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PARIS — A new hormone treatment improved the cognitive function of six men with Down Syndrome by 10-30 per cent, scientists recently said, adding the “promising” results may raise hopes of improving patients’ quality of life.

However the scientists emphasised the small study did not point towards a cure for the cognitive disorders of people with Down Syndrome and that far more research is needed.

“The experiment is very satisfactory, even if we remain cautious,” said Nelly Pitteloud of Switzerland’s Lausanne University Hospital and co-author of a new study in the journal Science.

Down Syndrome is the most common genetic form of intellectual disability, occurring in around one in 1,000 people, according to the World Health Organisation.

Yet previous research has failed to significantly improve cognition when applied to people with the condition, which is why the latest findings are “particularly important”, the study said.

Recent discoveries have suggested that how the gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) is produced in the brain can affect cognitive functioning such as memory, language and learning.

GnRH hormones regulate how much testosterone and estrogen is produced and increased levels of it help spur puberty.

“We wondered if this hormone could play any role in establishing the symptoms of people with Down Syndrome,” said Vincent Prevot, study co-author and head of neuroscience research at France’s INSERM institute. 

Mice research

The team first established that five strands of microRNA regulating the production of GnRH were dysfunctional in mice specifically engineered for Down Syndrome research.

They then demonstrated that cognitive deficiencies — as well as loss of smell, a common symptom of Down Syndrome — were linked to dysfunctioning GnRH secretion in the mice.

The team then gave the mice a GnRH medication used to treat low testosterone and delayed puberty in humans, finding that it restored some cognitive function and sense of smell.

A pilot study was conducted in Switzerland involving seven men with Down Syndrome aged 20 to 50.

They each received the treatment through their arm every two hours over a period of six months, with the drug delivered in pulses to mimic the hormone’s frequency in people without Down Syndrome.

Cognition and smell tests were carried out during the treatment, as were MRI scans.

Six of the seven men showed improvement in cognition with no significant side effects — however none showed a change in their sense of smell.

“We have seen an improvement of between 10-30 per cent in cognitive functions, in particular with visuospatial function, three-dimensional representation, understanding of instructions as well as attention,” Pitteloud said.

The patients were asked to draw a simple 3D bed at several stages throughout the therapy. Many struggled at the beginning but by the end the efforts were noticeably better.

‘Improve quality of life’

The authors acknowledged some limitations of the study, including its size and that the choice of patients was “pushed by their parents”.

“The clinical trial only focused on seven male patients — we still have a lot of work to do to prove the effectiveness of GnRH treatment for Down Syndrome,” Pitteloud said.

A larger study involving a placebo and 50 to 60 patients, a third of them women, is expected to begin in the coming months.

“We are not going to cure the cognitive disorders of people with Down Syndrome, but the improvement seen in our results already seems fundamental enough to hope to improve their quality of life,” Pitteloud said.

Fabian Fernandez, an expert in cognition and Down Syndrome at the University of Arizona who was not involved in the research, hailed the “tour de force study”.

He told AFP that while it is “difficult to envision” how such an intensive treatment could be used for young people, it might be better suited to delay the Alzheimer’s disease-related dementia suffered by many adults with Down Syndrome.

It was also difficult to predict how such an improvement could impact the lives of people with the condition, he said.

“For some, it could be significant, however, as it would enable them to be more independent with daily living activities such as maintaining and enjoying hobbies, finding belongings, using appliances in the home, and travelling alone.”

MOUNTAIN VIEW, California — Fifteen years after its launch, a Google Maps feature that lets people explore faraway places as though standing right there is providing a glimpse of the metaverse being heralded as the future of the Internet.

There was not yet talk of online life moving to virtual worlds when a “far-fetched” musing by Google co-founder Larry Page prompted Street View, which lets users of the company’s free navigation service see imagery of map locations from the perspective of being there.

Now the metaverse is a tech-world buzz, with companies including Facebook parent Meta investing in creating online realms where people represented by videogame-like characters work, play, shop and more.

“Larry Page took a video camera and stuck it out the window of his car,” Google senior technical programme manager Steven Silverman said, while showing AFP the garage where the company builds cameras for cars, bikes, backpacks, and even snowmobiles dispatched to capture 360-degree images worldwide.

“He was talking to some of his colleagues at the time, saying, ‘I bet we can do something with this.’ That was the start of Street View.”

Street View lets people click on locations in Google Maps to see what it might look like were they at that spot, and even look around.

Now, the Internet behemoth is introducing an “immersive view” that fuses Street View images with artificial intelligence to create “a rich, digital model of the world”, Miriam Daniel, Google Maps Experiences vice president, said in a post.

“You’ll be able to experience what a neighbourhood, landmark, restaurant or popular venue is like — and even feel like you’re right there before you ever set foot inside,” Daniel said.

“With a quick search, you can virtually soar over Westminster to see the neighbourhood and stunning architecture of places, like Big Ben, up close.”

Google will start rolling out immersive view later this year, starting in Los Angeles, London, New York, San Francisco and Tokyo.

Street View imagery has been gathered in more than 100 countries and territories, ranging from places such as Mount Fuji and Grand Canyon National Park to the Great Barrier Reef.

“If you want to see what it’s like to go down a ski slope, you can see where that snowmobile has gone,” Silverman said, nodding toward a maroon snowmobile in the garage in the Silicon Valley city of Mountain View, California.

“That trike was really funny because it went around Stonehenge; and we put it on a barge and went down the Amazon River,” he said of another vehicle.

He pointed to a backpack camera system taken for a zip-line ride in the Amazon, to provide a bird’s-eye perspective.

Years spent capturing the real world in 360-degree imagery bodes well for Google when it comes to a future in which Internet life shifts to immersive digital worlds, said Creative Strategies tech analyst Carolina Milanesi.

“It absolutely plays into the metaverse,” Milanesi said.

“The idea of a digital twin of the world is certainly one aspect of it that Google will solve.”

Silverman reasoned that, in a sense, Street View has been giving users a virtual experience for more than a decade, and the imagery naturally lends itself to depicting the real world in virtual settings.

“Ideally, that metaverse, that world that we move into, we’re going to be there,” Silverman said.

Scores of tech firms have been rushing to invest in building the metaverse, a loose term covering the growing ecosystem of interactive online worlds, games and 3D meeting places that are already attracting millions of users.

Earlier this year, Japanese giant Sony and Lego’s Danish parent firm announced a $2 billion investment in US gaming powerhouse Epic Games for its work towards joining the metaverse vision for the Internet’s future.

In the form of video games such as Epic’s hit Fortnite, the precursors of the metaverse already exist in minimalist ways, with people coming together not only to play, but also to interact and participate in events.

What started as a “far-fetched idea” by Page is “critical to our mapping efforts — letting you see the most up-to-date information about the world, while laying the foundation for a more immersive, intuitive map,” Google Maps product director Ethan Russell said in a blog post.

SIEM REAP/BANGKOK — Among the spinach crops at a rural Cambodian school garden, children test their maths skills while weighing produce — but as food prices rise, the vegetable patch has become a safety net for struggling families.

Long before Covid restrictions ravaged the economy, malnutrition and poverty stalked Cambodia’s youth — the legacy of decades of conflict and instability following the Khmer Rouge’s genocidal rule in the 1970s.

Food insecurity has worsened since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine stoked global shortages and inflation. 

The World Food Programme (WFP) says the prices of local staples have shot up in the past year: duck eggs by more than 20 per cent and cooking oil by almost 40 per cent.

Noodle seller Chhon Puthy, 31, has lost half her income during the pandemic and worries about her children’s health.

“We parents had to reduce our rations sometimes,” said the mother-of-two from the village of Chroy Neang Nguon, about two hours from Siem Reap.

In recent months, her family has come to rely on the garden and free breakfast programme at her children’s school to ease the financial pressure.

“This community depends on the meal because every morning parents are busy with farming and could not cook for their kids,” she said.

Garden lifeline

Remote schools in Siem Reap province use the gardens to teach pupils life skills such as cultivation and cooking.

“I learn about growing vegetables, making organic fertiliser, how to work in soil,” 12-year-old Seyha told AFP, adding that the know-how has helped improve her family’s own vegetable patch.

More than 1,000 schools around Cambodia have meal programmes supported by the WFP, with around 50 learning gardens set up with help from global rights group Plan International.

Before each day’s lessons, students are served a free breakfast of rice and fish soup with vegetables grown in the garden.

Long Tov, principal of the school in Chroy Neang Nguon, said the garden and meal programme helped improve students’ concentration levels, memory and test results.

“It [also] hugely reduces the school dropout rate,” he told AFP.

Vireak, 12, said he was happy to eat at school with his classmates. 

“I feel stronger and smarter and I can learn things much easier than before,” he said.

Impact

Malnutrition costs the Cambodian economy more than $400 million a year — about 2.5 per cent of GDP — according to a study backed by UNICEF.

The country has made progress on tackling the issue — chronic malnutrition in children under five fell from 32 per cent in 2014 to 22 per cent — but there are fears that inflation could stall momentum.

“Rising food prices are likely to exacerbate the already high levels of childhood malnutrition, just as the country started showing signs of recuperating from the pandemic’s economic impacts,” the United Nations Nutrition office in Cambodia said in a statement.

At Angkor Hospital for Children in Siem Reap, nutrition team leader Sroeu Phannsy told AFP that some poor families were being forced to water down infant milk formula, which can have devastating consequences for a baby’s health.

The fight against malnutrition takes her team of health workers into remote areas, where they treat children with ready-to-eat, energy-dense snacks.

“We worry about their growth in the future, particularly their brain development will be weakened as they prepare to go to school at the age of five or six,” she said.

Children and infants not receiving enough nutrients can go on to suffer low IQs, blindness, stunted growth and weak immune systems.

Back at the learning garden, a teacher shows a class, with full bellies after breakfast, when vegetables are ready to harvest.

“In the learning garden, we are happy and learn important skills... Back home I grow morning glory, cucumber, beans and tomatoes,” 12-year-old Vireak said.

First introduced in 1992 and soon after inexorably associated with motorsport success and affordable junior super saloon road cars, the Subaru Impreza model name may have been distanced from the now standalone WRX and STI nameplates that brought it renown, but it nevertheless still shares the similar fundamentals.

A sensible and somewhat sedate compact saloon line disassociated from the model that brought it glory, the Impreza, however, remains one of the more interesting and charismatic cars in an otherwise largely uninspired segment.

Snoutier style

Built on a significantly stiffer new platform with a lower centre of gravity than its predecessor, the fifth generation Impreza was launched in 2016 and then subtly face-lifted in 2019. Evolutionary in design, it adopts a more stylishly flowing roofline, slim swept headlight and more contemporarily fashionable, and assertive, elements including jutting lower lip, and more prominently sculpted surfacing. With more pronounced crease lines along its bonnet and flanks, the Impreza also features a rising character line kink to emphasise rear wheel-arches.  

Underneath its now snoutier bonnet and grille, the Impreza uses a garden variety version of Subaru’s naturally balanced trademark horizontally-opposed “boxer” engine slung low and just ahead of the front axle, and “symmetrical” all-wheel-drive utilising equal length drive-shafts either side front and rear. A unique but familiar recipe replicated to much greater effect in its WRX high performance sister model line, the Impreza’s architectural layout is renowned for its low centre of gravity and excellent traction and road-holding.

Responsive and progressive

With two flat cylinder banks, the Impreza’s naturally-aspirated direct injection 2-litre 4-cylinder engine is smooth and progressive in delivery and is charismatic with its subtly assertive and evocatively distinct burbling soundtrack. Producing 154BHP at 6,000rpm and 144lb/ft torque at 4,000rpm, the Impreza is responsive from standstill and linear in building to its torque and power peaks. Carrying its 1,386kg mass through 0-100km/h in 9.8-seconds, the Impreza is reasonably brisk, if not outright quick, and is capable of a 208km/h top speed.

Pulling through mid-range with good versatility for its class, the Impreza’s engine is, meanwhile, eager and willing through to redline. Channelling power through a continually variable transmission (CVT) that favours maintaining an efficient engine speed as ratios automatically alter, the Impreza would, however, be better served with a manual gearbox to better exploit its linear delivery and for a more involving driving experience. That said, its CVT does feature ‘manual’ mode shifting, with pre-set transmission ratios that mimic a traditional gearbox.

Reassuring road-holding

Seamlessly smooth in operation as ratios adjust as necessary, the Impreza’s CVT allows for a broad range of transmission ratios for both responsive acceleration and quiet, refined and efficient low engine speed cruising, which helps achieve moderate 6.6l/100km combined cycle fuel efficiency. Driving all wheels, the Impreza’s equal length drive-shaft four-wheel-drive system meanwhile eliminates torque steer when accelerating hard from standstill, and provides a high level of grip on low traction surfaces for reassuring wet weather control and safety.

A sure-footed “gateway” car to Subaru’s famed four-wheel-drive dynamic abilities the Impreza turns tidily and eagerly into corners, with accurate if slightly light steering, and comparatively good body lean control, owing to its low weight concentration. In fact, it seems to thrive on early and sharp turn-in to tighter corners, where its front wheels dig in tenaciously. With weight shifting to the outside rear to tighten a cornering line, the Impreza’s rear wheels provide added road-holding to confidently exit onto the straight.

Uncomplicated comfort

Rewarding and reassuring through winding roads and sweeping bends, the Impreza is, meanwhile, stable on the motorway and settled in vertical movement and control over dips and crests. Smooth and refined inside, especially compared to older Subarus with frame-less windows, the current Impreza, with its Macpherson strut front and rear double wishbone suspension, is also comfortable and forgiving over most road imperfections. The Impreza’s high-grip four-wheel-drive, meanwhile, allow for the use of moderately sized 205/50R17, which in turn help with steering feel.

Quiet and comfortable inside, the Impreza features a supportive, well-adjustable driving position with good front visibility, clear instrumentation and sporty steering wheel. Well-spaced in front with good ergonomics and user-friendly controls, it meanwhile provides decent rear space for its segment. Design and layouts are symmetrical and uncomplicated, while materials are good quality. Accommodating 460-litres of luggage, the Impreza is also well equipped, with available features including a rear-view camera, paddle shifters, rear armrest and Apple Carplay and Android Auto enabled infotainment system.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 2-litre, horizontally-opposed 4-cylinders

Bore x stroke: 84 x 90mm

Compression ratio: 12.5:1

Valve-train: 16-valve, DOHC, direct injection

Gearbox: Continually variable transmission (CVT), four-wheel-drive

Transmission ratios: 3.601:1-0.513:1

Reverse/final drive ratios: 3.689:1/3.7:1

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 154 (156) [115] @6,000rpm

Specific power: 77.2BHP/litre

Power-to-weight: 112.5BHP/tonne

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 144 (196) @4,000rpm

Specific torque: 98.2Nm/litre

Torque-to-weight: 141.4Nm/tonne

0-100km/h: 9.8-seconds

Top speed: 208km/h

Fuel consumption, urban/extra-urban/combined: 8.4-/5.6-/6.6-litres/100km

CO2 emissions, combined: 152g/km

Fuel capacity: 50-litres

Wheelbase: 2,670mm

Track, F/R: 1,540/1,545mm

Ground clearance: 130mm

Luggage volume: 460-litres

Kerb weight: 1,386kg

Steering: Electric-assisted rack & pinion

Turning circle: 10.6-metres

Suspension: MacPherson struts/multi-link

Brakes: Ventilated discs

Tyres: 205/50R17

Dr Tareq Rasheed
International Consultant andTrainer 

Did you know that much of our communication is conveyed through facial expressions, gestures and posture and much less through actual words?

Communication can be verbal (using words through writing or speaking) or non-verbal (body language, voice, tune and appearance). Research shows that body language is responsible for transmitting 55 per cent of the message, 38 per cent of the voice and tone and only seven per cent is transmitted by words!

What is body language?

Body language refers to various forms of non-verbal communication. A person may reveal clues as to some unspoken intention or feeling through their physical behaviour: Posture, facial expressions, hand or leg movements or a mix of these. I imagine body language as a combination of thoughts and feelings reflected in the body through signs.

Body language can also clearly communicate negative emotions (fear, depression, anxiety, etc…). Both epinephrine and cortisol play a very powerful role in preparing us for physical and emotional challenges, increasing heart rate, sweating, pupil dilation and so on.

Eyes don’t lie

The eyes are frequently referred to as the “windows to the soul” since they can reveal a great deal about what a person is feeling or thinking.

As you engage in conversation with another person, take note of their eye movements. Some common things you may notice include whether people are making direct eye contact or averting their gaze, how often they are blinking, or if their pupils are dilated.

You may know that sunglasses were invented to block out sunrays. But did you know that Chinese judges first wore tinted eyewear in the 12th century to hide their eyes in court so that no one could read their facial expressions?

Signs of lying

See if the person in front of you bites his lip while talking to you. He may also lick his lips, which could also indicate a lie. This also applies to children. 

Other signs: 

•Covering their mouth, trying to hide their words

•Covering a parent’s eyes and telling them innocently do not look at me

•Speaking with downcast eyes 

Try asking someone you suspect of lying the “what, why, when, where, who and how” questions about the topic after one or two weeks have passed since the lie. You will then discover the truth!

Hand movements

Hand movements also tell us a lot about thoughts and feelings:

•Standing with arms over the stomach is feeling reserved and closed

•Speaking with two hands in the pockets; feeling so confident and sometimes being arrogant

•Speaking with one hand in one pocket; feeling stressed and worried

•Standing with an open chest and hands down; openness and ease of communication

•Leg movements while sitting means the person is feeling stressed

These interpretations apply to most cultures and only in 75 per cent of the cases, so we cannot generalise. Also, these signs are interpreted in situations such as lecturing, interviewing, negotiating and other similar situations. 

Tone of voice

Voice can reflect confidence, hesitancy, dishonesty, fear and other emotions. People tend to raise their voices in public, speaking to stress an important point or topic and tend to lower their voices to attract attention. This is very important to manage while giving a presentation or in public speaking.

Start noticing your body signs in different situations and try to manage and adapt!

Reprinted with permission from Family Flavours magazine

LOS ANGELES — A blistering heat wave is baking the western United States, the latest to blast the northern hemisphere in a summer that has brought extreme temperatures across Europe, Asia and North America.

Climatologists say the kiln-like conditions in California, Nevada and Arizona are caused by a heat dome — a huge bubble of stationary high pressure that is trapping ever-hotter air.

And, they say, human-caused climate change is making these oppressive Heatwaves worse — hotter, longer and more frequent.

Here’s what you need to know about Heatwaves.

What is a heat wave?

Anyone suffering through sultry nights and sweltering days knows they’re in a heat wave, but there are a few technical definitions.

The one the US government chooses is: At least two consecutive days when the minimum temperature for the area is hotter than 85 per cent of July and August days in the same area, based on historical averages.

That minimum usually comes at night, which is important — after a very hot day, our bodies tend to cool off at night. But if the temperature remains elevated, that’s much harder. This is when people get ill.

It’s also important to localise the definition. People accustomed to 29ºC days are likely not fazed by 32 degrees. But if you live in a chilly, damp spot and the mercury hits 32, you’ll find it much harder to cope.

What causes Heatwaves?

Generally it’s an area of high pressure that parks itself in one spot, forming a heat dome — imagine a huge greenhouse that lets in the sun’s heat, but won’t let any air flow through.

The high pressure prevents clouds from forming as it pushes air downwards, compressing and heating the air — think of how a tire gets hot as you pump more air in.

Jet streams — air that flows high in the Earth’s atmosphere — usually move pressure systems around the planet.

But they can meander. As the waves of a jet stream widen, they slow and can even stop. This is what leaves a ridge of high pressure in one place.

Are Heatwaves dangerous?

Yes, very. More people die from the heat every year in the United States than from any other extreme weather, including floods, tornadoes, and cold snaps, according to government figures.

A ferocious heat wave in Spain and Portugal in July left more than 1,700 people dead.

And hundreds died last year when a heat wave frazzled Canada and the western US, with temperatures of up to 49ºC.

When it’s very hot, our bodies find it more difficult to keep cool, which can result in a “cascade of illnesses”, according to the World Health Organisation.

These include heat cramps, heat exhaustion, heatstroke and hyperthermia.

“Deaths and hospitalisations from heat can occur extremely rapidly [same day], or have a lagged effect [several days later] and result in accelerating death or illness in the already frail,” the WHO says.

That means anyone who already suffers from problems with their heart or respiratory system is particularly at risk.

The effects of intense heat are not evenly felt across societies, and tend to be more acute in poorer, and more marginalised communities. 

Homeless people or those who work outside during the heat of the day are obviously at risk, but so are people living in neighbourhoods without tree cover, or near to sources of pollution like roads.

What is climate 

change doing?

Like all weather phenomena, climate change is super-charging Heatwaves.

Human activity, specifically the burning of fossil fuels, has warmed the Earth by an average of around 1.2ºC since pre-industrial times. Much of this warming has happened in the last 50 years.

US government data shows Heatwaves worsening in concert with a warming planet: Every decade since the 1960s they have got longer, hotter and more frequent.

“Their frequency has increased steadily, from an average of two Heatwaves per year during the 1960s to six per year during the 2010s and 2020s,” the Environmental Protection Agency says.

“In recent years, the average heat wave in major US urban areas has been about four days long. This is about a day longer than the average heat wave in the 1960s.”

A study after last year’s record-breaking heat wave in Canada found it would have been “virtually impossible” without human-caused climate change.

The World Weather Attribution group said that global warming, caused by greenhouse gas emissions, made the heat wave at least 150 times more likely to happen.

LOS ANGELES — Stanley Kubrick once famously said that J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy of novels was unfilmable.

It is hard to imagine what the great director would have made of Amazon’s $1 billion gamble on “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”, a 50-hour television series based on the dry historical footnotes published at the end of book three.

The show, out Friday globally on Prime Video, aims to tap into the huge and enduring appeal of works still regularly voted the world’s best-loved novels of all time, as well as Peter Jackson’s Oscar-winning film adaptations.

It is central to Amazon’s bid to stand out in the “streaming wars” with Netflix, Disney+ and HBO Max — whose own “Game of Thrones” prequel just launched — and is bankrolled by multibillionaire founder Jeff Bezos, a Tolkien mega-fan.

But populated by heroes and villains who are barely — if at all — referenced in Tolkien’s trilogy and its “Appendices” of fictional mythology, and featuring a largely unknown cast and creators, there is no doubting the scale of the gamble.

“It is quite nerve wracking — we’re building something from the ground up that’s never been seen before,” said Sophia Nomvete, who plays Princess Disa, the first female and first Black dwarf depicted on screen in Tolkien’s world.

“There’s definitely a few nerves. We want to get it right,” she told AFP at the Comic-Con fan event last month.

‘True colours’

“The Rings of Power” is set in Tolkien’s “Second Age” — a period of history in his fictional Middle Earth world thousands of years before the events of “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings.”

So while a handful of characters from Jackson’s films reappear in Amazon’s show — mostly younger versions of elves such as Galadriel and Elrond, who are of course immortal — there is no Frodo, Gollum or Aragorn in sight.

Most characters from Tolkien lore are appearing on screen for the first time, and some have even been created entirely from scratch for the show.

“Tolkien hasn’t really written much about who he is as a person,” said Maxim Baldry, whose character Isildur was briefly seen fighting the evil lord Sauron in a flashback at the start of Jackson’s trilogy.

Here, Baldry plays a younger version of the tragic hero, struggling with the death of his mother, overbearing pressure from his father, and a romantic yearning for adventure.

“What a gift, firstly, to explore someone’s beginnings, finding their true colours, understanding who they really are,” said Baldry.

He added: “Season one is purely about setting up characters and introducing new characters to the family... fleshing out a pretty skeletal world that Tolkien just created in the Second Age.”

‘Wonderfully crazy’

The fate of the series rests in the hands of creators — or “showrunners” — Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne, who pitched their concept to Amazon after it bought the rights in 2017, but had only a handful of previous projects credited on their CVs.

“We wanted to find a huge Tolkienian mega epic. And Amazon were wonderfully crazy enough to say ‘yes, let’s do that,’” McKay said at Comic-Con.

At the London premiere on Tuesday, Bezos admitted that “some people even questioned our choice” to bring in “this relatively unknown team”.

“But we saw something special,” he said, according to Variety.

Early reviews have been generally positive. Variety said the show slots “neatly into Peter Jackson’s preexisting cinematic universe”.

Critics universally praised its lavish costumes, backdrops, visual effects and set-pieces, as well as Morfydd Clark’s central performance as Galadriel.

However, Time said it was “filled with beautiful images and tired archetypes”, and the Times of London said it “has the vibe of terrified executives carrying an exceedingly expensive vase across a slippery floor”.

$1 billion

The show has been dubbed the most expensive ever for television.

Amazon splurged $250 million on the rights from Tolkien’s estate, and some $465 million on the first season alone. It has committed from the start to making five full seasons, meaning the final cost is expected to pass $1 billion.

With high stakes has come considerable secrecy — even its actors have not been told the fates of their characters.

“No idea! I don’t even know what’s happening next season,” said Megan Richards, who plays Poppy Proudfellow, a character whose Harfoot race are ancestors of the hobbits.

“There’s an arc that Tolkien has given us for the Second Age. So there are certain things we know,” Daniel Weyman, who plays a mysterious man billed simply as “The Stranger,” told AFP.

“The thing that I hold on to is that our showrunners, they definitely know their arc. They know their arc already.”

LONDON — James Cook sits calmly at his desk, with the only sound the clickety clack of his typewriter. As he works, a portrait of a boy takes shape.

From Hollywood star Tom Hanks to the London Eye observation wheel, the artist can turn symbols and letters into art, earning him increasing attention.

Cook, 25, produces his work in a studio in London, surrounded by typewriters and artwork, with the white dome of the O2 arena visible outside.

He began producing typewriter art in 2014 when he was in college studying art and came across an artist from the 1920s who produced similar work.

Initially, he thought the idea was “impossible” — until he tried it himself.

“It was simply out of curiosity that I decided to go out and get my own typewriter,” he told AFP.

“Since 2014, I’ve just been slowly learning how to make drawings.”

Cook first thought depicting buildings would be easier because of the straight lines and the ease of moving from left to right on a typewriter.

“I couldn’t draw people’s faces before doing typewriter art,” he said. 

“In fact, I probably draw people better on a typewriter than I can draw free hand in pen or pencil.”

Cook never set out to make it a career and went to university to study architecture but interest online encouraged him to pursue typewriter art.

People donate typewriters to Cook as he gives the machines a “second life”.

‘Always a challenge’

Cook can produce art anywhere, including in the shadow of the London Eye or across the river from the UK parliament, the Palace of Westminster.

As the sun shines bright in a clear blue sky, he delicately produces his images using the “@” symbol, numbers and letters including “W” and “P”.

For a portrait, he uses the bracket symbol to recreate the curvature of the eyes’ pupils or to illustrate the skin’s complexion he will use the “@” symbol because “it has a large surface area”.

Methodically typing outside, he soon grabs attention.

“Before the invention of Microsoft Word and the rest of it, this is what we used to type letters with,” said David Asante, who works as an IT engineer at a hospital.

“For him to be able to turn it into a work of art, it’s amazing.” 

Cook says it was “really satisfying” to use a “limited” medium. 

Smaller drawings can take up to four to five days but portraits can take longer.

Panoramic drawings — pieced together at the end — can take between two weeks to a month.

He will host an exhibition from July until August where people can make their own typewriter art, and see his work including the signed portrait of Hanks.

He also hopes to set a Guinness World Record for the largest typewriter drawing.

But while it appears seamless to the viewer, Cook says it “never gets any easier”.

“It’s always a challenge.”