Features

PASADENA, California — They made history and $1 billion with the first titular superhero of colour in “Black Panther” — now Marvel’s creatives and stars are repeating the trick for gender equality.

“Ant-Man and the Wasp”, the sequel to 2015’s “Ant-Man”, is the 20th release in a decade from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) series of comic book movies, and the first to feature a woman in the title.

“We always knew that the next one was going to be ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’,” Kevin Feige, the president of Disney-owned Marvel Studios, told AFP at a global press day for the movie in Pasadena, southern California on Sunday.

“It’s finally time to see her suit up and be the hero that she said earlier she wanted to be.”

The 2015 movie featured Evangeline Lilly’s Hope van Dyne as a wannabe superhero and she returns here leaner, meaner and ready to step up on an equal footing with Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man.

Lilly told AFP the plan was to introduce the Wasp’s origin story in Marvel’s 2016 release “Captain America: Civil War” along with Ant-Man and the other Avengers.

“I got a call saying, ‘We’ve decided not to put you in Civil War’ and there was this moment, I could tell, where the feeling in the room was like, ‘I’m sorry — don’t be offended,’” she said. 

“I was like, ‘Are they going to give me a movie? Is that what they’re saying?’ And they said, ‘We really want to dedicate a film to introducing this female superhero and we don’t want her just to be a side note.”

‘Crazy fun’

The surprise of double-billing came later, when Marvel sent her a screen capture with the Wasp in the title. 

The premise behind “Ant-Man” is refreshingly simple: Scott Lang, a petty criminal with lot of heart, can get very big or quantum-level small via a suit that manipulates his subatomic particles. 

“Ant-Man and the Wasp” — directed, like the first movie, by Peyton Reed — sees Lang languishing under house arrest in San Francisco after being caught as his superhero alter-ego fighting some of the other Avengers in “Civil War”.

As he struggles to rebalance his home life with his responsibilities as Ant-Man, he’s confronted by Van Dyne and her father, the brilliant quantum physicist Hank Pym, with an urgent new mission. 

The original was admired by critics but is one of the least successful MCU releases at box offices worldwide.

That actually means very little when the competition is other Marvel movies — it still went on to a global gross of more than $500 million.

“Ant-Man and the Wasp” is expected to open domestically around $75 million over the weekend of July 6 — a considerable improvement on the $57 million the first film took. 

The early social media reaction from preview screenings has been almost universally glowing.

“’Ant-Man and The Wasp’ is crazy fun. Very self-contained, but brimming with energy, and full of cool and creative surprises,” Tweeted CinemaBlend critic Eric Eisenberg.

“Super funny, and the entire cast is wonderful. I had a blast!”

Eye-popping

Rudd (“Anchorman”, “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”) and Lilly (“The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies”, “Lost”) are joined by an illustrious support cast, including Oscar winner Michael Douglas and nominees Michelle Pfeiffer and Laurence Fishburne.

Michael Pena (“The Martian”, “Chips”) returns to provide much of the comic relief alongside Walton Goggins (“Vice Principals”) and Bobby Cannavale (“I, Tonya”).

It’s not just the good guys (and gals) who are inclusive; Ghost, played by British actress Hannah John-Kamen, follows Cate Blanchett (“Thor Ragarnok”) as a rare front-and-centre supervillain.

“I am the second female villain in the Marvel Universe,” John-Kamen told AFP on the sidelines of the news conference.

“With Ghost, it’s a male character in the comics and it’s designed male, but to be the first person to take it off the page and actually give her life, it was an honour.”

The movie — an eye-popping blend of intricate fight sequences, stunning chases and laugh-out-loud family-friendly comedy — was co-written by Rudd.

As with many Marvel movies, the bulk of filming took place in and around Pinewood Atlanta Studios in Georgia.

“I try to think of the film as a whole, but I will say this: this has been a collaborative effort more than anything I’ve ever worked on,” the typically self-effacing Rudd said.

“To think I wrote it would be a gross overstatement.”

Talking to yourself may seem a little shameful. If you have ever been overheard berating yourself for a foolish mistake or practicing a tricky speech ahead of time you will have felt the social injunction against communing with yourself in words. In the well-known saying, talking to yourself is the first sign of madness.

But there’s no need for embarrassment. Talking to ourselves, whether out loud or silently in our heads, is a valuable tool for thought. Far from being a sign of insanity, self-talk allows us to plan what we are going to do, manage our activities, regulate our emotions and even create a narrative of our experience.

Take a trip to any preschool and watch a small child playing with her toys. You are very likely to hear her talking to herself: offering herself directions and giving voice to her frustrations. Psychologists refer to this as private speech: language that is spoken out loud but directed at the self. We do a lot of it when we are young — perhaps one reason for our shyness about continuing with it as adults.

As children, according to the Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky, we use private speech to regulate our actions in the same way that we use public speech to control the behaviour of others. (“I’m hungry, can you bring me something to eat?” versus “I’m hungry, I should get myself something to eat.”) As we grow older, we do not abandon this system — we internalise it.

Imagine being able to tune in to the thoughts of the person next to you: in the office, on the bus, walking in the park. Much of what you would overhear would take the form of language. “Pick up some coffee. Remember to phone the plumber.” Many people say that they have a little voice up there, guiding them, helping them to think through problems and sometimes chastising them for their mistakes.

Psychological experiments have shown that this so-called inner speech can improve our performance on tasks ranging from judging what other people are thinking to sorting images into categories. The distancing effect of our words can give us a valuable perspective on our actions. One recent study suggested that self-talk is most effective when we address ourselves in the second person: as “you” rather than “I”.

With new neuroscientific techniques, we can even explore what’s happening in the brain when inner speech is going on. Mental dialogues draw on some of the same neural systems that underpin the conversations we have out loud and might explain the more unusual experience of “hearing voices” (or auditory hallucinations). We know that inner speech comes in different forms and speaks in different tongues, that it has an accent and emotional tone, and that its special properties mean it can unfold more quickly than speech said aloud.

I said that we internalise the private speech we use as children — but we never entirely put away the out-loud version. If you want proof, turn on the sports channel. You are bound to see an athlete or two gearing himself up with a tart phrase or scolding herself after a bad shot. Andy Murray attributed his 2012 US Open victory to a pep talk he gave himself in front of a changing-room mirror. Gymnastics star Laurie Hernandez was caught on camera telling herself “I got this” before a key event in Rio. The athletes are doing it for good reason: Self-talk has been shown to bring benefits in sports as diverse as badminton, darts and wrestling.

Those of us who lack the talent of a Hernandez or a Murray are also likely to talk to ourselves aloud, particularly when the task is difficult and the conditions stressful. Researchers have observed high levels of private speech when adults are immersed in attention-demanding tasks like data entry — although, poignantly, many participants deny having talked to themselves when quizzed afterward. That social pressure not to think out loud is very real.

Conducting a dialogue with ourselves — asking questions of the self and providing answers — seems to be a particularly good way of solving problems and working through ideas. The to-and-fro between different points of view means our thoughts can end up in expected places, just like a regular dialogue can, and might turn out to be one of the keys to human creativity.

Both kinds of self-talk — the silent and the vocal — seem to bring a range of benefits to our thinking. Those words to the self, spoken silently or aloud, are so much more than idle chatter.

Why would a 34-year-old artist feel nostalgic and when did he have time to become so were the questions that popped up inevitably upon stepping into the exhibition hall of Wadi Finan Art Gallery to see Fadi Daoud’s works, displayed under the heading “Nostalgia”.

But then, looking back at his career of over two decades, one realises he had ample time, and reason, to reminisce and pine for “the good old days”.

Daoud started painting at 10. At 12 he had his first exhibition… in his father’s gallery in Fuhais.

Any accusation of favouritism would be unfounded and will be subsequently disclaimed as, after studying art in Jordan, this young artist was accepted for his Master in Art Degree in Florence based on his track record. No chance to get in there unless talented.

Back in Jordan, Daoud went into teaching, imparting his knowledge and inspiring with his enthusiasm future artists, all the while continuing to paint.

The idea of this particular exhibition started with his desire to capture, on canvas, his grandmother’s smile.

“I was missing her. I worked for several months attempting to reproduce her smile. It was more of an internal dialogue I was having, returning to the painting ever so often, working on it over and over again to reach the desired result.”

Looking at the big painting that, I am told, makes some uneasy — the big face looks like a specimen more appropriate for an anatomy class — one needs some time to figure out the smile amid the many lines that form the portrait in typical Daoud manner.

The painting is a labour of love. The smile, upturned corners of the mouth, is, he says, that of his grandma; and the inspiration for most other paintings in which he is looking for an elusive smile that he tries to interpret. Is it genuine, servile, ingratiating, blasé?

“Look at the narghile man. He smiles, but he does it mechanically, for potential customers, not from the heart,” he says.

The search for a smile takes this artist to the streets of towns and villages, in contact with cobblers, makers and sellers of orange, sugar cane or liquorice juice, vendors of odds and ends, including of water melon, which he renders in a realistic painting that, like that of the backgammon players, is striking in colour and composition.

It also produces portraits — not all smiling — dervishes in a world of their own, the ubiquitous musicians in Daoud’s body of works, and a master puppeteer, a painting that gives food for thought.

It is a clear rendition of Pinocchio, from his days in Italy, but also a deeper allusion at people on earth being manipulated — or at least “guided” — by some superior order; when interpreted religiously or politically, which the artist concedes could be, the symbolism is all the more obvious, if unsettling.

The works are executed on canvas, leather or paper. The colours, muted earthen hues with splashes of blue, black, maroon or green, create fluid movement.

And then, there are the lines.

Straight, disciplined, constraining and defining, flowing sinuously or twirling in circles and ellipses, bold or vanishing in the surrounding colour, the lines are Daoud ‘s signature, his way of creating images of haunting beauty.

To immerse yourself in the world of Daoud‘s characters, to get a glimpse at the smile on the faces of some or simply to get nostalgic for the world of street merchants or trades plied in the not so distant past, you may visit the exhibition until July 7.

It is guaranteed to put a smile on any visitor’s face.

Couples who consume a lot of seafood get pregnant more quickly as they may have sex more often than those who shun the shellfish and sardines, a US study suggests. 

Researchers followed 500 couples in Michigan and Texas for one year, asking them to log their seafood consumption and sexual activity in daily journals. Couples had 39 per cent higher odds of having sex on days when both partners ate seafood, the study found. 

And by the end of the year, 92 per cent of couples who ate seafood more than twice a week had conceived, compared to 79 per cent of couples who ate less fish and shellfish. The association between seafood and fertility remained even after accounting for how frequently couples had sex. 

“While an increase in sexual activity might be one behavioural mechanism linking seafood intake to higher fecundity, it is not the only mechanism,” said lead study author Audrey Gaskins, a nutrition researcher at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston. 

“We postulate that the observed association between seafood and fecundity independent of sexual activity could be driven by improvements in semen quality, menstrual cycle function [e.g. increasing the likelihood of ovulation and levels of progesterone], and embryo quality as previous studies have observed these benefits with higher seafood and [omega-3] fatty acid intake,” Gaskins said by e-mail. 

Doctors generally advise adults to eat at least two servings a week of oily fish like salmon, mackerel, herring and tuna that are rich in omega-3s, which are linked to a lower risk of heart disease and stroke. 

But women who are pregnant or trying to conceive are told to eat no more than three servings a week of fish to avoid exposure to mercury, a contaminant that can cause birth defects and may be highly concentrated in shark and swordfish as well as mackerel and tuna. 

At the start of the current study, researchers asked couples how often over the past 12 months they ate canned tuna as well as crab, fish and shellfish caught in local waters or in unknown locations. 

Men who ate more seafood during the year before the study tended to have sex more often than men who ate less, but there wasn’t a meaningful difference for women, the study found. 

Couples’ odds of conception also didn’t appear to be influenced by how much seafood they ate during the year before the study, researchers report in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. 

How much seafood people ate also didn’t seem to be influenced by factors like income, education, exercise or body weight. 

The study wasn’t a controlled experiment designed to prove whether or how seafood might influence sexual activity or fertility. It also wasn’t clear what types of fish people ate, which could influence their risk of mercury exposure. 

“All fish are not equal,” said Tracey Woodruff, director of the Programme on Reproductive Health and the Environment at the University of California, San Francisco. 

“A lot of sardines or anchovies are good, they’re very small and there’s not a lot of contaminants,” Woodruff, who wasn’t involved in the study, said in a phone interview. “Tuna gets complicated because that can have more mercury in it.” 

Launched globally early this year, the new Nissan Leaf has a lot to live up to, as successor model to the world’s best-selling electric vehicle. With 283,000 sales since it arrived in 2010, and still counting is some markets, like Jordan, where it remains available until the new model is expected to arrive sometime next year, the original Leaf is to electric cars what the Toyota Prius is to hybrids. The car that popularised electric cars as a viable, affordable and popular alternative, the Leaf now needs to be viewed on its own merits, next to mainstream combustion engine competitors.  

Given its predecessor’s popularity and with combustion engine cars now being increasingly cross-shopped with electric and hybrid vehicles, the new Leaf needs to compete with no ifs, buts, excuses or incentives to skew the field when competing with traditionally-powered cars. More powerful, faster driving and charging and with longer range and a host of advanced driver-assistance systems, the new Leaf is a technical improvement on its predecessor. However, and perhaps more pertinently, it is, without qualification, a considerably better, and even more conventionally styled car, which suggests that Nissan is looking to broaden its appeal beyond its large but somewhat niche clientele.

Instant torque

Reflected in its more mainstream styling, the new Leaf is expected to expand its reach beyond the financially frugal, environmentally conscious, technophiles and early adaptors. Ditching its predecessor’s snouty grille, bulging vertical lights and sense of unconventionality, the new Leaf’s design incorporates more muscularly ridged surfacing and sleek swept back silhouette. Futuristically styled in what is now broadly conventional, the new Leaf also adopts moodier more heavily browed horizontal headlights and Nissan’s sporty contemporary V-motion corporate grille, with chrome frames trailing off toward ridged bonnet creases. From the rear, boomerang lights, tailgate spoiler and rakish hatch lend a sportier stance.

Powered by an enhanced version of its predecessor’s front-mounted electric motor driving the front wheels through a single-speed automatic reduction gear, new leaf also receives an uprated 40kWh lithium-ion battery pack in place of its predecessor’s 30kWh. Gaining 40BHP and 16lb/ft torque over the outgoing model, the new Leaf develops 147BHP at 3,283-9,795rpm and hefty, broad, versatile and immediately available jolt of 236lb/ft torque on tap throughout 0-3,283rpm. Chirping the wheels at full power, the Leaf is eager from standstill and consistently flexible in delivery. Respectably brisk through 0-100km/h in 7.9-seconds, the Leaf tops out at what one expects is a slightly underrated but rev-limited 144km/h.

Seamless and sweeping

Flexible, seamless, smooth and sweeping in delivery, the Leaf’s consistent delivery allowed for confident overtaking and inclines. After a briskly driven 30km, with long, steep and sustained hill climbs, power output very briefly seemed to drop at altitude, before resuming with the same consistency. With an improved single range, the leaf is quoted at being capable of 270km on the combined cycle and 415km in the city. 

However, range and power usage vary greatly and depend on driving style, various conditions, speed and topography. During said 30km stretch, range dropped significantly with sustained steep inclines, heavy braking at hairpin corners and heavy-footed acceleration.

Given such driving conditions, style and altitudes are not typical, the Leaf did deliver very good driving range when driven normally, and even through heavy winds on high 130km coastal motorways during test drive in Tenerife, Spain. During the launch event, more careful and better planned driving yielded yet better results, while some journalist drivers even managed particularly expectedly low energy consumption, but by driving at a pace so slow as to be obstructive. In terms of convenience and usability, the Leaf charging time is quoted at 7.5-hours using a specific wall charger, which seems well suited to daily commuting and town driving.

Less waiting, 

better weighting

Using high capacity charger the Leaf can top up its charge from warning light to 80 per cent in 40-60 minutes, which would allow for improved range at longer trips where such chargers might be available. However, charging by regular domestic supply electricity is inconveniently long at 21-hours. Meanwhile, the Leaf’s regenerative braking helps top up its power on the move, and can be set to different resistance levels for either a more natural driving style or increased charging. The Leaf’s accelerator pedal can also be set to E-pedal mode where both acceleration and regenerative controls are modulated with a single pedal.

Operating the E-pedal does take a while to adjust to but for sudden close distance emergency braking, one, however, needs to use the proper traditional brakes for more effective stopping ability. In most other respects, the Leaf drives very much like a regular car of its size. Its weighting is front biased with a proclivity for mild under-steer if pushed too hard into a corner, while its electric steering is light and accurate, yet lacks the visceral feel and feedback of a traditional hydraulic-assisted rack. Somewhat heavier than combustion engine competitors at 1,580kg, the Leaf’s heaviest electric components — its battery pack — is positioned under the cabin floor.

Silent and smooth

Through corners one can physically feel just how low the Leaf’s centre of gravity is and how centred its weighting is. This keeps lateral body movements to a minimum and aids its cornering agility. Meanwhile on highway it is stable and settled and is smooth in town. Slightly firm on more jagged cracks and lumps, the Leaf is otherwise rides comfortably, smoothly and forgivingly. Quiet and refined inside, the Leaf is well insulated for vibration and harshness. With driveline noise virtually absent, the leaf’s distant electric motor whine sounds like a supercharger. With its own charm, it creates somewhat of an unanticipated visceral connection.

Business-like and with a hint of sportiness and elegance, the new Leaf’s well arranged cabin has a more up-market feel with good quality fit, finish and materials, including a flat-bottom steering wheel and pod-like gear selector module. Boot space is generous at 435-litre, while cabin space is good for the most part, but the underfloor batteries and descending roofline mean that rear headroom and front visibility could be better for taller passengers. In front, tall drivers have to hunch downforce far distance passenger side visibility given the large rearview mirror and thick A-pillar and its small supporting pillar.

Well equipped with convenience and infotainment features, the Leaf’s generous standard and optional features include numerous useful driver assistance and safety systems like Intelligent Emergency Braking with Pedestrian Recognition, lane departure warning and intervention, brake assistance, hill-start assistance, blindspot warning, cross-traffic alert and six airbags. It also features Intelligent Trace Control, otherwise known as selective braking based torque vectoring for added agility and stability.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

• Engine: Front-mounted 80kW AC synchronous electric motor
• Battery: 40kwh lithium-ion
• Gearbox: 1-speed automatic, front-wheel-drive
• Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 147 (150) [110] @3,283-9,795rpm
• Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 236 [320] @0-3,283rpm
• 0-100km/h: 7.9-seconds
• Top speed: 144km/h
• Range, city/combined: 415/270km*
• Range, NEDC: 378km**
• Battery charging time, domestic supply 10A domestic/32A, 7kW charger: 21-/7.5-hours***
• Battery charging time, high capacity 50kW charger: 40-60 minutes****
• Height: 1,540mm
• Width: 1,788mm
• Length: 4,490mm
• Wheelbase: 2,700mm
• Track, F/R: 1,530/1,545mm
• Ground clearance: 150mm
• Aerodynamic drag co-efficient: 0.28
• Kerb weight: 1,580kg
• Luggage volume: 435-litres
• Steering: Speed sensitive, electric-assisted
• Turning circle: 11-metres
• Suspension, F/R: MacPherson struts/torsion bar, anti-roll bars
• Brakes, F/R: Ventilated discs, regenerative braking
• Tyres: 215/50R17
• Light Vehicles Test Procedure
• New European Driving Cycle
• From low battery alert to 100 per cent
• From low battery alert to 80 per cent

By Silvia Zayadin

Veterinarian

If you are a cat owner or lover, you have probably heard the scary warning: ‘’Cats endanger a woman’s health: they cause infertility and even miscarriage”. Are cats really a threat? 

When toxoplasma (Toxoplasma gondii), a parasite, is mentioned in a conversation, it almost always involves a warning about pregnancy and miscarriage. This is because the toxoplasma organism can (if acquired for the first time during pregnancy) be transmitted to the foetus and cause complications that might develop later during childhood or even adulthood. In some cases, a miscarriage or stillborn birth might occur.

Since toxoplasmosis can be transmitted via contact with cat faeces, many women are told to avoid cats. But the chances of us getting this disease by simply touching and caring for a cat are extremely small. In almost all cases, toxoplasmosis in humans can be traced to handling or eating raw or undercooked meat, not properly washing hands after gardening or eating unwashed fruits and vegetables.

Cats can get the disease when eating raw meat either by hunting rodents or being fed by us. If the ingested meat is infected and contains the parasite Toxoplasma gondii cats get the infection and start to shed the toxoplasma organism in their faeces within a short period of time (around two to three weeks).

In order for a human to be exposed to the organism from a cat, that person would have to have a cat who is actively hunting or being fed infected raw meat, develop the disease and start to shed the organism in its faeces. Then, the pet owner would have to clean the litter box and if he does not wash his hands properly, he will ingest the cat’s infected faeces. So technically, it is extremely hard to acquire the disease from your pet if you keep good hygiene.

Acquiring the infection while pregnant can be problematic as pregnant women are at risk of transmitting this parasite to their foetus, which can potentially lead to various abnormalities in the foetus. Women who had been previously infected before becoming pregnant do not run this risk. This is why it is recommended that women who intend to become pregnant, or who learn they are pregnant, see their gynaecologist to be tested and check whether they had previously contracted the parasite, have recently contracted the parasite, or had never contracted it at all.

How do I know if my cat has toxoplasmosis?

Symptoms in cats include: 

• Lethargy

• Depression

• Fever

• Weight loss

• Tremors

• Muscular weakness

• Partial or complete paralysis

• Vomiting

• Diarrhoea

• Abdominal pain

• Jaundice

• Loss of appetite

• Inflammation of eye structures (retina, iris and cornea)

Since the clinical signs are not specific, a complete physical examination and blood testing by your veterinarian should be done. Another reliable test is the serological test which is used to establish a definitive diagnosis by measuring the levels of toxoplasma antigens in the cat’s blood. Those tests are fast and results are usually ready on spot at the veterinary clinic.

Prevention is key

While cats are the best known transmitters for the this parasite, remember that the parasite is more frequently acquired through handling raw meat and eating unwashed fruits and vegetables. The best protection against this parasite, for you and your cat, is prevention and hygiene.

How to prevent toxoplasmosis

Do not feed raw meat to your cat Cover outdoor sandboxes when not in use to prevent cats from using them as litter boxes Wash hands after playing outside (particularly with children) Wear disposable gloves while changing the litter box Keep the litter box clean on a daily basis If you are pregnant and have a cat, let some other family member be on litter box duty during the duration of the pregnancy Wear gloves while gardening If you allow your cat to go outdoors, be aware that your cat can easily acquire the parasite from other cats, from digging in dirt that is infected with the parasite and from eating the meat of animals that are infected so it is best to keep your cat strictly indoor.

Reprinted with permission from Family Flavours magazine

PARIS — In the middle of the night it becomes a form of psychological torture, the insidious “plink...” (wait-for-it) “plink...” (wait-for-it) “plink...” of drops falling, one-by-one, into water. 

Scientists said on Friday that they had finally cracked the “dripping tap” enigma and know exactly how the sound is generated.

In 1908, Arthur Mason Worthington published a treatise, “A Study of Splashes”, featuring the first known photograph in a scientific journal of a drop as it punctures a body of water’s still surface.

The image clearly shows the formation of a cavity — like a thimble turned upside down — on the water’s surface upon impact, followed by a narrow column of water rising as the cavity recoils.

But if the fluid mechanics of drops-in-liquid have been understood for a century, the signature noise they make remained harder to grasp.

Around 1920, a team of researchers in England decided that resonance inside the tiny water cavity was the likely mechanism behind the sound.

A decade later, another group discovered that a minimum height was required to generate a “plink”. 

Finally, in 1955, scientists noticed the formation of a tiny bubble of air briefly trapped beneath the cavity as it took shape, speculating that when it burst sound waves rose to the surface and escaped into the air.

Over the following decades, dozens of published experiments with increasingly precise instruments backed up this idea.

No bubble, no ‘plink’

“Until now, everyone thought these sound waves just passed through the water surface and that’s how we heard the sound, much like if you hear someone speaking through a wall,” said Samuel Phillips, an undergraduate student at the University of Cambridge and lead author of a study in Scientific Reports.

The idea to probe further came to Phillips’ professor, Anurag Agarwal, while he was visiting a friend who had a small leak in the roof of his house.

“I was being kept awake by the sound of water falling in a bucket,” he recalled. 

“The next day I discussed it with my friend and another visiting academic and we were all surprised that no one had actually answered the question of what causes the sound.”

To find out, the researchers set up an experiment making full use of cutting-edge video and audio recording technology.

Using ultra-slow-motion video, a microphone and a hydrophone, they were able to perceive details that had previously gone unnoticed.

The trapped air bubble, it turned out, began to vibrate as the cavity deepened. 

“Sound waves emitted by the vibrating air bubble don’t simply pass through the water surface into the air, as previously thought,” Phillips explained.

“Rather, the oscillating bubble causes the water surface itself to vibrate at the bottom of the cavity, acting like a piston to drive sound waves into the air.” 

Not only did the researched crack the enigma, they also found a way to neutralise the “plink” for those leaky-roof rainy days.

Adding a little dish-soap will do the trick, they said.

“It changes the surface tension of the water, and so prevents the bubble from being trapped under the water,” Phillips said.

“No bubble means no sound, hence no ‘plink’!”

Aside from a flickering monitor, there is nothing quite as irksome as a balky mouse. The term “ergonomic” is used freely for mice these days, but decidedly many are not. And those that are truly ergonomic will help protect your hand and wrist from injuries without having to pay an arm and a leg.

I tested three different mice that call themselves “ergonomic”. I also tested two trackball mice that stay stationary on a desk — the cursor is controlled by rotating the trackball with a thumb. I sidelined the trackball mice when I experienced intense shoulder pain after about a week of use. Before you spend upward of $100 ($80 on Amazon) for the Logitech Ergo rollerball, you might want to order one from Amazon that costs about $20 — the Logitech M570, for example. I couldn’t tell the difference between the two; they both caused shoulder pain.

Most mice these days are wireless, although there still is a market for wired mice. Some connect via Bluetooth, while others have a tiny USB Bluetooth device that controls the mouse.

So here goes the tale of three wireless ergonomic mice.

The Logitech MX Master 2S mouse, at $100 ($80 on Amazon), is the priciest of the three. It connects to a PC or Mac via Bluetooth or USB device. Supposedly, it will control three devices and allow you to copy material from one PC to another. I couldn’t make those features work at all. It has buttons all over the place that can be programmed. As mice go, it’s gimmicky overkill. It’s heavy (10 ounces) for a mouse and it has a ridge where the thumb rests. Despite trying every setting that comes with the mouse, the cursor travelled too fast, and I kept opening unwanted pages because the left-click would react to the slightest touch. The battery is rechargeable, making a USB cable necessary. The cable is included. The other mice in this review rely on disposable batteries.

The $40 Logitech M510 ($18 on Amazon) was the best deal. At 4.55 ounces, it’s the lightest of the three and feels like it. It’s also the smallest, which is a negative for people with big hands. I hardly classify it as ergonomic — it’s downright uncomfortable. The mouse has been around for ages, and while it has extra programmable buttons, it’s just too small and light to be of much use to me. Back on the shelf with its trackball step-brothers.

Then there’s my favourite, the $60 Microsoft Ergo Sculpt ($33 on Amazon), which weighs a few hundredths of a kilo more than the Logitech M510, yet feels far more substantial. It runs on two AA batteries, tracks beautifully, has a thumb rest and a Windows key — no fancy-shmancy gimmickry here. When I recently sold my old PC, I threw in the Sculpt I had been using (trouble-free) for more than five years, thinking I’d get something more contemporary. In fact, Microsoft has a new edition of the Sculpt, the Sculpt Comfort, which is smaller than the Ergo Sculpt. After twiddling my thumbs for a month, I ordered the Ergo Sculpt, and it was like reuniting with an old friend. I can use it all day with nary a complaint from my hand, wrist and shoulder. It’s been around for years, and I plan to keep my new one for years, too.

I thought of reviewing the mice blindfolded — sort of a three blind mice exercise — but that wasn’t practical. Instead, I spent several days with each of them, and came through with a winner, a mouse that is truly ergonomic.

Strong sibling ties can help buffer adolescents from the stress of witnessing parents’ battles and unresolved conflicts, a small study suggests. 

Researchers found that feelings of insecurity and other psychological problems stemming from regular exposure to family conflict were common in seventh-graders who had low-quality bonds with their siblings. With close sibling bonds, kids were less likely to experience these effects later in their teenage years. 

“Close and warm sibling relationships can help offset the distress that many kids experience following repeated exposure to interparental conflict,” lead author Patrick T. Davies, a psychology researcher at the University of Rochester in New York, said in a phone interview. 

“Their bond can help offset psychological problems by reducing their stress reaction to the conflict,” he said. 

Davies noted that not all children exposed to high levels of parental conflict develop problems. Most kids develop along “normal trajectories”, he said. 

That is why more research is turning to examining the factors that give some kids the resilience to get through traumatic situations, the study team writes in Child Development. 

Davies’ team collected data between 2007 and 2011 on 236 families of middle-school students in the Northeast and Midwest who had at least one sibling that was not a twin. The families were middle class, three quarters of them identified as white, and most households included both biological parents, with a small percentage including a step-parent or guardian. 

Researchers focused on the seventh-graders’ relationship with the sibling closest to them in age, and on average, these siblings were about three years younger or older. The seventh-graders’ average age at the first assessment was 12.5 years, and they were assessed again at ages 13 and 14 years 

Conflict between parents and the nature of the relationships among siblings were gauged through laboratory visits and interviews with the parents and children. The seventh-graders’ emotional insecurity due to their parent’s volatile relationship was assessed through a specialised questionnaire, and other psychological and behavioural problems were reported by their teachers and mothers. 

The researchers found that adolescents who witnessed conflict between their parents had greater distressed responses to conflicts a year later, and greater distressed responses, in turn, predicted mental health problems in the subsequent year. However, teens who had close sibling bonds did not suffer subsequent mental health problems. 

“The thing about siblings is they both witness the event together and can bond, commiserate and distract each other from the conflict,” said Jonathan Caspi, a family therapist and professor in the department of family science and human development at Montclair State University in New Jersey, who was not involved in the study. 

“Support in the moment can be critical,” Caspi said in a phone interview, adding that the study offers family therapists “a really clear and good direction on how to help children experiencing high conflict homes or parents divorcing. Building sibling relationships can be a better strategy than providing emotional support for siblings going through family crises”. 

“We should be paying more attention to siblings when mom and dad are in conflict,” said Kiaundra Jackson, a licensed family and marriage therapist in Los Angeles, who was not involved in the study. “Kids are very intuitive. They understand what’s going on and feel the negative energy when there are arguments.” 

Jackson said in a phone interview that she hopes “the impact of the study will be that we pay more attention to sibling dynamics so no matter what the trauma they experience they will be able to rely on one another if things get difficult”. 

Since the study findings were limited to certain cultural and socioeconomic groups, Davies noted, “We have to exercise caution in extending these findings to other populations and samples. It definitely needs to be replicated and tested for generalisability.” 

He added that he does not think an only child is necessarily more or less at risk of developing emotional problems from a home filled with conflict compared to a similar home with multiple siblings. 

“An only child probably has other sources of resilience and protective factors to offset the lack of a sibling,” he said. 

PARIS — Even if marriage is sometimes more a bed of nails than roses, living into old age with a partner may help ward off heart disease and stroke, researchers said on Tuesday.

A sweeping survey of research conducted over the last two decades covering more than 2 million people aged 42 to 77 found that being hitched significantly reduced the risk of both maladies, they reported in the medical journal Heart.

The study examined ethnically varied populations in Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia, adding weight to the results.

Compared to people living in spousal union, the divorced, widowed or never married were 42 per cent more likely to develop cardiovascular disease and 16 per cent more likely to have coronary heart disease, the study found.

The risk of dying was likewise elevated for the non-married, by 42 per cent from coronary heart disease and by 55 per cent from stroke.

The results were nearly the same for men and women, except for stroke, to which men were more susceptible. 

“These findings may suggest that marital status should be considered in the risk assessment for cardiovascular disease,” concluded a team led by Chun Wai Wong, a researcher at Royal Stoke Hospital’s department of cardiology, in Stoke-on-Trent in Britain.

Four-fifths of all cardiovascular disease can be attributed to a proven set of “risk factors”: advanced age, being a man, high-blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking and diabetes. 

Marriage, in other words, could be an important share of the missing 20 per cent.

More precisely, living together — with or without a wedding band — is probably the operative factor, if indeed conjugal status has any impact at all.

But most of the 34 studies reviewed by Wong and colleagues did not identify couples out of wedlock or same-sex unions, so it was not possible to know whether, statistically, such arrangements were the equivalent of being wed.

Because the study was observational rather than based on a controlled experiment  no clear conclusions could be drawn as to cause-and-effect.

Having someone around to take care of one’s health problems and keep track of one’s meds is probably a plus, as are two incomes or pensions instead of one.