last week with a device that sends electricity to the user’s nerves to alter their mood and mental state. The user has two options: become calmer or more energised. The mood-altering fix is delivered through a Bluetooth-connected headpiece, a strip attached to the neck or behind the ear to stimulate nerves that emerge directly from the brain, and a smartphone. Leave your yoga mat or Red Bull at home.

“Are people looking for some sort of stimulant to alter their mental state? Unequivocally, yes,” said Luis Rincon, co-founder and CEO of Wearables.com, a research and review site. “So there absolutely is a consumer appetite for this, and that’s been the case for millenniums. What’s new is we are now entering a phase where technology can provide that stimulant.”

Mind and body manipulation can be scary terrain, but easy-to-use devices such as Fitbit have paved the way for wearables 2.0. With a growing market and explosion of new companies — not to mention the gorilla of consumer electronics storming onto the scene in April with the Apple Watch — companies such as Thync are looking to stand out from the crowd.

“All wearables today are trackers,” said Thync co-founder and CEO Isy Goldwasser. “Our wearable is working in synergy with the body.”

Other companies are going a step further to offer medical treatment or therapy. Massachusetts-based Quell, for instance, sells a wearable that uses electrodes to provide chronic pain relief for those with fibromyalgia, sciatica, arthritis and other ailments.

The Consumer Electronics Association predicts 10.8 million wearable devices will ship in 2015, up from more than three million last year. Technology research firm Gartner predicts that 70 million to 100 million devices will be purchased in 2016. While not yet as ubiquitous as the smartphone, wearables are on their way.

Tech investors have thrown their collective hat in the wearable ring — to the tune of $635 million from July 2014 through June 1, according to PitchBook, a research and data provider. That’s a nearly fourfold increase from the previous year, when VCs invested $172 million in the space.

“That level of investment shows us that it’s not just a fad, and it’s something that’s going to be around for a long time,” Rincon said.

Thync has raised $13 million from investors including Khosla Ventures. Its founders, Jamie Tyler, a neuroscience expert and Arizona State University associate professor, and Goldwasser, a longtime tech executive, have spent the last year-and-a-half testing the device on 3,500 people.

“We spent a very long time trying to beat the placebo effect,” Goldwasser said. “People can put it on and we don’t have any doubt that it’s working.”

They have tracked changes in users’ temperature, body chemistry and facial expressions — all of which are altered as electrical pulses from an iPhone are transmitted into the skin and through the nerves that act as superhighways to the brain. The idea, the founders said, was to give busy people an alternative to alcohol or Red Bull — which many professionals use to wind down or rev up. The device starts at $299.

“Most people don’t meditate; most people don’t have the time,” Tyler said. “It’s sad, but that’s the world we live in.”

The San Jose Mercury News tried Thync, finding the “calm” vibrations did indeed have an effect: Breath slowed, anxiety disappeared, facial tension relaxed and worries gave way to a still mind. But unlike meditation, the sensation arrived as an outside force and felt inauthentic, and therefore slightly unnerving. And the sedateness lasted only briefly — less than an hour — perhaps due to keeping the strength of the electrical stimulation at a minimum. These are, after all, electronic currents from a cellphone going directly into one’s forehead.

“It’s probably no more crazy than taking a bunch of supplements that you don’t really know anything about,” said Steve Holmes, Intel’s vice president of new devices. “But just to do it recreationally, I would be cautious.”

SAN FRANCISCO — Apple is making its play to shake up online music with a subscription service combining on-demand songs, streamed playlists and a social stage for musicians.

The new Apple Music — which could be a powerful rival to online services such as Spotify, Pandora and Jay Z’s fledgling Tidal — will launch on June 30 in 100 countries.

It will initially be available to consumers with Apple devices and later this year to those using Android — a shift for Apple, which aims to attract customers from the rival mobile system dominant around the world.

“This will be the first Apple-branded app or service to reach Android and is a strategic shift for Apple in its approach to the main rival smartphone platform,” said IHS Technology head of mobile analysis Ian Fogg.

Apple has traditionally limited popular services or content to its own devices, keeping people in its “eco-system” and promoting sales of its hardware.

Opening Apple Music to rival mobile phones or tablets could signal that the iconic company is out to create a stand-alone platform to dominate the way music is listened to in the age of streaming digital content, according to analysts.

Chief executive Tim Cook announced Apple Music service on Monday, boasting that it “will change the way you experience music forever”.

The service will be available for $9.99 per month, with a family plan for up to six people at $14.99.

“Apple Music is really going to move the needle for fans and artists,” said Apple’s Jimmy Iovine, who came to the California tech giant when it purchased Beats Music.

“All the ways you love music, all in one place.”

Beats 1 radio

The service includes a live radio station called
Beats 1, tools to find curated playlists or individual songs and a social music network where artists can share life behind the scenes with fans.

“Beats 1 is a 24-hour listening experience led by influential DJs Zane Lowe in Los Angeles, Ebro Darden in New York and Julie Adenuga in London,” Apple said.

Beats 1 will feature exclusive interviews, guest hosts and music industry news.

“We love music, and the new Apple Music service puts an incredible experience at every fan’s fingertips,” said Eddy Cue, Apple senior vice president of Internet software and services, at the Apple developer conference in San Francisco.

The new service, news of which was leaked over the weekend by a top Sony executive, could become a major force in the music industry and was touted as a “revolutionary” step by Apple, which shook up the sector more than a decade ago with its first iTunes digital music store.

“Apple comes late to the music streaming business, due in part to Steve Jobs’ refusal to believe that music subscription services would ever work,” says James McQuivey at Forrester Research.

“But the writing is on the wall: digital downloads don’t make sense for consumers that are connected wherever they go.”

McQuivey said Apple Music may succeed because it can build its new music service into the hundreds of millions of devices already in people’s hands.

In a double threat, the success of iTunes since its launch in 2003 has enabled the California-based company to build strong ties with musicians and recording labels.

“None of the other technology companies quite get to this level,” Forrester analyst Frank Gillett told AFP after the keynote.

“Apple is the only one who is in the music business as opposed to selling stuff from the music business.”

Jay Z earlier this year bought Tidal from Sweden’s Aspiro for $56 million and relaunched it on March 30 with fellow stars, including his wife Beyonce and Madonna, who all are stakeholders.

The stars billed Tidal as a company that supports artists and geared the service towards audiophiles.

Tidal’s top-level service costs $19.99 a month, twice that of Spotify which — unlike its rivals and despite opposition from some artists — also has a free tier.

Beats1 live global radio station from Apple will be free for listening and not feature ads.

Upgrading iOS, smartwatch

Apple also announced updated software for the iPhone and iPad, as well as for the Apple Watch and its Mac computers.

The company unveiled an expansion of the Apple Pay service that allows iPhone users to tap their handsets at merchant terminals in Britain.

It will launch next month at some 250,000 locations in Britain including the London transit system.

For its Apple Watch, the updated watchOS 2
has new features, including taking a photo to create a new watch face, personal digital sketches and a feature that allows scanning of past and future calendar events.

Even by European or American standards this is considered a big classical musical event. One hundred and thirty artists, 65 singers and 65 musicians will be together on stage to perform Carl Orff’s major work, Carmina Burana. Three performances are to take place at the auditorium of the International Academy — Amman on June 11, 12 and 14.

Visiting American conductor William Culverhouse has been in the country for about a month and has been working with the singers and the musicians since he arrived. Culverhouse has already been in the country to conduct orchestras several times, the last one being in 2014 for the interpretation of Haendel’s The Messiah. Speaking to The Jordan Times at a rehearsal held on Monday 8 with all the artists, he expressed his satisfaction with the way the rehearsals have been going saying “despite the challenging composition I am very happy with the result we are getting. Carmina Burana is a musical work with frequently rapidly changing metres and this requires good performing skills”.

The combination of the musicians of the JOrchestra ensemble (The Jordanian National Orchestra Association) and the singers of the Dozan Wa Awtar celebrated Jordanian choir is producing an impressive sound. This is especially important when it comes to Carmina Burana, a modern classical work from the 20th century that strongly relies on massive vocals and energetic rhythms. Janelle Brown, the choir conductor said they have been rehearsing for this series of three concerts since February. She told The Jordan Times that Dozan Wa Awtar is exceptional in that its members “strike a nice balance between Jordanians and expatriates living in the country, between men and women and between the young and the less young”. Soloists Dima Bawab, Charles Stanton and Clay Hilley will also participate in the singing with the choir.

Katherine Sullivan-McNamara, one of the singers, commented that “Carmina Burana is not easy to like from the first time, but the more you sing it, the more you listen to it and the more it grows on you”. Dina Raad, another singer added “I enjoy the challenge and I think the result is actually quite good.”

Culverhouse also said that there will be a little oriental touch added with a musician playing the qanun and verses of Arabic mediaeval poetry recited at one point. He added that “this should go well with the poems that Carmina Burana was built on and that also date back to the same period in history”.

Nady Muna, one of the organisers, manages Dozan Wa Awtar and also sings with the choir. He was very enthusiastic about the exceptional project, and explained to The Jordan Times how the idea emerged a few months ago, stressing the invaluable input of Dozan Wa Awtar’s founder Shireen Abu Khader who is currently in Canada. 

German composer Carl Orff wrote the music in 1936 for a set of 24 secular songs from the Middle Ages. Whereas the wide public may not be familiar with the entire work that is about one hour long, the opening and ending music (O Fortuna) is very well known and is often heard and has become very popular. Carmina Burana, sometimes referred to as a “Scenic cantata”, is beyond any doubt one of the most significant, most performed classical works from the 20th century, alongside Rodrigo’s Concerto de Aranjuez.

PARIS — Artistic creativity may share genetic roots with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, according to a study published on Monday.

The research, published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, delves into a well-known genetic database — the deCODE library of DNA codes derived from samples provided by the population of Iceland.

The authors first compared genetic and medical data from 86,000 Icelanders, establishing a DNA signature that pointed to a doubled risk for schizophrenia and an increase of a third for bipolar disorder.

The next step was to look at the genomes of people engaged in artistic work.

Those samples came from more than 1,000 volunteers who were members of Iceland’s national societies of visual arts, theatre, dance, writing and music.

Members of these organisations were 17 per cent likelier than non-members to have the same genetic signature, the study found.

The finding was supported by four studies in the Netherlands and Sweden covering around 35,000 people, comparing individuals in the general public and those in artistic occupations.

Those investigations used somewhat different parameters but found the probability was even higher, at 23 per cent.

“We are here using the tools of modern genetics to take a systematic look at a fundamental aspect of how the brain works,” said Kari Stefansson, the head of deCODE Genetics, who led the study.

“The results of this study should not have come as a surprise because to be creative, you have to think differently from the crowd, and we had previously shown that carriers of genetic factors that predispose to schizophrenia do so,” he said in a news release.

NEW YORK — Hackers pose a real danger to self-driving vehicles, US experts are warning, and carmakers and insurers are starting to factor in the risk.

Expected on the road by 2020 or even sooner, driverless cars should have a wide range of cutting-edge technologies such as electronic sensors — a group of cameras, radar, sonar and LiDAR (light detection and ranging) — commanded remotely using software that senses road widths, identifies signs and even roadblocks.

But like connected vehicles and their onboard multimedia systems, these new self-driving technology elements — which were meant to make the cars safe and reliable, could end up leaving them vulnerable to hacker strikes, according to US security firms Mission Secure Inc. (MSi) and Perrone Robotics Inc.

A hacker recently boasted of having entered the electronic systems of the US jet he was travelling on, and of having changed its trajectory. He claimed he did so using the in-flight Wi-Fi system.

The two security companies, working with the University of Virginia and the Pentagon, have run tests that have shown they believe it is possible to hack into and disrupt the multi-sensor system.

One trial was to change how the car responded when it encountered an obstacle.

“One attack scenario forces the car to accelerate, rather than brake, even though the obstacle avoidance system (using LiDAR) detects an object in front of the car. Rather than slowing down, the car hits the object ... at high speed, causing damage to the car and potential threat to the life and safety of the passengers in the car under attack and in the car being struck,” according to the report available on MSi’s website.

“If an attack were carried out successfully, automobile manufacturers have no means of quickly gathering information for forensic analysis or to rapidly deploy additional protections to cars in response to new and evolving attacks,” the report warns.

According to these experts, hackers penetrate the system through wireless connections.

MSi and Perrone Robotics, which are working on a system to counter cyberattacks, believe the situation poses “significant challenges and risks for the automotive industry, as well as to public safety”.

Insurance premium reviews?

Most of the carmakers gearing up their own autonomous car projects did not reply to update requests from AFP.

But sources close to the industry say the chance of the system being hacked has been factored in throughout the manufacturing process.

Internet giant Google, for example, is believed to have a team of top programmers tasked with trying to hack into the software in their own self-driving prototype car, which is expected to get on-road testing within the next few months. Google declined to comment for this story.

US insurers are concerned about safety, and whether the new technologies can cut the risk of accidents happening.

This could force them to rethink their contracts and to recalculate premiums.

At first, premiums could rise because the price of self-driving cars will be high due to the cost of embedded technologies and repairs, insurer Nationwide told AFP.

But this could be partially offset by the wider use of vehicles decked out with accident-preventing technologies.

For State Farm, another US insurer, the big picture is what counts.

“As connected and automated vehicle technology reduces or eliminates some risks that drivers face today, new risks are likely to emerge. We are focused on the big picture — how can we adapt to these changes and continue to deliver value to our customers,” the company said in an e-mail to AFP.

According to a source with a major US insurer, who requested anonymity, one of the key related issues down the road will be establishing boundaries, and responsibilities based on what carmakers say the car can or cannot do autonomously.

Google last month announced its self-driving prototype cars were ready to leave the test track and hit public roads in California, in a big step forward for its autonomous automobile programme.

Debuting two years after the 4-door saloon version, the 2-door Cadillac ATS Coupe arrived as a 2015 model, and is quite unlike any other Cadillac before it. Though Cadillac has been gunning for the European-style premium market for over a decade, the ATS is however a smaller, lighter, more nimble car targeting the BMW 4 series, Audi A5 and Infiniti Q60.

Said to have been benchmarked against the 1999-2006 E46 generation BMW 3 series and successor to the Saab 9-3-based Cadillac BLS, the ATS Coupe is offered in 2-litre turbocharged four-cylinder and naturally aspirated or turbocharged 3.6 V6 version, with rear- or four-wheel drive. A comfortable and easy-to-drive yet sweet handling rear-wheel drive junior executive, the tested ATS Coupe’s balanced and eager chassis proved well-suited to General Motors’ familiar high-revving 3.6-litre V6 engine.

Elegant evolution

A nicely maturing take on Cadillac’s modern Art and Science design ethos, the ATS Coupe is a considerably better reconciled, lithe, elegant and understated executive coupe than the larger but less aesthetically refined and overstated CTS Coupe. Noticeably improved from rear views, the ATS’ vertical lights are well-integrated and its vertical centre crease and side — rather than centre — exhaust tips more subtle.

Less aggressive from front view, the ATS Coupe’s wide and narrower grille, lower waistline and lower area above the rear wheel-arches, and more flowing roof emphasise its’ width. Meanwhile slim wrap-over LED headlight elements, subtly bulging bonnet and more pronounced side character line combine with a flowing roofline, and lower and longer bonnet to create a sense of motion and urgency.

Though more elegant and understated, the ATS Coupe still sports a choice of shiny alloy wheels and features bright blue instrument lighting and plenty of chrome-like cabin trim. Driven with 225/40R18 front and 255/35R18 rear footwear the ATS Coupe’s wheels nicely filled out its wheel-arches and provided a good balance of steering feel in front and grip at the rear.

Eager and peaky

Smooth, progressive and peaky, GM’s direct injection 3.6-litre V6 engine is much better suited to the ATS Coupe than the crossover SUVs in which similar incarnations have been deployed. Unlike many new long-stroke engines, this engine’s “over-square” design lends it an eager, responsive and high-revving character for more fluent driving and to allow one to precisely dial in increments of power.

Developing 321BHP at 6800rpm and 275lb/ft at 4800rpm, the ATS Coupe likes to be revved hard. Pulling cleanly from tick-over, the ATS’ delivery takes on a rising urgency from under 3000rpm until its’ 7200rpm rev limit. And with smooth and responsive shifting 6-speed automatic gearbox with manual shift mode that holds gears up to redline, the 1601kg ATS Coupe makes the 0-100km/h sprint in around 5.6 seconds.

Eager and responsive, the ATS Coupe’s high-revving engine offers excellent throttle control to allow and so feeds the rear tyres in progressive increments rather than surging and breaking traction. Satisfyingly rewarding when revved to red line, the CTS Coupe’s long-legged rev range further allows one to accelerate through a long corner in one long, fluently smooth sweep, without need for upshifting.

Balanced behaviour

With attention to weight saving and stiffer frame than the CTS Coupe, Cadillac’s compact ATS Coupe’s rigidity pays off in comfort, precision, handling and safety. Riding on MacPherson front and multi-link rear suspension, the ATS Coupe’s handling is neutral, eager and balanced. Boding well for the coming 2016 Chevrolet Camaro, the ATS Coupe is built on a shared Alpha rear-drive derived platform.

With light, precise steering and eager chassis, the ATS Coupe turns in to corners tidy and crisp. Balanced and neural, its chassis is nimble and agile, and with tall revving and responsive engine, it takes well to mid-corner on-throttle adjustments. Faithfully following a cornering line the ATS Couple winds up frantically and slingshots out of a corner, eager for the next. 

Well controlling body roll through corners, the ATS Coupe’s suspension is smooth and reasonably forgiving, if somewhat firm over rougher roads and bumps, owing to stiff run-flat tires. Stable on highway, the ATS Coupe’s suspension can feel slightly firm and bouncy over choppy high frequency textures, but conversely felt more relaxed with a perception of more vertical travel over low frequency imperfections and rebounds. 

Cabin comfort

Well refined inside, the ATS coupe’s cabin is a pleasant and mostly ergonomic place. With compact proportions, reasonable glasshouse and good well-adjustable seating position, it offers good visibility for one to place it on road and manoeuvre in tight confines. Well-spaced in front — especially without sunroof — rear seat space and access can, however, be tricky for large and tall passengers in mind. 

Comfortable and well spaced in front, the ATS coupe’s dashboard and centre console are designed with vertical emphasis, and are somewhat busy in layout and aesthetic. Fitted with decent quality stitched leather upholstery, the ATS Coupe’s general cabin fit and finish was mostly of decent quality, but not segment leading. And one thing that could be improved upon was the instrument panel cowl.

Well-equipped, the ATS Coupe’s CUE infotainment system takes a short while to get familiar with but features intuitive satnav. Extensive equipment available includes active noise cancellation and standard front and rear parking assistance, rearview camera, childseat latches and HUD display. Driver assistance systems include standard lane keeping assist and forward collision alerts and optional blindspot and rear cross-traffic alerts, adaptive cruise control and automatic braking.

The Book of Gaza: A City in Short Fiction
Edited by Atef Abu Saif
Great Britain: Comma Press, 2014
Pp. 128

In the introduction to this collection of 10 short stories penned by 10 different Palestinians of Gaza, editor Atef Abu Saif explains how short fiction became the genre of choice for writers in the Strip. It wasn’t entirely by choice. After 1967, the Israeli occupation authorities imposed heavy restrictions on freedom of expression. The difficulty of smuggling hand-written manuscripts to Jerusalem, Cairo or Beirut for publication led writers to shorten the length of their literary pieces. “Through the brevity and symbolism of the short story, Gazan writers at times found a way to overcome printing and publishing restrictions…” (p. ix) 

Turning necessity into a virtue, they excelled in this art form. Gaza became known as an exporter of oranges and short stories.

Half men and half women, the writers contributing to this slim volume are from different generations. Abdallah Tayeh, Zaki Al Ela and Ghareeb Asqalani are among those who pioneered the short story in Gaza, crafting their writing around the national cause. In the 1990s, with the establishment of the Palestinian authority, a new generation matured in a more complicated reality, and “the range of themes in short fiction expanded to express social conflict and economic problems the people faced, yet the importance of the Palestinian national cause never faded… Young writers grew more attached to their inner worlds as a way of speaking about the world at large”. (p. x, xi)

Most of the stories by women reflect personal frustrations and longing, exposing outdated social norms that are particularly onerous for females and the hypocrisy involved in perpetuating them. Nayrouz Qarmout depicts a young girl for whom the sea spells potential freedom as she longs “for a childhood that had faded away amidst the scolding severity of her family, suddenly afraid of their neighbourhood’s scorn”. (p. 29)

Najlaa Ataallah boldly shows the undesirable fruits of thwarted female sexuality. Mona Abu Sharekh draws parallels between independent women of different generations who defy social conventions. The stories of Yusra Al Khatib and Asmaa Al Ghul are particularly adept at revealing their characters’ inner worlds.

While these stories show reduced mobility for women due to traditional norms, all the stories, directly or indirectly, give a sense of the limited mobility imposed on Gazans as a whole by the Israeli blockade. Personal stories convey the crowded, compressed and sometimes dilapidated environment in which people live as a result of years of siege, closure and blockade, with the inevitable consequence that many want to escape “the world’s biggest prison” and seek a future elsewhere.

Separation is the overriding theme of Atef Abu Saif’s story of people gathering at a Rafah café after returning disappointed from the border to Egypt — some prevented from leaving, others unable to reunite with relatives who were forbidden to enter. His imagery is poignant: “Bunches of bananas and dates hung like lost opportunities in front of the large fruit stall on the corner of the square.” (p. 1)

Similarly, Talal Abu Shawish captures the desperation of Gazans’ situation in his story of a short service taxi ride.

A striking characteristic of all the stories is their immediacy, whether conveyed via first-person or third-person narrative. Also striking is that Israel and the Israelis are directly referred to in only a few stories, though their presence is felt throughout. Arguably the most complex and enigmatic story is Ghareeb Asqalani’s portrayal of the exceptional situation of a genuine friendship between an Israeli and a Palestinian family. Set during the Intifada, the plot poses the question of whether such a friendship can survive — whether, in fact, people can keep their humanity, in the midst of Israel’s violent repression. His conclusion points towards an alternative future. 

The boldness with which these writers confront their seemingly unbearable reality, their refusal to have their lives and creativity solely defined by the Israeli occupation, is a powerful example of Palestinian resilience. Israel may have colonised and occupied Gaza, and still control it by remote, but these stories show that it has yet to colonise Gazans’ minds. As Abdallah Tayeh speculates in his story, “How long must we wait? What unpredictable occurrence is it that stands to ruin everything? The state of expectation begins at birth… we simply surrender to a gust of happiness or the cleaver of despair. And we carry on. We bare our teeth or bleed from our wounds, but we carry on.” (p. 91)

MONTPELLIER, France — Pregnant women regularly exposed to a range of detergents, solvents and pesticides have a substantially greater risk of giving birth to boys with genital deformities, according to a new French study.

The research, led by two professors at the Regional University Hospital Centre in the French city of Montpellier, found that women who regularly work with such chemicals, including cleaners and hairdressers, were at greatest risk of having sons born with hypospadias.

The birth defect, which affects about three in 1,000 newborn boys, is a condition where the urinary opening is abnormally positioned on the penis.

Hypospadias can be treated with surgery but it can affect the boy’s fertility once he reaches adulthood.

The study, led by paediatric surgeon Nicolas Kalfa and paediatric endocrinologist Charles Sultan, was carried out over five years and examined 600 children at hospitals in four French cities, 300 of whom were boys born with hypospadias.

“The study shows for the first time that regular professional or domestic exposure [to these chemicals], and more generally being in contact with them, seriously raises the risk of genital deformity,” Sultan told AFP.

A summary of the research said boys were three times more likely to be born with hypospadias if they had been exposed to chemicals that interfered with their endocrine systems in the womb at the moment when the sex of the foetus is determined.

Both parents’ professions and where they live can play a role, the study added.

The study identifies mothers working as cleaners or housekeepers, hairdressers, beauticians and laboratory workers as being particularly at risk.

For the father, being a farmer, lab worker, cleaner, mechanic or painter was found to bring a greater chance of the son having the defect.

Living within three kilometres of an incinerator, landfill site or a chemical factory brings a greater risk of having a son with hypospadias, Sultan said.

“For a long time there has been contradictory data over the genetic and environmental causes,” Sultan added.

SAN FRANCISCO — Google said this week one of its least expensive innovations — virtual reality headgear made of cardboard — has become a huge hit.

And the tech giant said it has a new version of its cardboard gadget, which consumers can buy for as little as $4.

Playfully named Google Cardboard debuted last year at the Internet giant’s annual developers conference.

One simply folds the cardboard into goggles of a sort that have eye holes opening into a slot designed to hold smartphones that serve as display screens for immersive videos.

“It took off; people keep finding new and creative uses of Google Cardboard virtual reality,” vice president of product management Clay Bavor said at a Google I/O developers gathering.

“One guy even proposed to his girlfriend using Google Cardboard. I’m not sure how that worked, but I hope she said yes.”

Bavor introduced a second-generation version of Cardboard that required less folding and was adapted to the popularity of large-screen smartphones.

A Cardboard software kit works with Apple or Android smartphones, meaning they can be used as screens in the viewers, which can be had for just a few dollars.

Hundreds of applications have been created to work with Cardboard, taking advantage of position sensing capabilities in smartphones to give wearers a sense of looking around in virtual environments while turning their heads.

Virtual field trips

Bavor announced availability of an “Expeditions” version of Cardboard designed to let teachers take students on virtual field trips to places such as The Great Wall of China; undersea reefs, or Versailles.

Students wear Cardboard viewers while teachers using tablet computers guide virtual reality (VR) outings, according to Bavor’s presentation.

“It lets teachers take classed on field trips to anywhere,” Bavor said. “Hundreds of classes around the world have already gone on expeditions.”

He said that Google is working with GoPro on a specialised camera rig and accompanying system for capturing video in 360 degrees and weaving the imagery into VR presentations.

Google-owned video sharing service YouTube will support VR videos people will be able to view using smartphones and Cardboard.

“Google is definitely democratising virtual reality more than, say, Facebook,” Current Analysis research director Avi Greengart told AFP at the gathering.

“It is very clever of Google to almost back into it by giving people something at almost no cost.”

The chief executive of Facebook-owned VR head gear company Oculus Rift went on record this week estimating that getting going from the ground up with one of its systems could cost about $1,500 when it makes its market debut.

Brendan Iribe of Oculus was at a Code technology conference in California when he gave the ballpark figure, which included the cost of a computer with the processing power needed for rich, immersive, seamless video graphics.

Oculus, acquired by Facebook last year in a deal valued about $2 billion, has announced plans to begin shipping headsets to consumers early next year.

The headset, designed for immersive gaming and other applications, has built a strong following among developers and has won praise from analysts for limiting the motion sickness which affects users of VR gear.

“Virtual reality is going to transform gaming, film, entertainment communication and much more,” Oculus said when revealing launch timing.

Facebook co-founder and chief Mark Zuckerberg has described buying Oculus as a long-term bet that making the social network’s offerings more immersive would pay off in the future, enabling members to sort of “teleport” to distant places.

“VR will definitely have a place in gaming; whether it will have a place in general computing is anyone’s guess,” Greengart said.

Los Angeles Times (TNS)

Examining rocks on Mercury’s surface, scientists using data from NASA’s Messenger spacecraft have revealed that the planet probably had a much stronger magnetic field nearly 4 billion years ago.

The findings, published in the journal Science, offer insight into the field’s power source: the liquid dynamo in the planet’s outer core.

Scientists have known that tiny Mercury boasts a magnetic field ever since NASA’s Mariner 10 spacecraft detected it during flybys in the 1970s. But it has been unclear whether the field was a short-lived or long-term phenomenon.

Messenger, which in 2011 became the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury, sought to answer such questions about the sun-seared planet. Even though Messenger crash-landed on Mercury just last week, the data from its four years in orbit are still turning up a trove of fresh information. And before it ran out of fuel, the scientists used the spacecraft’s last reserves to swoop down to extremely low altitudes to better examine some of the features on Mercury’s scarred surface.

For most of Messenger’s mission, the closest the spacecraft’s elliptical orbit took it to the surface was about 200 kilometres. But during the last month or so, the Messenger team took the spacecraft to within 15 kilometres of the planet’s surface, getting an unprecedented close-up.

“It’s quite a risky thing to do because if you get it wrong, you wind up in the planet a little too early,” said study lead author Catherine Johnson, a geophysicist at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.

Using its magnetometer, which sits at the end of a long boom to avoid interference from the spacecraft, Messenger measured the magnetic field’s strength and direction at two sites on the planet’s surface, particularly one called Suisei Planitia, a large basin whose name comes from the Japanese word for Mercury.

The scientists found that the smooth plains on Mercury — which are believed to have locked in their magnetic field characteristics when the molten rock solidified about 3.7 billion to 3.9 billion years ago — probably mark what the study calls the “lower bound on the average age of magnetisation”. In other words, the magnetic field is at least 3.7 billion to 3.9 billion years old.

If that time window is accurate, it would raise questions about the evolution of Mercury’s core, the researchers said.

“One of the puzzles these observations leave open is: How would you have driven that early dynamo?” Johnson said.

The churning dynamo could have been powered by super-fast cooling in the core — except that that’s thought to have ended 3.9 billion years ago, before those smooth plains finally set. It could have been powered by the solidifying of the inner core — but that’s thought to have started well after 3.7 billion years ago.

In other words, the magnetic field seems to fall into a temporal doughnut hole during which its power source cannot be explained.

The researchers hope to get to the bottom of this mystery using Messenger’s trove of data, gleaning further clues from the composition of the rocks and signs of past volcanic activity.