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SYDNEY – Australia will suffer more days of extreme heat and a longer bushfire season as greenhouse gases force temperatures to continue rising, a new report warned Tuesday.

The joint study by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation and the Bureau of Meteorology said temperatures across Australia were, on average, almost one degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than a century ago.

Seven of the 10 warmest years on record have occurred since 1998 while over the past 15 years the frequency of very hot months has increased five-fold, it said.

The scenario was starkly illustrated in 2013, which was Australia’s hottest year since records began in 1910 and included a prolonged national heatwave.

Megan Clark, chief executive of the CSIRO, Australia’s peak science body, said the country has warmed in every state and territory and in every season.

“Australia has one of the most variable climates in the world. Against this backdrop, across the decades, we’re continuing to see increasing temperatures, warmer oceans, changes to when and where rain falls and higher sea levels,” Clark said. 

“The sea-surface temperatures have warmed by 0.9^oC since 1900 and greenhouse gas concentrations continue to rise.”

Australia is routinely hit by bushfires during its December-February summer months, with hot windy conditions again fanning hundreds of blazes this season with dozens of homes destroyed.

The report said it would only get worse.

“A further increase in the number of extreme fire-weather days is expected in southern and eastern Australia, with a longer fire season in these regions,” it said of areas devastated by fires this year.

It also forecast less rainfall in southern Australia and more severe droughts in a grim warning for farmers.

The report, released every two years, added that tropical cyclones were projected to decrease in number but increase in intensity, while rising seas levels would cause more problems for coastal dwellers.

The report said Australian temperatures could rise by 1^oC-2.5^oC by 2070, compared to 1980 to 1999, depending on the level of greenhouse gas emissions.

While cutting global emissions would be crucial to preventing the worst  global warming has in store, that alone would not be enough, the agencies warned.

“Adaptation is required because some warming and associated changes are unavoidable,” it said.

NEW YORK – Young smokers who have smoked more cigarettes have clear differences in their brains compared to lighter smokers, according to a new study.

“Earlier studies of older participants showed that the smokers had structural differences in various brain regions,” said senior author Edythe D. London.

And in studies of adolescent animals, nicotine damaged and killed brain cells, added London, from the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behaviour at UCLA and the David Geffen School of Medicine in Los Angeles.

“While the results do not prove causation, they suggest that there are effects of cigarette exposure on brain structure in young smokers, with a relatively short smoking history,” London said.

She and her team at UCLA mapped the brains of 42 people ages 16 to 21 using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and asked them about their smoking history and cravings.

Eighteen of the participants were smokers. They had typically started smoking around age 15 and smoked six to seven cigarettes per day.

There were no clear differences in the brains of smokers versus non-smokers. However, among smokers, those who reported smoking more cigarettes tended to have a thinner insula, a region of the cerebral cortex involved in decision making, according to results published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology. The effects seemed confined to the right insula.

Previous studies have suggested the insula plays a central role in tobacco dependence, with the highest density of nicotine receptors in the brain.

The researchers also found a thinner insula in the brains of people who had more cravings and felt more dependent on cigarettes. Their study was funded by Philip Morris USA, makers of Marlboro and Virginia Slims.

Young people ages 18 to 25 have the highest smoking rates in the U.S. at 30 per cent, London said.

“Because the brain is still undergoing development, smoking during this critical period may produce neurobiological changes that promote tobacco dependence later in life,” she said. Changing the structure of the insula may affect future smoking dependence and other substance abuse.

“It is possible that changes in the brain from prolonged exposure help maintain dependence,” she said.

People who start smoking early in life seem to have more trouble quitting and have more serious health consequences than those who start later, London said.

But since the study only assessed smokers at one point in time, it doesn’t prove that cigarettes changed their brains.

“It is possible that such changes pre-dated the smoking, i.e. they were not caused by smoking,” Dr Nasir H. Naqvi told Reuters Health in an e-mail. “The only way to know this is to take a group of adolescents who have never smoked, follow them over time, and then see who starts smoking, and then compare them to the adolescents who never started smoking.”

Naqvi, a substance abuse researcher at Columbia University in New York City, was not involved in the study.

He studies the insula and said that area drives drug addiction like a “gas pedal” and also controls decision making like a “brake pedal”.

Since the insula was thinner in heavier smokers, it could be they have reduced power over the “brake pedal” and less control over cravings, he said.

“The key question is whether these changes are reversible with smoking cessation, or whether they persist,” Naqvi said. But few studies have measured changes in the brains of people who stop taking a drug.

“What we do know is that once you are addicted to smoking, you will always have a high likelihood of relapse, even if you are abstinent for many years,” Naqvi said.

AMMAN — The classiest of the wider Volkswagen group’s big SUVs sits lower in the pecking order than a flashy Porsche Cayenne or Audi Q7, but instead exudes a restrained and understated but elegantly conservative sensibility. 

Introduced in 2011, the second generation Touareg makes a better case for itself as a sensible and middle class large family SUV, which combine on-road refinement and reassuring dynamics with spacious size, tasteful cabin and ride comfort. 

And with the optional Terrain Tech package, as tested, the Touareg gets low gear ratios and locking differentials to significantly improve its off-road abilities.

Classy conservatism

A complete but evolutionary redesign, the second generation Touareg is not a radical departure since the original or from the rest of the Volkswagen range, but features a larger bumper, more prominent wheel-arches and a tidier fascia design. 

The biggest compliment to the Touareg’s tight, clear and uncomplicated design is that it looks smaller and better packaged than its actual size, and resembles an overgrown Golf. 

Benefiting from the slightly moodier and more assertive design language since the 2008 Scirocco, the wider, lower and longer Touareg looks subtly sportier and more resolved, and features improved cabin space and aerodynamics.

Well fitted and finished, the Touareg has a typically classy Volkswagen feel to it, with symmetric, clear and user-friendly layouts, prominent soft textures and clean design lines and curves, while hard plastics are more discretely positioned. 

Seating is comfortable and adjustable while the thick steering wheel falls nicely to hand and large round instruments are clear. 

Efficient and elegantly uncomplicated, the Touareg’s airy cabin looks best in dark tones. 

Passenger space is generous, with a lengthened wheelbase improving rear legroom, while cargo volume extends from 580 litres to 1,642 litres when the rear seats are folded.

Smooth operator

A long-standing Volkswagen engine, the Touareg’s entry-level 3.6-litre naturally aspirated direct injection petrol V6 sits below the European market three-litre supercharged V6 and the range-topping 4.2-litre V8. 

Smooth and well up to the job of motivating the Touareg’s 2,136 kilogramme mass, the 3.6 V6 is mated to an eight-speed auto gearbox, which with aggressive first and second gears allows for reasonably swift 7.8-second 0-100km acceleration. 

The eight-speed’s two overdrive gears and a wider number of ratios allow for better optimisation of output, restrained 10.2l/100km combined cycle fuel efficiency and smooth, low rev and quiet motorway refinement.

Developing 276BHP at 6,200rpm and 265lb/ft torque throughout a 3,000-4,000rpm mid-range, the Touareg’s naturally-aspirated V6 is progressive in delivery, but with usefully healthy mid-range flexibility that is aided by its eight-speed gearbox when quick overtaking is required. 

Hustling the 3.6 Touareg at a brisk pace along winding roads is also done best by manually working the gearbox to hold revs longer. 

As quick as an SUV really needs to be, the Touareg’s respectable performance always feels refined and timely rather than aggressive or abundant, especially so because of its 2.1-tonne weight and extensive cabin insulation.

Reassuring ride

A refined car-like SUV with unibody construction and independent suspension all around, the Volkswagen Touareg rides smoothly and comfortable soaks up bumps, cracks, ripples and imperfections, despite riding on relatively low profile 265/50R19 tyres. 

However, the Touareg’s comfort and suppleness by no means suggests sloppy or wallowing handling, as is a reassuring and composed through corners, with good body control and only light lean. 

With precise and light but somewhat clinical steering, the Touareg is easy to manoeuvre and turns in tidily, stays true to cornering lines through curves and grips hard.

Walking a carefully balanced middle road between comfort and dynamics, the Touareg has a distinct sense of solidity and confidence, with its four-wheel-drive clawing at the tarmac when one puts power down, while its long wheelbase and good body control lend it terrific road holding through corners. 

Being a large German car designed for regular Autobahn duties, the Touareg naturally feels poised and rock solidly planted on the highway, where it is insulated and refined but with a subtle reassuring firmness and excellent directional stability. Light steering and good visibility also make town driving easy.

Off-road ability

Classy, composed and comfortable the Volkswagen Touareg may be best known for its smooth on-road driving, but it can also well handle itself off-road. 

This is especially so when fitted with the optional Terrain Tech package, which crucially off-road hardware like a low ration gearbox transfer, to allow one to reduce speed to a crawling pace while exploiting the engine’s maximum power output, whether driving hard and fast through sand or on a more technical course or steep incline. 

Terrain Tech also brings locking centre and rear differentials to allow wheels to prevent slippage and keep turning in sync.

Diff locks help get the Touareg out of low traction situations, while optional air suspension raises ride height by 300mm to allow 580mm water wading, 30° approach and departure and 27° break-over angles for traversing obstacles. 

Taking on choppy dirt tracks and sand well during it regional launch test drive, the Touareg also impressed in how it climbed steep sand inclines, through which one had to keep in first or second gear with engine revs high. 

The Touareg also features a hill descent control, which utilises ABS, traction and stability controls to steady, smooth and safe low traction descents.

SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 3.6-litre, cast iron block / aluminium head in-line V6-cylinders

Bore x stroke: 89 x 96.4mm

Valve-train: 24-valve DOHC, direct injection

Gearbox: 8-speed automatic, 

Ratios: 1st 4.85; 2nd 2.84; 3rd 1.86; 4th 1.44; 5th 1.22; 6th 1.0; 7th 0.82; 8th 0.67

Reverse / final drive: 3.83 / 3.7

Drivel-line: four-wheel drive, low gear transfer, locking centre & rear differentials

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 276 (280) [206] @ 6,200rpm

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 265 (360) @ 3,000-4,000rpm

0-80 km/h: 5.5-seconds

0-100 km/h: 7.8-seconds

Maximum speed: 228km/h

Fuel consumption, combined: 12.2-litres/100km

CO2 emissions, combined: 239g/km

Fuel capacity: 100-litres

Length: 4,795mm

Width: 1,940mm

Height (w/ roof rails): 1,709 (1,732)mm

Wheelbase: 2,893mm

Tread width, F/R: 1,656 / 1,676 mm

Ground clearance, minimum: 159mm

Approach / departure / break-over angles: 30° / 30° / 27°

Hill climbing angle: 45°

Side slope: 35°

Water wading: 580mm

Curb weight: 2,136kg

Turning circle: 11.9-metres

Head room, front (w/ sunroof): 1,014 (1,005)mm

Head room, rear (w/ sunroof): 989 (984)mm

Interior width, F/R: 1,549 / 1,511mm

Luggage capacity, min / max: 580 / 1,642-litres

Payload: 583kg

Suspension, F/R Upper & lower control arms / multi-link

Steering: Power-assisted rack & pinion

Tyres: 265/50R19

SINGAPORE — WiFi in aircraft, hobbled in the past by slow speeds, could soon take off as new technology enables passengers to surf the web as if they were in a coffee shop, Internet executives say.

More airlines are rolling out new and improved services thanks to satellite technology, industry leaders said at the recent Singapore Airshow, with the public increasingly demanding WiFi on planes.

US-based Honeywell Aerospace and Gogo, which supply inflight connectivity systems to airlines, are collaborating with satellite giant Inmarsat to implement the “first global high-speed broadband for the skies” dubbed the Global Xpress (GX) Aviation network.

Briand Greer, president of Honeywell Aerospace Asia Pacific, said inflight WiFi could generate $2.8 billion for the company alone over the next 20 years.

He estimates that around 7 to 8 per cent of airlines currently offer wireless connection, but says this number is expected to grow to 25 per cent by 2018.

After years of being bogged down by weak demand due to poor signal quality, inflight WiFi can now enable download speeds of up to 50 megabits per second, Greer said.

“How we describe it is it will be like you are sitting at Starbucks with your smartphone, your computer and your iPad,” Greer told reporters.

Onboard WiFi is not a new idea — European carrier Lufthansa debuted Conexxion by Boeing’s system in 2004.

But by 2006 the company announced its exit after the expected growth in the market did not materialise.

Recent surveys by Airbus and Honeywell, however, suggest that the market might now be ready as passengers increasingly expect airlines to have inflight wireless services.

Airbus published a report in February about the comfort demands of Asian passengers, carried out by global consultancy Future Laboratory.

One of the future trends highlighted was that Asian business passengers would expect WiFi enabled cabins with telephone and conference calling facilities.

Honeywell also conducted a survey of 3,000 passengers from the US, Britain and Singapore and nearly 90 per cent would give up an amenity, such as drinks or a better seat, for a faster and more consistent wireless connection.

When flying over land, planes use telecommunication towers to transmit Internet signals but during long-haul flights, when they fly over large expanses of water, consistent connectivity becomes a problem.

In those cases, a satellite network is needed.

In December last year, Inmarsat launched the first of three satellites that will serve the GX network. Air China will be the first airline to test it, on its A330 fleet in the second quarter of 2015.

Singapore Airlines, which launched its $50 million inflight connectivity programme in September 2012, said it planned to finish equipping its aircraft with the hardware by 2015.

A Lufthansa spokesperson said that it would also begin rolling out inflight WiFi on all of its planes in the middle of this year.

Even no-frills airlines are catching on.

Thai budget airline Nok Air announced during the Singapore Airshow that it will equip its new Boeing 737 fleet with WiFi.

Peter Andersson, general manager of aviation navigation company Jeppesen, also said that the technology could benefit cockpit and airport operation.

“If you have something that you need to repair, you can get the status check to the ground level so they can be prepared so they can actually do the maintenance quicker,” Andersson told AFP.

“You can reduce the turnaround and maintenance [of airplanes] dramatically.”

NEW YORK — Less than half of German people who are told they have cancer through a set and accepted protocol for breaking bad news are satisfied with the conversation, according to a new study.

Researchers found that may be due to gaps in what patients considered important during that process and what they report actually happened when they got the news.

The study's lead author told Reuters that traditionally doctors thought they were aware of their patients' preferences and breaking bad news hadn't been a focus during their training.

"The idea was somehow that physicians will ‘naturally' have the ability to communicate," physician Carola Seifart wrote in an e-mail.

She is from Philipps-University of Marburg in Marburg, Germany.

Doctors of all kinds break bad news to their patients, but it is especially common among oncologists, who diagnose and treat cancer, Seifart and her colleagues write in Annals of Oncology.

For example, the diagnosis of a new cancer or a negative development with an existing cancer can significantly change a person's view of the future.

In many countries, the so-called SPIKES protocol is widely accepted as the standard for breaking bad news.

The protocol is based on six steps that involve finding an appropriate setting, determining what the patient already knows or suspects, understanding what the patient wants to know, knowing how to deliver information the patient understands, being sympathetic and summarising the information at the end of the meeting.

While SPIKES has been tested in the US, the researchers write that it has not been tested in Germany and there is little information on how bad news is broken there.

They surveyed 350 people who were patients at two medical centres in Germany and had cancer.

The surveys focused on how patients felt the news of their cancer was first broken to them based on the SPIKES protocol and which parts of the protocol were most important to them, out of 37 items.

Overall, only about 46 per cent of the participants were completely satisfied with the way the bad news was broken to them.

Of the 10 parts of SPIKES that the patients rated most important, five addressed how doctors provide information or knowledge, three pertained to how doctors conclude the meeting and two were about the setting where the news is delivered.

The researchers compared those preferences to what the participants actually experienced when they received bad news.

The greatest difference was between the information participants wanted on their prognosis and what the doctors actually told them.

Based on their findings, the researchers suggest doctors ask about what information patients want and focus on the disease's prognosis and how it will impact daily life. Doctors should also routinely ask whether patients understand the information and offer them the opportunity to ask questions.

The researchers also suggest that the process of breaking bad news be split over two visits, because many of the participants felt unable to make decisions during the first visit.

Seifart cautioned that the new findings can't be generalised to all countries.

Walter Baile, another doctor, also cautioned that the study's findings are limited, because what the participants reported happening during their visit may be different from what actually happened.

Baile, from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Centre in Houston, is an expert on the SPIKES protocol but was not involved with the new study.

"Patients don't often remember at the time of diagnosis what they've been told," he said, adding that the request for a second visit is important.

"From our work, what we found is that patients need to have these conversations over and over again," physician Juliet Jacobsen, who was also not involved with the study, said.

She is a specialist in palliative care at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Centre in Boston.

"I think they [the authors] recognise that by saying even a two-step process would be an improvement," she said.

Baile said the finding that a lot of patients were unhappy with the way bad news was given is significant.

"Patients really need a lot of information and that's what other studies have shown," he said.

CUPERTINO – Apple Inc.  sold more than $1 billion of Apple TV set-top boxes in 2013 and is investing heavily in the next generation of products, Chief Executive Tim Cook said at the company’s annual meeting on Friday.

Apple’s ability to again transform the fast-moving technology arena is the central question in investors’ and Silicon Valley executives’ minds as the company’s growth slows, and rivals like Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and Google Inc. take chunks out of its market share.

Industry executives and Apple observers continue to believe that the company will come up with some sort of wearable device, like a smartwatch, and speculation persists about a long-rumoured TV product of some sort to shake up the living room viewing experience.

“We’re working on some things that are extensions of things you can see and some that you can’t see,” Cook said at the annual meeting, referring to a 32 per cent increase in research and development costs last year.

Responding to a question about innovation, Cook said Apple preferred not to talk about new products under development so as not to tip off the competition.

“You can see we’re getting ripped off left, right and sideways,” he said.

Apple’s shares fell 0.27 per cent to close at $526.24 on Friday. They have clawed back substantial ground since falling below $400 in June, but remain well below the record-high $700 level of 2012, weighed by concerns about whether the company has any new hit products in the pipeline.

Though Cook steered clear of that discussion, he shed some more light on the Apple TV business, which executives have long referred to as a “hobby” for a company expected to chalk up some $181 billion in sales this fiscal year.

The $99 Apple TV set-top box, which streams content from Netflix and other video sources to a TV, had racked up $1 billion in sales in the past year, he said.

“It’s a little more difficult to call it a hobby these days,” Cook said.

Cook took pot shots at Google, saying that most users of its Android mobile operating system are using older versions, presenting a security threat. In contrast, he said, 89 per cent of users of devices based on Apple’s iOS operating system have the most recent version of the software.

Shareholders at the annual meeting at Apple’s Cupertino, California, headquarters re-elected all board members.

In the run-up to the meeting at 1 Infinite Loop, many investors had publicly debated whether Apple should not put any of its massive cash pile to better use.

Cook said the company will provide an update within 60 days on how it will use the cash, which totalled nearly $160 billion at the end of 2013. That time frame is in line with Apple’s previous comments that it would announce its latest cash management plans around April.

BARCELONA – From the release of connected bracelets, watches and even a smart toothbrush to a future of one-second high-definition movie downloads, the mobile world is developing rapidly.

Here are five major trends to emerge at the four-day World Mobile Congress in Barcelona, the industry’s biggest annual gathering, which wrapped up Thursday:

Connected watches, bracelets and a toothbrush 

The new star accessories of manufacturers such as mobile titan Samsung, Sony or China’s Huawei are smartphone-connected bracelets and watches. You can take a call and read messages on them. But now they offer to count your steps, check your pulse, even monitor your sleep cycle and decide the best moment to wake you. 

They are part of a “quantified self” trend, in which smartphone owners can measure the minutiae of their own lives, right down to cleaning their teeth. 

Procter & Gamble’s Oral-B smart toothbrush will check your technique, and you can share the results on social networks.

Cheap smartphones 

From a $25 smartphone, which Mozilla Foundation says it is developing for this year for developing markets, to Nokia X models for less than 150 euros ($200), manufacturers are trying to tap into the fastest-growing markets such as Latin America, China, South Asia and Africa.

Smartphones for a better ‘selfie’ 

Often neglected, the camera on the front of your smartphone for taking a photo of yourself is becoming more powerful to satisfy the growth of the “selfie”. 

Huawei’s Ascend G6 boosts the front camera to five megapixels. More broadly, photo and video quality is improving rapidly. 

Sony’s new Xperia Z2 allows users to film in 4K resolution, the most advanced available on the market.

Spam and other threats      

As people pour sensitive personal data into their smartphones and tablets, and as more objects are hooked up to the network, security threats can take on a new dimension. 

Some hackers manage to get into target devices to take photos or record conversations. One compromised refrigerator has been caught sending spam. Security specialists say even your connected car’s brakes could be at risk.

A movie download in one second 

The next, fifth-generation mobile networks to begin rolling out in 2020 promise to let users download an entire high-definition movie in one second flat. 

The network will have to cope, also, with billions of connected objects communicating with each other, from kitchen appliances to cars and traffic signals, industry players say.

WASHINGTON – A massive study of more than two million people in Sweden has found that those with older dads faced a higher risk of psychiatric problems, autism and attention disorders, researchers said Wednesday.

Compared to people whose fathers were between the ages of 20 and 24 at the time of their birth, those with dads 45 or older were 25 times more likely to have bipolar disorder, said the findings in JAMA Psychiatry, a journal of the American Medical Association.

The study found people born to older dads also were 13 times more likely to have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. 

The research adds to a growing body of science on the negative effects of delayed procreation in men, an area that has traditionally focused on the risks to women and their offspring.

“We were shocked by the findings,” said Brian D’Onofrio, lead author and associate professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences at Indiana University, Bloomington. 

“The specific associations with paternal age were much, much larger than in previous studies,” said D’Onofrio, who collaborated with researchers at Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.

The size of the data set — 2.6 million people — accounted for every person born in Sweden from 1973 until 2001.

Older paternal age was linked to a greater likelihood of schizophrenia, suicide attempts and substance abuse problems in offspring, as well as failing grades and lower IQ scores.

Children of dads aged 45 or older also were 3.5 times more likely to have autism and 2.5 times more likely to have suicidal behaviour or a substance abuse problem than those born to dads aged 24 and under.

The likelihood of having one or more of the problems increased steadily with the age of the father, signalling that there was no age threshold which suddenly posed new risks.

And by comparing siblings, researchers found associations with advancing paternal age far higher than in the general population.

Scientists made allowances for the effects of higher income, common in older men and a factor which should negate some hardships of growing up, but found the strong associations remained.

‘Informative’ findings 

“The findings in this study are more informative than many previous studies,” D’Onofrio said. 

“First, we had the largest sample size for a study on paternal age. Second, we predicted numerous psychiatric and academic problems that are associated with significant impairment.”

Women have long been counselled that their egg supply is constantly diminishing, while men are making new sperm well into old age.

Researchers now know that DNA mutations can happen each time sperm replicate. As men age, they are exposed to more environmental toxins that can lead to DNA changes in sperm.

Nevertheless, women and men over the past 40 years increasingly have delayed childbirth.

The average age of first-time mothers in the United States was 21.5 in 1970 and by 2011 it was 25.6, according to Centres for Disease Control and Prevention data. 

Men tend to be about three years older on average, according to Indiana University researchers.

TOKYO – A tiny personal computer that is worn on the ear and can be controlled with the blink of an eye or the click of a tongue is being tested in Japan.

The 17-gramme wireless device has bluetooth capability and is equipped with a GPS, compass, gyro-sensor, battery, barometer, speaker and microphone. 

Wearable computing is thought by many commentators to be the next big thing in technology, with products such as Google Glass at the forefront.

The device, known at the moment as the “Earclip-type Wearable PC” has a microchip and data storage, enabling users to load software, said engineer Kazuhiro Taniguchi of Hiroshima City University.

Its designs are based on traditional “ikebana” flower arrangements.

“We have made this with the basic idea that people will wear it in the same way they wear earrings,” Taniguchi told AFP in a recent interview as he showcased a black prototype.

The system, which developers are hoping to have ready for Christmas 2015, can be connected to an iPod or other gadget and would allow the user to navigate through software programmes using facial expressions, such as a raised eyebrow, a stuck-out tongue, a wiggle of the nose or by clenching teeth.

The device uses infrared sensors that monitor tiny movements inside the ear, which differ depending on how the eyes and mouth move.

Because the user does not have to move either hand, its developers say it can serve as “a third hand” for everyone from caregivers to rock-climbers, motorbike riders to astronauts, as well as people with disabilities.

“Supposing I climb a mountain, look at the sky at night and see a bright star up there, it could tell me what it is,” Taniguchi said.

“As it knows what altitude I’m at, which direction I’m looking and at what angle, it could tell me, ‘The bright star you are seeing now is Sirius’.”

Using a smartphone to connect to the Internet would mean you could be automatically put in touch with people in faraway places who are doing the same thing as you.

“This could connect you with a person who is looking at the same star at a remote place at the same time,” enabling the people to swap impressions, Taniguchi said.

A second version of the device might be pressed into use to help relatives keep an eye on elderly family in greying Japan.

The earpiece, which could also function as a hearing aid, could monitor the wearer’s health, including their pulse and body temperature, while logging how often they eat and sneeze, offering early warning of the onset of illness. 

An onboard accelerometer could tell when the user falls and instruct the smartphone to pass information to relatives, or call an ambulance based on GPS data.

Tests are being carried out in Hiroshima, with the aim of commercialising the device from April 2016.

LONDON – Based on two dozen clinical trials, US researchers find that expensive mattress covers make no difference in reducing dust mite allergies or their symptoms.

Up to 40 per cent of the world population has allergies, and dust mites are thought to be one of the most common causes. Doctors often tell patients to buy special mattress and pillow covers despite a lack of evidence they relieve the problem, the authors say.

“Based on this analysis which combines data from many different studies, there doesn’t seem to be any benefit to using dust mite covers to prevent allergic disease or to prevent symptoms,” lead author Whitney Arroyave told Reuters Health.

Arroyave, a researcher with the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans, and her colleagues combined results from 24 trials of methods to reduce dust mite exposure and prevent allergy signs and symptoms

The study team found that use of the mattress covers had a large effect in reducing exposure to house mite dust levels — about 20 per cent — but this reduction had no statistically significant impact on house dust mite sensitisation, or symptoms such as wheezing, asthma, runny nose or dermatitis.

The results are published in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.

Arroyave said it isn’t clear why dust mite covers don’t seem to be effective in relieving allergies, but it’s possible they don’t lower mite levels enough to improve symptoms, or maybe beds aren’t the main source of exposure for the dust mites.

“Or maybe it’s not the dust mite at all — maybe they’re not causing the problems,” she said.

Arroyave said that dust mite covers cost around $100, which is a burden, particularly for very low-income people.

“It’s expensive to ask them to pay for this,” she said.

She added that other researchers have done bigger studies, looking not just at dust mite covers, but all kinds of dust mite prevention measures.

“They didn’t find any results either,” Arroyave said, “so I think we’re just saying, you know, look at this again — maybe we need to revisit the recommendations.” Dr Samuel Friedlander, an allergist with University Hospitals Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio, said he doesn’t plan on giving up recommending dust mite mattress covers.

“What’s important to understand is that avoidance measures are very important for allergy controls, and one of the three ways we treat allergies by avoiding your allergies, medication and immunotherapy or allergy shots,” said Friedlander, who was not involved in the new study.

“This article is helpful to show a single measure to control allergies is not always effective — we have to use multiple measures,” he said.

“So the take home message for me is that dust mite covers are still very important, but they should be part of a comprehensive treatment plan,” he said.

Researchers try to modify one thing at a time, to show a cause and effect, but in real life, allergists make multiple recommendations necessary to resolve patients’ symptoms, Friedlander said.

“If you do a single thing like dust mite covers, but you’re still exposed to dust from other sources in your house or work, or if you have other allergies like pets or pollens, then of course a single measure like dust mite covers is not going to be effective,” he said.

Friedlander said he doesn’t want people to think that dust mite covers are not important.

“I think the point is that we need to make multiple recommendations to relieve multiple allergies that our patients are allergic to,” he said. “Dust mite covers are very important, but they have to be part of a comprehensive treatment plan.”

It’s important to see an allergist to determine what your allergies are, Friedlander added, so the allergist can make a treatment plan to take care of all of your allergies.