Topic Reading-Vol.4533-9/21/2024

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

When parents are on their phones a lot, here’s what happens to their kids

When young children are unhappy or frustrated, the easiest and quickest way to calm them is to have them see the smartphone screen. Indeed, smartphones are so convenient for keeping children occupied as they draw their attention instantly and for a long time by diverting their attention from the present situation to the world of two dimensions, just like they do to their parents. However, a recent survey of Estonian parents found that parents who use screens more tend to have their children, aged between 2 and a half and four, use screens more. And those children who spend longer time on screens show lower aptitude in grammar and vocabulary. Indeed, when screens are in use either by a caregiver or a child, they are missing the time for language interaction, which is essential for children to develop language skills. Many parents used to help their young children develop language skills and form their identity by reading picture books and fairy tales through interactions. While most parents no longer worry about screen time on TV, they should manage their and their children’s screen time on smartphones.

Read the article and learn how smartphones are taking away the opportunity for children to develop language skills.

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/09/12/health/phones-screens-kids-language-development/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.4532-9/20/2024

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

China raises retirement age for first time since 1950s

Retiring early, getting a pension, playing board games with neighbors, and looking after grandchildren were once a dream among Chinese seniors. However, the state pension fund is on course to deplete in 10 years as more people retire and live longer. Also, retirees’ children aren’t getting married or having their offspring. In addition, China is facing labor shortages due to the decreasing birth rate and job mismatching. In order to cope with these rising financial, social, and demographic challenges, China has announced that it will gradually raise the retirement ages for the first time since the 1950s from 50 to 55 for women, 55 to 58 for females in white-collar jobs, and 60 to 63 for men in the next 15 year. Compared with other developed countries, these retirement ages are still much younger. While putting off the retirement age would help maintain the number of workers and save pension payments, unless job opportunities increase, young people, especially college graduates, might find it difficult to get a job. Delaying pension benefits is one of the most unpopular policies to implement even though it is inevitable when people live longer and have fewer children. Another gloomy forecast in the next decades.

Read the article and learn about China’s recent move to save the pension funds crisis.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62421le4j6o

Topic Reading-Vol.4531-9/19/2024

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

China could soon have more pets than toddlers. Why that’s a headache for Beijing

China’s one-child policy was a national program that limited most Chinese families to one child each, which was implemented in 1980 and ended in 2016. The aftershock of the one-child policy and cultural changes in the younger generation have been decreasing the birthrate continuously. In 2023, China recorded just nine million births, a decline of over 50% just in eight years. Its total fertility rate is around 1.0, far below the 2.1 benchmark to maintain the population. In the meanwhile, young Chinese people are increasingly opting to have fur babies (pets like dogs and cats) instead of their own. They find it too expensive to raise human children under an uncertain economic outlook. High property prices and education costs in major cities are nearly prohibitive to form a family. Also, raising children requires constant care and attention, which often limits parents' freedom and career opportunities. Though the estimated percentage of dog-keeping households in China is still under 6%, far below one of Japan’s 17.5%, pet-related businesses, including dog food, pet hotels, and dog salons are seeing a brighter future outlook. But that makes it even more difficult for the country to increase the fertility rate and maintain the population. Will there be pet restrictions in major cities?

Read the article and learn about the increasing pet ownership in China.

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/09/12/business/china-pets-over-toddlers-aging-population-intl-hnk/index.html

 

Topic Reading-Vol.4530-9/18/2024

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

The midwives who stopped murdering girls and started saving them

Dowry in India refers to money, valuables, or property that the bride’s family gives to the groom. It puts a substantial financial burden on the bride’s family. Even though the giving or taking of dowry has been prohibited by law since 1961, it continues to be a prevalent issue in Indian society due to deep-rooted cultural practices. Because of this financial burden, many Indian parents preferred to have boys over girls. For example, they would pay 1,000 rupees to the midwife for the birth of a boy but pay half if the baby was a girl. In some cases, parents even told the midwife to kill the baby girl to avoid future dowry. Interviews with lower caste midwives revealed that each of them was ordered to kill a dozen or more baby girls during their tenure. This boy preference customs caused a serious imbalance in the girl-boy ratio with 943 women to every 1,000 men in 2011 and 927 women in 1991. China has a similar problem but not so much for dowry but for the family line especially during the single-child policy era.

Read the article and learn what midwives in India were forced to do in their jobs.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvge858dvl5o

Topic Reading-Vol.4529-9/17/2024

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Seeking tourists: Four countries that are actively welcoming travelers

Overcrowded by tourists, popular European tourist destinations like Venice, Barcelona, and Amsterdam started charging high entrance fees or tourist taxes. Also, residents of these hot spots have become unwelcoming to tourists as they suffer from tourism-oriented inflation, such as property prices, rents, and labor costs. However, not all tourist destinations are unwelcoming to more visitors. For lesser-popular tourist destinations, the money tourists bring in and spend is essential for the local economy and infrastructure. Also, tourism gives locals the chance and pride to share their culture, lifestyle, and traditions. Now, four places in and near Europe are ready for and welcoming your visit, including Greenland, Morocco, Serbia, and Georgia. Is tripling the tourist tax like New Zealand (Vol.4526) really a good move?

Read the article and learn about four yet too-crowded tourism destinations.

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20240905-seeking-tourists-four-countries-that-are-actively-welcoming-travellers

Topic Reading-Vol.4528-9/16/2024

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

If you can walk fast, you'll probably run fast: The science of running faster

How fast you can run is the result of a simple equation: step length times step frequency. If you are tall and have long legs, you can take advantage of the length to run longer per step. If you are short but muscular, you take shorter steps but more frequently. In general, female sprinters tend to step frequently while male sprinters try to gain speed by step length. Neurons also play a role in leg turnover. Those who can step more frequently have higher neural activity to achieve a fast leg turnover. That’s why genetics affects spring performance. Since strides and frequency are the determinators of speed, you might be able to run fast if you walk fast.

Read the article and learn about the mechanism of sprinting.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240906-how-to-run-faster-according-to-science

Topic Reading-Vol.4527-9/15/2024

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

The controversial plan to turn a desert green

The Sinai Peninsula is an arid land bridge between Asia and Africa. The triangular-shaped peninsula has a land area of about 60,000 square kilometers, facing the Mediterranean Sea in the north, the Red Sea in the south, the Suez Canal and Gulf of Suez in the west, and Israel in the east. The peninsula had once been green and fertile until it was overused by humans. Now, a Dutch engineer has an ambitious plan to transform this barren desert into green, fertile land that hosts animals and birds. He aims to suck up planet-heating carbon dioxide, increase rainfall, produce food, and create jobs for local people. It is one of the desert greening projects around the world that are trying to halt desertification and degradation of drylands. For example, in the 1990s, a similar large-scale project was implemented in the Loess Plateau in northern China which had been over-used and over-grazed. After planting trees and shrubs while banning grazing, the region's plateau has flourished with green, and soil erosion has been reduced. However, critics claim ecosystems are so complex that unintended consequences might occur. In the meanwhile, doing nothing wouldn’t change or bring about anything.

Read the article and learn about an ambitious transforming project for the desert peninsula.

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/09/08/climate/regreen-desert-sinai-egypt/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.4526-9/14/2024

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

New Zealand is tripling its tourist tax

There are over 60 destinations around the world that charge some form of tourist taxes or fees. Rome and Venice in Italy, Barcelona in Spain, and Bali in Indonesia are some of the tourist destinations that charge such fees or taxes. Also, Bhutan charges a daily tourist fee of $100 per person, even though it includes accommodation, food, transport, and a guide. Now, New Zealand will increase the entrance fee to visitors from $22 to $62 from October. The International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy (IVL) was introduced in 2019 to help the nation fund maintenance costs and conservation estate. Over three million visitors will be affected annually. The travel industry is worried as New Zealand is still on the way to recovery from the pandemic. Also, since the country is so far away from anywhere but Australia, they are concerned about the competitiveness with other popular travel destinations like Canada and Australia where more flights are available and entry fees are less prohibitive. Yet tourists help the local economy, they add financial and environmental burdens to local communities. After the pandemic, more tourist destinations are striving for a balance between tourism and the environment.

Read the article and learn about a recent tourist fee hike in New Zealand.

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/new-zealand-tripling-its-tourist-tax-intl-hnk/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.4525-9/13/2024

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

The planet endures its hottest summer on record — for the second straight year

Another heat record this summer was recorded in the Northern Hemisphere, where 90% of the world’s population live. The Southern Hemisphere was no exception. Australia, which was in winter, broke its national record for the hottest August day at 41.6 degrees Celsius. As a result, the average 12-month temperatures ended August 2024 marked the hottest on record in any 12-month period, 1.64 degrees warmer than pre-industrial levels, surpassing the 1.5-degree benchmark to avoid catastrophic climate impacts. It was partly caused by the aftereffects of El Niño, the unusual warming of surface waters in the eastern Pacific Ocean, which had ended around June. But the main driver of the heat was no doubt human-caused factors, most significantly by the burning of fossil fuels. As we keep burning coal, gasoline, oil, and natural gasses, temperatures keep rising and extreme weather events, such as heat waves, super hurricanes, floodings, and droughts are becoming more intense and increasing. Catastrophic events of global warming are no longer future possibilities but present and clear dangers.

Read the article and learn how hot this summer has been.

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/09/05/climate/hottest-summer-record-copernicus/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.4524-9/12/2024

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Police drone finds missing child in massive cornfield

Thermal drones enable users to see in low-light conditions and through obscurants like smoke, fog, and dust, making them ideal for nighttime operations and challenging environments.

Alto, is a small town in Wisconsin, USA with a population of around 1,000. Last month, a three-year-old child went into a massive cornfield without being noticed by his family. The child was last seen at around 7:30 p.m. All barns and buildings on the property had already been searched. So, the sheriff’s office requested a specialized drone equipped with thermal cameras. At around 9:30 p.m., the thermal imaging drone identified a heat source in the middle of the cornfield. Guided by the drone operator, officers navigated the dense field and located the child uninjured 15 minutes later around half a mile from home. Without the thermal imaging drone, searching the entire field might have taken hours, potentially altering the outcome.

Watch the video to see how a thermal drone found the missing 3-year-old toddler in a dense cornfield at night.

https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/cwy4r1xn7l2o

Topic Reading-Vol.4523-9/11/2024

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Your children’s smartphones aren’t making them smarter

17 years have passed since the emergence of smartphones. Today’s teenagers and younger children have grown up with the handheld, ubiquitous device, rather than a TV set or PC. According to a media study, the average American teens get 237 phone notifications per day on their smartphones, nearly 15 messages per awake hour. Also, they use their phones for over 40 minutes during school time. So what are middle and high school students doing in school these days? Since students aren’t supposed to use phones during class in most schools, they are looking at and scrolling the smartphone displays between classes, during lunch break, and before and after school. These times could be spent socializing or playing with friends when they learn social dynamics and build skills to manage different activities and challenges. Also, students seem to believe they can learn OK while going back and forth between their studies and smartphones. However, studies suggest the human brain can do only one thing well at a time. In fact, American College Testing (ACT) scores dropped to the lowest level last year in 30 years. All in all, smartphones don’t seem to make kids any smarter. Are dumbphones any better?

Read the article and learn about how American students have been affected by smartphones.

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/09/02/health/phones-allowed-school-children-wellness/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.4522-9/10/2024

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Iraq to impose two-day curfew for first census in decades

The Iraqi conflict began with the US-led invasion to displace Saddam Hussin in 2003 and continued to fight against ISIS until 2017. Iraq is a multi-ethnic state with over 70% being Iraqi Arabs and around 20% being Iraqi Kurds, followed by Turkmen and others. Most Iraqis are Muslims, a little over 60% are Shia and some 30% are Sunni Muslims. Demographically, nearly 60% of the population is estimated to be 24 years or younger. Since the last census conducted in 1997, the estimated population of Iraq has doubled to 46 million. Now, Iraq is conducting a nationwide census in November including the Kurdistan semi-autonomous administrative region, which was not involved in the last census. In order to implement the nationwide population counting process, the Iraqi government plans to impose a two-day curfew in November. While a curfew may improve the accuracy of the census, the frequency will provide the changes in the population, ethnicity, and demography. When will the next census be?

Read the article and learn about Iraq’s first census in 27 years.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/9/1/iraq-to-impose-two-day-curfew-for-first-census-in-decades

Topic Reading-Vol.4521-9/9/2024

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Workers' rights to four-day week could be strengthened

If you are to work 40 hours a week, which do you prefer, eight hours a day for five days or ten hours per day for four days? In other words, which would you choose, a two-day weekend or a three-day weekend? Full-time workers in the UK have the right to ask for a four-day working week, though such requests haven’t always been granted by their employers. Which work schedule works better seems to depend on the job requirements and workers’ home life commitments. Some jobs require physical work that is too burdensome to work 10 hours for four days, like construction, mining, and manufacturing. However, administrators, researchers, and designers might become more productive and creative if they work fewer days and enjoy longer weekends. Managing the welfare and productivity of employees might be challenging for employers but it certainly makes the workplace more attractive for the employees and job seekers.

Read the article and think about which work style suits better for you.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gl5w83z7do

Topic Reading-Vol.4520-9/8/2024

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Planes, trains and monster diggers: The vehicles pushing the limits of electric power

Can mining excavators, trucks, ships, or airplanes be powered by electricity? Some of them are already in use. A three-meter-tall, 778-ton mining excavator by Komatsu is connected to a chunky power cable for electricity. While its diesel-powered model consumes over 400 liters of diesel per hour, this electric model cuts emissions by 95% if the electricity is generated by renewable or other types of clean energy. Other types of heavy vehicles like trucks, ships, and even airplanes have been electrified as battery performance improves. For example, Volvo’s electric truck can weigh over 70 tons. Also, the biggest electric planes can carry as many as nine passengers. Soon, we’ll see more such cleaner and quieter vehicles digging in mines, running on the roads, cruising in the sea, and flying in the air. But will those electric excavators dig coal, and electrified trucks carry gasoline on the road? Also, how clean and green is the electricity they use?

Read the article and learn about the heavy vehicles powered by electricity.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240829-the-search-for-the-worlds-biggest-electric-vehicles

Topic Reading-Vol.4519-9/7/2024

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

How soon is too soon to visit after a disaster?

Earthquakes, tornadoes, cyclones, tsunamis, volcanic activities, landslides, floods, droughts, and wildfires are disasters that cause harmful impacts on people, communities, economies, and the environment. It is becoming harder to distinguish between natural and human-caused disasters as global warming is affecting weather conditions and climate more and more. Whatever the cause of the disaster might be, people, businesses, and the community are busy recovering after the damage. Disaster relief like rescue workers and volunteers, basic necessities like food, water, and clothes, shelters, and donations are more than welcome to the disaster area. While recovering and rebuilding the community, businesses also need to thrive for the local economy. Think of the 2023 Lahaina wildfires in Maui, Hawaii, which devastated the popular tourist destination, killed over 100 people, and destroyed more than 2,200 buildings. While many residents and businesses are still struggling to recover from the disaster, it is also essential to bring back tourists as soon as possible to drive businesses and create jobs for residents. But when is it too soon or ready? How can the devastated community welcome tourists?

Read the article and think when is the right time to visit a devastated place by a disaster.

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20240830-how-soon-is-too-soon-to-visit-after-a-disaster

Topic Reading-Vol.4518-9/6/2024

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Nearly 40,000 people died home alone in Japan this year, report says

Of Japan’s total population of 124 million, nearly 30% are 65 years or older. The average life expectancy for women is 87, the longest in the world and outliving men by about six years. Having had none or lost their living partners, there are a lot of seniors living by themselves in Japan. A newly released police report shows nearly 40,000 people died alone in their homes during the first half of this year, and nearly 4,000 of them, or 10%, were found more than a month after their deaths. Some people choose to live by themselves while others have no choice but to live alone. In the meanwhile, not so many people have the option to die alone or accompanied. Whichever the case might be, it is too sad for anyone to remain unnoticed and left alone after death for weeks. Will AI help monitor the life status of single dwellers?

Read the article and think about another rising problem of this fast-aging society.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwyx6wwp5d5o

Topic Reading-Vol.4517-9/5/2024

Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Uzbekistan is looking to electric cars to help drive its green transition
Uzbekistan is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia with a population of 37 million. Tashkent is the capital city, and Samarkand is an ancient Silk Road landmark.
Since the formation of joined forces between General Motors and the Uzbek government in 2008, GM’s Chevrolet branded cars have dominated the Uzbek car market with over 60% market share. But the wind is changing. The Uzbek government has been encouraging the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) by dropping customs duties on EVs and hybrid vehicles to reduce carbon gas emissions. As a result, EV sales have grown 10-fold in the last three years. In January, BYD, China’s EV and battery manufacturer, opened its first EV factory outside its home market. It has an ambitious plan to produce hundreds of thousands of EVs and PHVs in the coming years. However, EVs aren’t so clean in Uzbekistan as over 80% of the nation’s electricity is generated by burning fossil fuels. The country plans to increase solar and hydropower to achieve its carbon emission goals while promoting EVs on the road. This is another example of Asian countries where Japanese and Western car brands have dominated the automobile sales but Chinese brands EVs are taking over the market share rapidly.
Read the article and learn about the changes happening in Uzbekistan’s auto market.
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/08/29/business/uzbekistan-electric-cars-spc/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.4516-9/4/2024

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Are AI-created recipes hard to swallow?

It seems that AI could help you create good recipes if you use it right. AI could create innovative fusion recipes if you input multiple nationalities and/or cultures. If you ask AI to come up with suitable recipes with the foods you have in your fridge and stock, it’ll give you ecological menus that make use of the inventory. Also, when your restaurant wants to add a new item on the menu that uses certain ingredients, AI can suggest unique dishes that may lure diners’ attention. Another way to use AI is to catch rising food trends on social media so that you can develop products that look hot.

So, asking the right questions seems like the key to using AI for recipe creation. And if you do it right, you could use ChapGPT as your ShefGPT.

Read the article and learn how AI can help create innovative recipes.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cl7y71krnjvo

Topic Reading-Vol.4515-9/3/2024

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

New Zealand dairy firm fined over products using Indian butter

“Made in a country”, “Product of a region”, and “Grown in a place”. These are some of the food labels about the product origin you may notice on the store shelves. In general, “Made in” refers to where the product was manufactured or processed, “Product of” indicates the country where the primary ingredients are from, and “Grown in” refers to the cultivation location of the primary ingredients. Then what ingredient do you expect in a butter product produced and sold by a New Zealand dairy company with a “100% pure New Zealand” label? Recently, a dairy company in New Zealand was imposed a fine of NZ$420,000 for mislabeling its dairy products as produced locally in New Zealand despite importing butter from India.

New Zealand’s dairy industry is so huge that exports over 95% of its dairy overseas. It is well-regulated and highly regarded. If such falsified statements have been labeled on NZ’s other dairy products, do we have to discount or interpret what product labels say? What about the credibility of product labels like “Raised Cage-Free,” “Organically grown,” or “All-Natural”?

Read the article and learn how food labels can be misleading or inaccurate.

https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2024/8/26/new-zealand-dairy-firm-fined-over-products-using-imported-indian-butter

Topic Reading-Vol.4514-9/2/2024

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

Why Gen Z & Millennials are hung up on answering the phone

When voice calls were the primary tool for non-face-to-face communication, people would pick up the phone immediately when it rang even without knowing who the caller was. When mobile phones became popular, younger people preferred messaging to calling mainly because it was much cheaper than calling. Ever since smartphones took over dumbphones, people started using their fingers on the screen much more than talking with their ears and mouths. Now, young people who have grown up with smartphones are so used to texting or posting photos and images that many of them don’t even answer calls or check voicemails. Indeed, phone calls can be disturbing because it is made at the caller’s discretion and convenience, and the receiver might not want to be disrupted what they have been doing. In the meantime, some prefer phone calls because they feel more intimate when they are called or they can enjoy real-time interaction with the caller. It seems that we should respect what communication method the receiver prefers before ringing their phones.

Read the article and learn about how younger people want to be communicated.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crgklk3p70yo

Topic Reading-Vol.4513-9/1/2024

Dear MEL Topic Readers,
How do restaurants actually get a Michelin star?
The Michelin Guides are a series of guidebooks first published by the French tire company Michelin in 1900. It provided information to motorists such as maps, tire repair,  hotels, and petrol stations throughout France. It expanded the area coverage, and in 1926, started to award stars for restaurants. Now, over 40,000 restaurants in more than 30 countries are reviewed by inspectors whose identities are not disclosed. The Guide awards up to three Michelin stars for excellence to a select few restaurants in certain geographic areas.
1 star: "High-quality cooking, worth a stop"
2 stars: "Excellent cooking, worth a detour"
3 stars: "Exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey"
There are over 600 Michelin-starred restaurants in France, but only 30 of them are awarded three stars. So, what influences do Michelin stars bring to upscale restaurants? Are there any proven tips to get star-rated? Are they worth a stop, detour, or journey to dine there?
Read the article and learn about what Michelin stars mean to restaurants and chefs.
https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20240823-how-do-restaurants-actually-get-a-michelin-star