Features

Adolescents may develop new or worsening mental health problems after weight-loss surgery, particularly those who already had symptoms at the time of the procedure, according to a small US study.

Researchers followed the psychological health of 139 severely obese adolescents undergoing weight-loss surgery and 83 similar teens treated without surgery, and found that after two years, roughly one in three kids had some mental health problem, such as depression, anxiety or behavioural disorders.

About 9 per cent of the surgical patients had worsening of their psychological symptoms from the start of the study period compared with about 6 per cent of nonsurgical patients. However, for nearly 19 per cent of surgery patients and 25 per cent of non-surgical patients, mental health symptoms were reduced after two years.

Sanita L. Hunsaker of the Cincinnati Children’s Medical Centre in Ohio and colleagues emphasize in their report in the Journal of Adolescent Health that the majority of kids did not begin or end the study with mental health problems.

The results suggest that a “notable minority” of adolescents do have mental health issues and, like any condition that does not go into remission after weight-loss surgery, such as high blood pressure or blood fats, continued monitoring and treatment is “warranted”, they write.

“Bariatric surgery leads to many improvements in health outcomes, but it is not a panacea for teens with severe obesity,” said Aaron Kelly, co-director of the centre for paediatric obesity at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, who wasn’t involved in the study. “Based on this data it is important to manage the expectations of these patients. Bariatric surgery may not improve their mental health,” he said in a telephone interview. 

The study team analysed data from a long-term study of adolescents who underwent bariatric surgery at five medical centres in the US from 2007 to 20012. 

All of the study participants were severely obese at the beginning of the study period, meaning they had a body mass index — a ratio of weight relative to height — that was 120 per cent or more of the 95th per centile for their age. At the outset, participants ranged from 13 to 18 years old. 

The researchers found that 24 months after their procedure, nearly 17 per cent of surgery patients had new psychological symptoms, compared to just over 13 per cent of the nonsurgical group. 

The surgery group averaged significant weight loss, with half losing 30 per cent or more of their body mass, while the nonsurgical group averaged a 7 per cent weight gain. Researchers found, however, that in the surgery group, weight loss was not associated with an individual’s odds for having persistent or new mental health symptoms. 

Having symptoms at the start of the study, as well as loss-of-control eating and alcohol abuse were each tied to the odds of mental health symptoms at 24 months. 

The study’s corresponding author was unable to comment by press time. 

While bariatric surgery is safe and effective for adults, adolescence is normally a tumultuous time, said John Morton, chief of bariatric and minimally invasive surgery at Stanford University Medical Centre in California, who was not involved in the study. 

“We’re very careful about the adolescent patients we pick and are careful with their follow up. They have to be mature enough to give consent and have to have a very stable and supportive home situation. If not, it makes things more difficult,” he said in a telephone interview.

When adolescents lose weight, they might have adjustment problems because they have not been socially accepted by their peers before, Morton noted. “When someone is obese they’re ostracised and don’t fit in.”

They’ll need resiliency and coping skills to eat well and socialise “otherwise these kids may fall into bad habits”, he added.

“Calling attention to this is going to help improve care and underscore the importance of good psychological support and an investment in the psychological aftercare of these patients,” Lee Kaplan, director of the Obesity, Metabolism and Nutrition Institute at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston who was not involved in the study, said in a telephone interview.

STOCKHOLM — It’s the size of a grain of rice but could hold the key to many aspects of your life. 

A tiny microchip inserted under the skin can replace the need to carry keys, credit cards and train tickets.

That might sound like an Orwellian nightmare to some, but in Sweden it is a welcome reality for a growing number who favours convenience over concerns of potential personal data violations. 

The small implants were first used in 2015 in Sweden — initially confidentially — and several other countries.

Swedes have gone on to be very active in microchipping, with scant debate about issues surrounding its use, in a country keen on new technology and where the sharing of personal information is held up as a sign of a transparent society.

Twenty-eight year-old Ulrika Celsing is one of 3,000 Swedes to have injected a microchip into her hand to try out a new way of life. 

To enter her workplace, the media agency Mindshare, she simply waves her hand on a small box and types in a code before the doors open. 

“It was fun to try something new and to see what one could use it for to make life easier in the future,” she told AFP.

In the past year, the chip has turned into a kind of electronic handbag and has even replaced her gym card, she said.

If she wanted to, she could also use it to book train tickets.

Sweden’s SJ national railway company has won over some 130 users to its microchip reservation service in a year.

Conductors scan passengers’ hands after they book tickets online and register them on their chip.

Information sharing

Sweden has a track record on the sharing of personal information, which may have helped ease the microchip’s acceptance among the Nordic country’s 10 million-strong population.

Citizens have long accepted the sharing of their personal details, registered by the social security system, with other administrative bodies, while people can find out each others’ salaries through a quick phone call to the tax authority. 

The implants use Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, also used in credit cards, and are “passive”, which means they hold data that can be read by other devices but cannot read information themselves.

Although still small, they have the capacity to hold train tickets, entry pass codes as well and access certain vending machines and printers, promoters say.

‘Might need to re-think’

When Celsing’s innovatively minded media company organised an event where employees could get the implants, she followed the crowd.

She said she felt nothing but a slight sting when the syringe inserted the chip into her left hand, which she now uses on an almost daily basis and does not fear hacking or possible surveillance. 

“I don’t think our current technology is enough to get chip hacked,” she says.

“But I may think about this again in the future. I could always take it out then,” she adds. 

However, for Ben Libberton, a microbiologist working for MAX IV Laboratory in the southern city of Lund which provides X-rays for research, the danger is real. 

The chip implants could cause “infections or reactions of the immune system”, he warned.

But the biggest risk, he added, was around the data contained in the chip. 

“At the moment, the data collected and shared by implants is small, but it’s likely that this will increase,” the researcher said. 

The real question, he added, is what data is collected and who shares it. “If a chip can one day detect a medical problem, who finds out and when?” he asked. 

Libberton worried that “the more data is stored in a single place as could happen with a chip, the more risk it could be used against us”. 

‘Comfortable 

with technology’

But Jowan Osterlund, a piercings specialist and self-proclaimed champion of chip implantation, brushes off fears of data misuse and conspiracy theories. 

He advocates the opposite view, arguing that if we carried all our personal data on us, we would have better control of their use. 

Despite unanswered questions, however, about how the technology will progress, the appeal of being part of a futuristic experience is a strong draw for some users.

“In Sweden, people are very comfortable with technology and I would say there is less resistance to new technology here than in most other places,” Libberton said. 

At an “implant party” organised by Osterlund in Stockholm, 59-year-old Anders Brannfors stands out with his salt-and-pepper hair among the curious 30-something hipsters. 

Delighted to have become a 2.0 version of himself, he has yet however to find a use for his chip several weeks after the implant.

Sitting right in the middle of a broad range of two-seat roadster and four-seat boulevardier convertibles offered across the Mercedes-Benz range, the E-Class Cabriolet is the exhaustively well-equipped and luxurious second largest executive segment entry of the latter.

One of the safest, most practical and comfortable ways to do open-top motoring, the E300 version tested also sits in the middle with the most highly developed four-cylinder engine in the E-Class Cabriolet range providing brisk pace, flexibility and refinement, combined with good efficiency and a lower annual registration fee bracket than bigger engine models.

Subtle contours

Arriving last year and a quarter century after Mercedes’ first E-Class convertible model, the new E300 Cabriolet has a tough act to follow after its well-rounded immediate predecessor. That said, the new model is a longer, wider and taller car with longer wheelbase for improved cabin space. Using more sophisticated aluminium and steel hybrid construction incorporating high strength adhesives, it nevertheless retains a similar weight at 1780kg. And with added body strengthening, it well compensates for the body rigidity in the absence of a fixed-head roof, but at cost of additional weight. 

Sporting a snoutier and wider single-slat grille with central tri-star emblem and flanked by slimmer, more heavily browed LED lights, the new E-Class Cabriolet also features dual bonnet ridges and slimmer and wider rear lights for a more potent aesthetic. Nevertheless, the overall look is of a less aggressive and road-hugging — even with optional 20-inch alloys — but is a smoother and more elegantly flowing design. Driven in 25th anniversary edition exactly as pictured, the brown paint — or Rubellite Red in Mercedes-speak – well accentuates the Cabriolet’s subtle contours and the vague hint of the nostalgic about its curvatures and stance.

Smooth and efficient

Powered by the most powerful of Mercedes’ non-AMG 2-litre turbocharged direct injection 4-cylinder engines, the E300 develops a noticeably more gradual punch than 181BHP E200 and 208BHP E250 models. Refined and smooth, the E300 is a relatively low-revving engine and develops its maximum 241BHP at 5,500rpm, while generous 272lb/ft torque is available throughout a broad and accessible 1,400-4,000rpm mid-range band, during which overtaking and inclines are dispatched confidently quick. Quick spooling, the E300 suffers only very slight turbo lag from idle, but covers the 0-100km/h dash in just 6.6-seconds, and is capable of a 250km/h top speed. 

Driving rear wheels through a 9-speed gearbox with a broad range of closely spaced ratios, the E300 benefits from consistent and versatile power delivery. The 9-speed unit also delivers improved performance in low gears and better efficiency in higher gears, than its 7-speed predecessor, including 6.8l/100km on the combined cycle. Gear changes slick and quick, but with emphasis on smoothness rather than outright speed, but more aggressively sporty or paddle-shaft manual gear changes can be engaged from the drive mode infotainment screen menu. Meanwhile brakes were reassuringly firm and consistent during test drive.

Settled and stable

Refined and reassuringly planted on motorways as typical of Mercedes, the E300 Cabriolet also seemed a more rigid car than its predecessor, with no obvious signs of body flex at speed or through corners, as driven on smooth Dubai roads, rather than less than perfect Jordanian B-roads, where the outgoing E-Class Cabriolet was driven for previous review. Settled on what little depressions, crest and rebounds one came across, the E300 Cabriolet was comfortable in most cases over but the sharpest speed restriction bumps, even as fitted with optional staggered 245/35R20 front and 275/30R20 rear tyres. 

Tidy into corners with good front grip and quick smooth steering, the E300 Cabriolet has a nice compromise between ride comfort and body control from its suspension settings, and was balanced and gripped well at the rear when leaned on and when one dials in power progressively. However, with sudden mid-corner acceleration, its rear wheels would kick out into the beginning of a drift before electronic stability control quickly steps in. Driving with its well-insulated top up, the Cabriolet is refined and quiet inside, while a powerful A/C and cooled seats even allowed some top down driving in the searing heat.

Class and comfort

An even better convertible driving proposition for cold winter months, the E300 Cabriolet’s heated seats strong heater, neck-level Airscarf heating and rear and optional front Aircap wind deflectors to maintain a warm cocoon and minimise wind buffeting, even for rear seat passengers. Highly well equipped and convenient, its electric-operated roof opens and closes in 20-seconds, while a tight turning circle and around-view, reversing and parking monitors and assists make it manoeuvrable in confined spaces. Additional equipment includes a user-friendly connective infotainment system with touchpad controls and highly adjustable driving position for comfort and support.

Spacious in front and ergonomically laid out, the E300 Cabriolet’s elegant cabin features four round centre air vents, two huge cowled infotainment and instrument screens to prevent reflections, while controls and buttons are intuitive. Much better in darker colours inside, one felt that the 25th anniversary edition driven was perhaps overstated in terms of trim colours, which included light wood accents, brown/red dash and upper trim in conjunction with cream leather lower upholstering and steering wheel. In terms of technology, the E-Class Cabriolet is offered with a broad range of standard and optional driver assistance systems, including automatic remote parking ability.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

• Engine: 2-litre, turbocharged, in-line 4-cylinders
• Bore x stroke: 83 x 92mm
• Compression ratio: 9.8:1
• Valve-train: 16-valve, DOHC, variable timing, direct injection
• Gearbox: 9-speed automatic, rear-wheel-drive
• Ratios: 1st 5.35; 2nd 3.24; 3rd 2.25; 4th 1.64; 5th 1.21; 6th 1.0; 7th 0.86; 8th 0.72; 9th 0.6
• Reverse/final drive ratios: 4.8/3.07
• Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 241 (245) [180] @5,500rpm
• Specific power: 121BHP/litre
• Power-to-weight: 135.4BHP/tonne
• Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 272 (370) @1,400-4,000rpm
• Specific torque: 185.8Nm/litre
• Torque-to-weight: 207.8Nm/ton
• 0-100km/h: 6.6-seconds
• Top speed: 250km/h
• Fuel economy, combined: 6.8-litres/100km
• CO2 emissions, combined: 154g/km
• Fuel capacity: 66-litres
• Length: 4,826mm
• Width: 1,860mm
• Height: 1,428mm
• Wheelbase: 2,873mm
• Track, F/R: 1,605/1,609mm
• Overhang, F/R: 841/1,112mm
• Aerodynamic drag co-efficient: 0.29
• Headroom, F/R: 1,034/925mm
• Shoulder room, F/R: 1,424/1,228mm
• Boot capacity, maximum: 385-litres
• Unladen weight: 1,780kg
• Suspension: Multi-link
• Steering: Electric-assisted rack & pinion
• Brakes: Ventilated discs
• Tyres, F/R: 245/35R20/275/30R20 (optional)

LOS ANGELES  — Starbucks Corp. and other roasters and retailers must serve up a cancer warning with coffee sold in California, a Los Angeles judge has ruled. 

Superior Court Judge Elihu Berle in a ruling that was recently published said that Starbucks and other coffee sellers did not show that the risk from consuming acrylamide, a possible cancer-causing byproduct created during coffee roasting, was offset by benefits from drinking coffee. 

That ruling confirmed Berle’s tentative decision on the matter in March. 

The Council for Education and Research on Toxics (CERT), a nonprofit group, sued some 90 coffee retailers, including Starbucks, on grounds they were violating a California law requiring companies to warn consumers of chemicals in their products that could cause cancer. 

The latest ruling in the eight-year legal battle opens a path for CERT to ask for a permanent injunction that would require coffee sellers to warn consumers about the cancer risk associated with acrylamide. 

Many California coffee sellers, including Starbucks, already post signs with such warnings under the state’s Proposition 65 law requiring businesses to provide warnings about significant exposures to chemicals that cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm. 

“Coffee has been shown, over and over again, to be a healthy beverage. This lawsuit has made a mockery of Prop 65, has confused consumers, and does nothing to improve public health,” said William Murray, president and chief executive of the National Coffee Association. 

Attorney Raphael Metzger, who represents CERT, hopes that the final ruling will lead to a settlement where coffee sellers reformulate their product to remove acrylamide, as potato chip sellers did after a similar lawsuit. 

“Just giving warnings to people who are really addicted to the product, like me, doesn’t do much,” said Metzger. 

Starbucks did not immediately respond to requests for comment. 

Several defendants in the case have already settled, agreeing to post warning signs and pay millions in fines. 

The 25 Issues That Shape American Politics: Debates, Differences, and Divisions
Michael Kryzanek and Ann K. Karreth
New York & London: Routledge, 2008
Pp. 409

In this book, two political scientists describe the major issues that galvanise debate in public and governmental circles in the US, from taxation and spending to healthcare, from religion and politics to gay rights, from reforming education to terrorism and homeland security, and many more. They also examine demographic trends that currently affect public opinion, such as the new attitudes of the Millennial generation, a rapidly ageing population, and increasing ethnic diversity. Moreover, they explore the process of American politics, which is increasingly driven by powerful interest groups that can marshal huge amounts of money in order to impact on government policy.

According to Kryzanek and Karreth, “The American political system is a captive of a contentious confluence of party, group, public opinion, money, and media, all contributing to… a want of unity… issues such as immigration reform, gun legislation and global warming initiatives have suffered the fate of endless delay and legislative death, because the American political system is not designed to be efficient, speedy, and effective.” (p. 8)

Most crucially, the authors portray the US as a nation divided and disenchanted, as became especially apparent during the last presidential elections. Added to uncompromising partisan disagreements, “The growing perception among more and more Americans is that our government doesn’t work or works only for the rich and well-born. Nagging economic and social problems are ignored, while politicians become captive to special interests.” (p. 385)

The book is designed in such a way that it can be used as a textbook, providing a wealth of information supplemented by questions for debate and suggestions for further reading. Each chapter focuses on a particular issue, filling in background on how it has been addressed in recent decades by successive administrations, whether by the president, congress, the courts or state governors, what results they have achieved and the public’s reaction as evidenced by opinion polls.

The chapter on “The Middle Class and the American Dream” is particularly interesting, due to its impact on the last presidential campaign: “One of the key underlying sources of the demise of the American dream and the shrinking of the middle class in the United States is the growing level of income equality... In 2016 both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump used the plight of the middle class as talking points designed to advance their candidacy… [while] Bernie Saunders gained popularity among the young and disaffected middle class who had been hit hard by the Great Recession…” (pp. 33-34)

As they proceed to cover all the 25 issues, the authors have obviously tried to be stringently objective, reflecting the views of both Republicans and Democrats and of mavericks within both parties. However, almost all the opinions covered come from the mainstream. There is little if any questioning of the basic premises of US policies, whether domestic or foreign. For example, the book covers the debate about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and about the priorities of military spending, but only mentions once in passing the debate about the corrections of American interventionism per se. 

At the end of the book, there is a cluster of foreign policy chapters covering China, Iran, Russia, Conflicts in the Middle East, and Globalisation and Trade. These are quite informative except for the chapter on the Middle East, which is partially ahistorical and misleading. In the introduction to the chapter, there is no mention of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Most of it is devoted to the wars in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq. The few pages devoted to Palestine/Israel are solely from the perspective of the US’s strategic alliance with Israel and the latter’s security. The Palestinians receive only passing mention with no reference to their rights or to the Palestinian leadership’s decades of pursuing a peaceful solution to the conflict. The authors might argue that this is the way Palestine/Israel is discussed in American politics, but this is to ignore some changes in recent years. For example, Bernie Sanders is quoted several times in the book in relation to domestic issues, but his groundbreaking position on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is overlooked.

Despite this lack, the book is overall very useful in understanding how the US political system works. It provides a lot of food for thought, especially at this critical juncture when many givens of American politics are being upended. The final debate topic proposed in the conclusion is: “Does the United States have the capacity to address the problems facing our governing system, or is our nation headed into a period of political decline?” (p. 388)

Sally Bland

By Silvia Zayadin

Veterinarian

Senior pets are such a delight and these sweet old souls deserve the best of everything. Unlike humans, your pet cannot take responsibility for its care. It relies on you! Cats and dogs age differently than humans. Cats and small dogs are generally considered seniors around the age of seven. It can be hard to believe that the your energetic and full-of-life pet is now that calm old friend curled at your feet.

Signs of ageing

Changes occur in your pet’s body as it ages. Some pets may have more pronounced changes than others and, in some animals, the changes may start at a younger age. We can help older animals adapt to these changes in a variety of ways: 

• Diagnosing problems early

• Use of appropriate medications and supplements

• Modifying your pet’s environment

• Changing the way in which we interact with our older friends

Average lifespans

In general, pets are considered senior when they are around seven years old in human years, but there are some variations depending on the breed. The average lifespan of a dog is around 12 to 15 years.

Smaller dog breeds tend to live longer on average, while large and giant dog breeds have shorter lifespans. Therefore, a small dog is considered a senior at an older age, such as age eight to ten. In turn, a large breed of dog may be considered a senior by age five or six. In domestic indoor cats, the average lifespan is around 12 to 17 years. Some animals appear to age faster than others; this may be due to genetic background and overall health

 What behavioural changes will I see in my pet as it ages?

With age, certain needs start to become more and more important. Knowing your pet’s behaviour is essential to understanding its needs that come with age. Possible changes in older pets include:

• Increased reaction to sounds

• Confusion 

• Disorientation

• Increased wandering

• Decreased interaction with humans

• House soiling

• Decreased response to command

• Increased anxiety

• Increased vocalisation

• Decreased self-hygiene

• Increased irritability

• Repetitive activity

• Change in sleep cycles

• Increased aggressive and protective behaviour

Pets can show signs of senility. Stimulating them through interactions can help keep them mentally active. If any changes in your pet’s behaviour are noticed, consult your veterinarian.

When should I start to take extra care?

As your pet ages, two kinds of changes occur:

1. Age-related change: hearing loss, changes in vision or reduced activity. These are normal and cannot be prevented 

2. Pathological change or disease: heart disease, kidney disease, arthritis or dental disease

We expect certain changes to occur as your pet ages. These changes are not the same in each animal species. In small dog breeds, changes in the heart are common, whereas in large dog breeds, joint and bone issues are more common. In cats, the kidneys may be one of the first organs to show signs of ageing.

I recommend regular medical examinations for your pet once it is over seven years old. This includes clinical examination twice a year and blood testing once a year. Ask for a body condition evaluation during each vet visit. Body condition score is important to determining whether your senior pet is overweight, underweight or at an ideal body weight. Specific examinations for known breed-related medical problems are also advised (heart examination for Golden Retrievers and orthopaedic examination for German Shepherds).

How can I take care 

of my senior pet?

Schedule regular visits with your veterinarian: This aids in early disease detection and increases the chances of disease treatment or management Feed your senior pet a high quality diet and use food to keep your senior pet at its ideal body weight: Always choose a diet that is appropriate for your pet’s age and lifestyle. Remember that overweight animals have a higher incidence of diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, skin disease and even cancer.

Take care of your pet’s oral hygiene: Brush your pet’s teeth or use appropriate dental care products such as dental treats. This aids in maintaining good oral hygiene and preventing accumulation of tartar and possible gum diseases.

Add essential fatty acids and nutritional supplements to your senior pet’s diet: fatty acids are useful for dogs with mobility issues due to arthritis or other joint diseases. Supplements such as glucosamine and chondroitin are beneficial for senior animals.

Exercise your senior dog: Plan your dog’s exercise needs to his or her individual requirements. If your senior is not used to exercise, start slow and gradually increase the intensity without exhausting the animal.

Provide plenty of toys to keep your senior dog occupied: This will keep your pet focused, occupied and entertained.

Consider a special diet if your older dog has heart or kidney disease: Diets which help control phosphorus, calcium and other electrolyte levels are given to pets with kidney disease. A diets low in sodium content is best for pets with heart disease. Your veterinarian will help you choose the best food for your pet based on your pet’s individual situation.

Reprinted with permission from Family Flavours magazine

SAN FRANCISCO — The new Google digital assistant converses so naturally it may seem like a real person.

The unveiling of the natural-sounding robo-assistant by the tech giant this week wowed some observers, but left others fretting over the ethics of how the human-seeming software might be used.

Google chief Sundar Pichai played a recording of the Google Assistant independently calling a hair salon and a restaurant to make bookings — interacting with staff who evidently did not realise they were dealing with artificial intelligence software, rather than a real customer.

Tell the Google Assistant to book a table for four at 6:00pm, it tends to the phone call in a human-sounding voice complete with “speech disfluencies” such as “ums” and “uhs”.

“This is what people often do when they are gathering their thoughts,” Google engineers Yaniv Leviathan and Yossi Matias said in a Duplex blog post.

Google Assistant artificial intelligence enhanced with “Duplex” technology that let it engage like a real person on the phone was a surprise and, for some unsettling, star of the internet giant’s annual developers conference this week in its home town of Mountain View, California.

The digital assistant was also programmed to understand when to respond quickly, such as after someone says “hello”, versus pausing as a person might before answering complex questions.

Google pitched the enhanced assistant as a potential boon to busy people and small businesses which lack websites customers. 

“Our vision for our assistant is to help you get things done,” Pichai told the approximately 7,000 developers at the Google I/O conference, along with an online audience watching his streamed presentation on Tuesday.

Google will be testing the digital assistant improvement in the months ahead.

Realistic robocallers

The Duplex demonstration was quickly followed by debate over whether people answering phones should be told when they are speaking to human-sounding software and how the technology might be abused in the form of more convincing “robocalls” by marketers or political campaigns.

“Google Duplex is the most incredible, terrifying thing out of #IO18 so far,” tweeted Chris Messina, a product designer whose resume includes Google and bringing the idea of the hashtag to Twitter.

Google Duplex is an important development and signals an urgent need to figure out proper governance of machines that can fool people into thinking they are human, according to Kay Firth-Butterfield, head of the artificial intelligence and machine learning project at the World Economic Forum’s Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

“These machines could call on behalf of political parties and make ever more convincing recommendations for voting,” Firth-Butterfield reasoned.

“Will children be able to use these agents and receive calls from them?”

Digital assistants making arrangements for people also raises the question of who is responsible for mistakes, such as a no-show or cancellation fee for an appointment set for the wrong time.

At a time of heightened concerns about online privacy, there were also worries expressed about what kind of data digital assistants might collect and who gets access to it.

“My sense is that humans in general don’t mind talking to machines so long as they know they are doing so,” read a post credited to Lauren Weinstein in a chat forum below the Duplex blog post.

An array of comments at Twitter contended there was an ethical breach to not letting people know they were conversing with software.

“If you’ve grown up watching ‘Star Trek TNG’ like me then you probably considered natural voice interactions with computers a thing of the future,” read a post by Andreas Schafer in the blog chat forum.

“Well, looks like the future is here.”

Getting teens to put down their phones when they get behind the wheel is no easy task, but a small study suggests that parents may have more luck when they offer cash rewards. 

Researchers examined data from an online survey of 152 teens who owned smartphones and admitted to texting and driving. Even though they confessed to this dangerous habit, 90 per cent said they were willing to give up reading texts while driving, 95 per cent could consider no longer sending texts and 99 per cent said they might stay off social media. 

The trick that would make many commit to these promises was not a parent threatening to take away the keys. It was the promise of cash prizes, and as little as $5 a week looked like enough to make a difference. 

“Just telling your teen to stop texting while driving is not going to work, particularly for those who do it a lot,” said lead study author M. Kit Delgado of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. 

All of the teens surveyed were 16 to 17 years old, fairly inexperienced drivers and very attached to their smartphones. 

They were much more willing to consider giving up texting in the car than they were willing to entertain the thought of driving without the navigation or music apps on their phones. Only 59 per cent would give up Google Maps and other navigation apps, and just 43 per cent would drive without using their phone as a virtual jukebox. 

Even though the cash rewards researchers tested were all valued around $250 a year, not all of the prizes were equally appealing to teens. 

Individual prizes were the most popular — three of four teens said they would reduce texting while driving if they could earn $5 in cash or gift cards each week they avoided this habit. Starting out with $250 in an account and losing $5 every week they texted behind the wheel only appealed to 63 per cent of the participants, however. 

A little more than half of the teens were willing to consider giving up texting in order to work towards this goal with a group of friends and share a $1,000 prize at the end of the year. Roughly half of them would also stop texting to get a $250 discount on their annual insurance premiums. 

Fewer than one in five said they would stop texting just because their parents expressed concern, researchers report in Traffic Injury Prevention. 

Beyond its small size, another limitation of the study is that it was not a controlled experiment designed to prove whether or how specific rewards would actually motivate teens to stop texting and driving. 

“I think in general most teens know that texting while driving is dangerous. It is among the most dangerous of all distractions behind the wheel, because it requires the driver to take his/her hands off the wheel [manual distraction], eyes off the road [visual distraction], and mind off the road [cognitive distraction],” said Despina Stavrinos, a psychology researcher at the University of Alabama at Birmingham who was not involved in the study. 

Teens who perceive texting while driving as very dangerous are also the same individuals who continue to engage in this very activity quite frequently, Stavrinos said by e-mail. 

“I think parents need to model safe driving behaviours for their kids starting at an early age [before they begin driving],” Stavrinos added. “Parents also can importantly set rules and restrictions on what happens in the vehicle and limiting cell phone use.” 

PARIS — Why have some birds opted for a taxing life of constant migration — seeking out temperate climes to feed as winter arrives, only to return months later to breed?

Seemingly paradoxically, the behaviour is driven by a quest for energy efficiency, a study said on Monday. 

Migrating birds, researchers found, gain more energy from whatever is on the destination menu than they expend getting there and back, or could find without making the trek.

Why do not they just stay in the warm place? Because there is too much competition for food with other species, said the study published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution.

Instead, they return to their cold, northern hemisphere home where they do not have to fight others for the food there is.

The work “provides strong support for the hypothesis that birds distribute themselves in an optimal way in terms of energy”, study co-author Marius Somveille of the University of Oxford’s zoology department told AFP.

While it was known that birds migrate in search of food, it has remained a puzzle why they have adopted this exacting lifestyle.

The new study explains the behaviour of not only migratory birds, but also that of sedentary or “resident” ones, its authors said.

These too weighed the available food against greener pastures and came to a different conclusion. Most resident birds are found in the tropics, where food is easier to get by.

The study used a theoretical model to examine why birds migrate — about 15 per cent of the total — while others do not.

It started with a model world with similar climatic differences between regions than our real one.

The researchers then added virtual birds, and the estimated amount of “energy”, or food, available in different regions.

Given these inputs, the model birds dispersed very similarly to what happened in real life.

The birds started off in the food-rich tropics, but growing competition forced some to start moving further afield.

“In our increasingly crowded virtual world, species progressively started exploiting more extreme pockets of seasonally available energy supply, often migrating longer distances,” the team wrote.

The model adds to our understanding of how Earth’s plants and animals came to be distributed as they are, the researchers added.

It could also be useful in predicting the future movements of other animals — to determine how they might migrate in response to global warming, for example.