Topic Reading-Vol.4815-6/30/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

24 of the world’s best salads

A salad is a dish typically consisting of a mixture of ingredients, most commonly vegetables, and often with fruits, nuts, cheese, seafood, or meat. It is usually served at room temperature or sometimes warmed, and is dressed or mixed with salad dressing or oil. Salad can be eaten as an appetizer, intermezzo, side dish, or main dish. Just like soup, rice dishes, or noodles, there are so many varieties of salad dishes around the world, each representing local or regional food culture and produce. How often do you eat salad? Here are some popular salad dishes that you may want to try for your next meal or trip.

Read the article and see the images of 24 popular salad dishes from around the world.

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/worlds-best-salads

Topic Reading-Vol.4814-6/29/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

'Eldest daughter syndrome' to the rebellious youngest sibling: Does your birth order shape your personality? 

In most developed countries or established societies, the number of family members is shrinking to as few as three or even two. Declining birthrate, unmarried couples, housing costs, inflation, working mothers, and higher education costs, to name a few reasons why parents are contributing to fewer or no children. Do only children have distinctively different personality traits, like selfishness or narcissism, from children with siblings? Also, it is often said that the firstborns are more responsible and caring because they often look after younger siblings. But are there any significant characteristics, behavioral, or intellectual gaps between earlier-borns and later-borns? In fact, the only child or the first-born child tends to have more time to communicate with and learn from their parents, while later-born children often spend more time with their elder siblings. In the meantime, later-borns often have a better chance of growing up in a better financial situation. Another aspect to be taken into consideration is that young siblings are often compared at the same time, which means they are of different ages. For example, if you compare a teenager, the most sensitive age group, with a six or eight-year-old child, the happiest and carefree age, they certainly exhibit very distinct characteristics. Indeed, there seem to be so many aspects to compare siblings.

Read the article and think whether the birth order really matters to the personality or ability of siblings.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250619-does-birth-order-shape-your-personality

Topic Reading-Vol.4813-6/28/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

The women at the centre of Somalia's construction boom

Located on the Horn of Africa, Somalia is the easternmost country in Africa, facing the Gulf of Aden to the north and the Indian Ocean to the east. Former Italian and British territories united and formed the independent Somali Republic in 1960. However,  the nation had been under domestic conflicts and also suffered a US-backed Ethiopian invasion until 2012, when the Federal Government of Somalia was established. Somalia, with a population of around 18 million, is among the least developed countries in the world, with a large portion of the population living by subsistence farming. In the meantime, in Mogadishu, the capital city, the post-conflict reconstruction has led to a construction and housing boom, and thousands of new buildings have been constructed since 2020. Unfortunately, since this construction boom occurred before building regulations were put into force, there are mounting concerns about the safety of the buildings. Also, the city’s infrastructure, including water and sewage systems, has not caught up with the booming construction. In addition, there is a severe shortage of workforce, particularly construction engineers. Surprisingly for an Islamic society, two young female engineers are now overseeing construction work in a traditionally male-dominated workplace, putting hard hats on their hijabs. Rapid urban development in a least developed country gave young Muslim women the chance to work in a male-dominated construction workplace.

Read the article and learn what is happening in the capital city of Somalia.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj427dy11j0o

Topic Reading-Vol.4812-6/27/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

AI to help tell donkeys apart at island sanctuary

Facial recognition is a technology that identifies or verifies a person's identity using their face. It works by comparing a facial image from a camera or a video frame to a database of known faces. Facial recognition is used in various applications, including security systems, smartphone unlocking, law enforcement, airport passenger screening, and automatic ticket gates. It first identifies key facial features from the image, such as the distance between the eyes, the shape of the nose, and the contour of the jawline, and then compares them with the features in the database. Can we use the same or similar technology to identify a particular animal within a herd of cattle? With the help of the University of Southampton, a donkey sanctuary in the Isle of Wight, England, is developing a mobile app to identify particular donkeys by using AI. With the mobile app, visitors will be able to find the identity and profile of the donkey they are interested in soon. In the future, the sanctuary hopes to use the app to help monitor health issues in the animals. Once developed, such technology might help farmers monitor the health and growth of dairy cattle, too.

Read the article and learn how AI can help identify a particular donkey from others.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgrxjd1l2p1o

Topic Reading-Vol.4811-6/26/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

Why Ukraine is one of the world's most digital countries

Denmark, Estonia, and Singapore are among the few most recognized leaders in digital government. They use digital technologies and data to transform how governments operate and deliver services to citizens and businesses, including tax, pension, IDs, certification, and elections. For example, Denmark is shutting down its postal service by the end of the year because it can provide governmental services without mail. Ukraine is another country that has an advanced digital government platform, apps, and services. Its digital service portal offers 130 services for 22.7 million users, about 60% of the nation’s population. Since citizens’ data are shared by government departments and organizations, users do not have to re-enter their profile or record again when they apply for a benefit. Also, as the country has been at war against Russia since 2022, users can apply for damage compensation for their property or report the location of Russian troops through the app. What creates a digital divide may not be citizens’ digital literacy but a bureaucratic divide.

Read the article and learn how Ukraine has advanced in digital services.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm234l04xmro

Topic Reading-Vol.4810-6/25/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

Social media now main source of news in US, research suggests

What is the main source of news for you, if you have any? According to a recent survey, over half of the respondents in the US obtain news from social media, such as Facebook, X, and YouTube. In the meantime, around 50% said they get news from TV, and 48% said they get it from news sites and apps. TV news and news sites cover a wide range of topics from different places and fields, and most of them are fact-based and less biased. In the meantime, SNS news and videos show what their viewers are interested in and are often biased, opinionated, and personalized. Nowadays, younger generations spend much more time on their smartphones and watch TV or read paper media much less or not at all, so you can plan media coverage and count on influencers for your marketing or election campaign. However, you cannot predict a sudden sensation spurred by video clips. An effective media mix and quick response to reactions are essential for today’s campaigns.

Read the article and learn which news source is more popular these days.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c93lzyxkklpo

Topic Reading-Vol.4809-6/24/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

What are rare earth minerals, and why are they central to Trump’s trade war?

Rare earth elements (REEs) are 17 metallic elements in the periodic table made up of scandium, yttrium, and the lanthanides. Rare earths are ubiquitous in the technologies we rely on today, from smartphones to wind turbines to LED lights and flat-screen TVs. They’re also crucial for batteries in electric vehicles, MRI scanners, and cancer treatments. They are called "rare" not because they are scarce in the Earth's crust, but because they are difficult to find in concentrated, economically viable deposits. Also, while some REEs are relatively abundant, they are usually dispersed and mixed with other elements, making extraction challenging, expensive, and environmentally damaging, which has made China and a few other countries the dominant suppliers of the processed REEs. In fact, while China produces approximately 60% of the world’s raw magnet rare earth elements, it occupies over 90% of the global refined supply. For the USA to domestically process enough REEs for its needs, it’ll take years of financial investment, regulatory approvals, and environmental studies, in addition to access to REEs. No wonder the US administration wants Ukraine and Greenland to become suppliers of REEs.

Read the article and learn what rare earth minerals mean to trade and national security.

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/06/03/business/rare-earths-us-china-trade-war-explainer

Topic Reading-Vol.4808-6/23/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

How the Air India crash investigation is unfolding

On June 5, London-bound Air India Flight 171 crashed shortly after takeoff from the western Indian city of Ahmedabad, killing all 243 people but one on board and dozens on the ground. Investigators are trying to determine if the incident was just a unique issue to that particular flight, or a systematic issue affecting the B787, which more than 1,100 are in use around the world. From the wreckage, they’ve retrieved the cockpit voice recorder, which should have recorded all the vocal communication and noise in the cockpit, and the flight data recorder, which should have stored information related to engine and control settings. They will also examine scorched cables, damaged turbine blades, parts including wires, nuts, and bolts, and the maintenance log of the aircraft to help determine the cause of the incident. While the investigation is ongoing, over 1,100 B787s will continue flying around the world.

Read the article and learn how a commercial airplane accident is investigated.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czxw6331grxo

Topic Reading-Vol.4807-6/22/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

How airline fees have turned baggage into billions

An airfare is a fee paid by a passenger for air transport. Airfares vary by class, fare restrictions like changeable or cancelable, and seat selection for most airlines. In-flight services such as meals, drinks, and wifi access are mostly optional for budget airlines. Nowadays, what costs you quite substantially is baggage fees. Recently, a growing number of airlines are charging fees for checked baggage, whether for excess, additional, or even the only bag. Furthermore, some European budget airlines, such as Ryanair and Easyjet, are now charging fees on carry-on baggage that doesn’t fit under the seat in front of the passenger. Even if you manage to put all your belongings into a bag and put it under the seat in front of you, you’ll sacrifice the already-squeezed legroom. So, when you’ve found a very good airfare, you surely want to check the fees on both check-in baggage and a cabin bag before touching the “Buy” button.

Read the article and learn how much your total airfare could cost nowadays.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0qg3ylx2g9o

Topic Reading-Vol.4806-6/21/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

‘We do this to survive’: Harvesting opium poppies in Myanmar’s Shan State

Myanmar, also referred to as Burma, is a country in northwest Southeast Asia with a population of around 55 million. The country has been under a civil war since 2021 between the Myanmar military, ethnic armed organizations, pro-democracy forces, and civilian-led militia groups. Bordered by China to the north, Laos to the east, and Thailand to the south, the Shan State of Myanmar is home to several armed ethnic groups, and recently, it has come under Chinese economic influence. The region has become the epicenter of synthetic drug production, opium, and is part of the Golden Triangle, the area around the Ruak and Mekong rivers bordered by Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos. After Afghanistan’s Taliban prohibited opium production in 2022, Myanmar became the world’s largest producer of opium again because the demand surged and so did the price. More farmers in the region are now engaged in opium poppy farming and gum production, which brings them decent money quickly. Those farmers now work like factory workers for illegal produce.

Read the article and learn about the life of the “farmers” in Shan State of Myanmar nowadays.

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2025/6/7/we-do-this-to-survive-harvesting-opium-poppies-in-myanmars-shan-state

Topic Reading-Vol.4805-6/20/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

World’s most beautiful castles

A palace is a grand residence of the ruling monarchy or noble family. A fortress is a large, strong building or a group of buildings to defend from attack. A castle is a fortified residential structure for the ruler. Many castles were built during the Middle Ages in places like Europe, the Middle East, and Japan. They were built primarily for defense and residence, but they also served as symbols of power, status, and authority of the ruler. Some of them have moats, high walls, towers, and battlements to reinforce defense. Castles are called Castillos in Spain, Château in France, and Shiro or Jo in Japan. Many were destroyed during battles and wars, while others were demolished or became ruins. However, there are still quite a few castles that are preserved and maintained as historic symbols and landmarks, such as Himeji Castle in Japan, Edinburgh Castle in Scotland, and Prague Castle in the Czech Republic. Visiting a castle, you can not only enjoy seeing the beautiful architecture but also feel the historical significance of the structure.

See the photos and read the descriptions of beautiful castles around the world.

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/beautiful-castles-around-the-world

Topic Reading-Vol.4804-6/19/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

The everyday activity that can reveal your brain's age

The faster you walk, the slower the aging of your physical and cognitive health seems to be, according to studies. Walking speed varies by age, person, and health conditions. For example, the average walking speed for 60-69 year-old men is around 1.43 meters per second, but it declines to below one meter for 80-89 year-olds. Also, a 45-year-old adult may walk as fast as healthy 20-year-olds, while others walk as slowly as much older adults. Walking relies on the coordination of various body systems, including bones, muscles, eyes, heart, lungs, brain, and nerves. As you age, these functions slow down, which affects the person’s walking speed. Also, if your physical or cognitive conditions decline faster than your aging, your walking speed becomes slower than that of others in the same age group. Then, how fast is normal or too slow at your age?

Read the article and learn what walking speed means to your health and aging.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250609-can-your-walking-speed-reveal-your-brains-rate-of-ageing

Topic Reading-Vol.4803-6/18/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Has AI 'transformed' university for the better?

Some students feel helped and improved by AI to do their academic tasks. Indeed, AI can find, sort out, and compile the information you need, the grueling process that you used to do with Google search. Furthermore, AI can help summarize the research results, organize the information, and even write the content. If students try to use AI responsibly and properly, AI tools help them focus more on the important parts of learning. However, if they use AI only to save time or ease the task, they won’t learn as much as they would by studying or doing the research work themselves. As everyone uses AI in every corner of their studies and work, the playing field is being elevated, just like what IT tools have done to workplaces. Consequently, skills to use AI tools productively and creatively are now expected in academic studies and businesses. AI gives everyone the chance to do tasks more, better, and faster.

Read the article and learn how AI affects higher education.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4ge9kggp1go

Topic Reading-Vol.4802-6/17/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

World fertility rates in 'unprecedented decline', UN says

Just several decades ago, countries in eastern Asia such as Japan, South Korea, and China were struggling to deal with an increasing number of newborns. For example, China implemented the infamous one-child policy in 1979 to control population growth, but in the last several years, it has been trying to increase the low fertility rate of only 1.2 children per woman, which is well below the replacement level of 2.1. Also, the number of Japan’s newborns exceeded two million between 1971 and 1974, but it fell to below 700,000 last year, much fewer than the number of deaths of 1.6 million. According to the recent UN report from a survey of young adults and those past their reproductive years in 14 countries with various fertility rates, one in five said they haven't had or expect to have as many children as they desire, even though most of the respondents want to have two or more children. Nearly 40% cited financial limitations as the main reason for not having the desired number of children. But in general, developing countries tend to have higher fertility rates than developed countries. So, what does the financial restriction mean to couples? As the number of expected parents who have fewer or no siblings increases, the world may see even fewer children per couple in developed countries.

Read the article and think about what could prevent couples from having as many children as they want.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clynq459wxgo

Topic Reading-Vol.4801-6/16/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

Google’s DeepMind CEO says there are bigger risks to worry about than AI taking our jobs

AI is getting many kinds of jobs and tasks done more easily, productively, and even more creatively. It finds information much faster from vast resources, organizes it, and provides solutions. Also, AI generates code or creates stories or artworks based on natural language prompts. Many kinds of jobs have already been affected or replaced by this autonomous and even creative intelligence, and more are expected. Indeed, humans have experienced such job transformations when innovation appeared, such as steam engines, automation, computers, and the Internet. But as AI is getting better at almost all intellectual tasks than humans, it could be used for harmful or malicious purposes, such as cyberattacks, disinformation campaigns, and creating content like deepfake pornography. Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), which is capable of performing most intellectual and cognitive tasks that humans can, is on the horizon. Humans may no longer be capable of detecting and stopping AI crimes, but AI police may be.

Read the article and learn about what AI bosses are concerned about the impact of AI

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/06/04/tech/google-deepmind-ceo-ai-risks-jobs

Topic Reading-Vol.4800-6/15/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

'Traffic saved me': Student missed Air India crash by just 10 minutes

On June 11, Air India flight AI171 bound for London Gatwick crashed only moments after takeoff in Ahmedabad, western India, at 13:39 local time. All of the 12 crew members and 241 passengers onboard the flight were killed but one. The sole survivor on board was a 40-year-old British man of Indian origin who was seated in economy class seat 11A. Surprisingly, there was another lucky person who did not die in the crash. An Indian student who lives in Bristol had been visiting western India for a holiday. She was scheduled to fly the same flight and was assigned to seat 36G. However, she arrived at the airport 10 minutes late to board the plane due to heavy traffic and missed the flight. After she left the airport sadly, she learned that the airplane had gone down. There may be similar or opposite stories like these in the building that the airplane crashed into.

Read the article and learn about two people who survived the crashed Air India flight.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgv26zz5wzo

Topic Reading-Vol.4799-6/14/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

The pandemic generation: How Covid-19 has left a long-term mark on children

Five years have passed since the COVID-19 outbreak spread around the world. Many places, including offices, shops, restaurants, and schools, were shut down for months or even longer. As frontline school teachers have been witnessing, such social isolation appears to have profound effects on children, including toddlers. When they were at the age of learning the foundation of social communication, they were only with a few family members in an isolated space without interactions with other people or the outside world. Also, as many school children had to take classes online or from their caregivers for months or even longer, they missed the opportunities to interact with other students, participate in school or club activities, and have hands-on learning. Teachers have been adjusting curricula to help those students catch up with the requirements. Researchers are studying the social, mental, physical, and economic impacts of the missed opportunities on the pandemic generation.

Read the article and learn about the impacts of social isolation on young children during the pandemic.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250605-the-pandemic-generation-how-covid-19-has-left-a-long-term-mark-on-children

Topic Reading-Vol.4798-6/13/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Video: Humanoid robots fight in Chinese boxing competition

Humanoids are general-purpose, bipedal robots modeled after the human form factor and designed to work alongside humans to augment productivity. They are expected to learn and perform tasks in factories, warehouses, kitchens, hospitals, and more, where hands and legs are needed. On the practical side, they can learn to move and pack boxes, assemble parts and modules, flip patties for burgers, or lift and carry a person. Chinese humanoid inventors and developers are also trying to have robots learn to run a road race (Vol. 4749), dance, and exercise. Recently, a humanoid robot fighting competition was held in Hangzhou, China. The participating robots had to go through stress tests to prove their ability to perform in the fight. Soon, we may not only be working with humanoid robots but also be helped or entertained by them.

Watch the video on how robots can perform like human fighters in a boxing competition.

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/05/22/world/video/china-humanoid-robots-boxing-ldn-digvid

Topic Reading-Vol.4797-6/12/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Japan’s annual births fall to record low as population emergency deepens

The population of the Japanese declined by nearly 900,000 last year to 120 million. While over 1.6 million died, fewer than 700,000 were born. Why were there so few newborn children? In fact, 1974 was the last year when Japan’s total fertility rate marked 2.0 or higher. The number has been consistently falling to 1.50 in 1992, 1.36 in the millennium year, and 1.15 last year. Also, fewer than 500,000 Japanese couples got married in the last few years. Japan is one of the East Asian countries, like China and South Korea, whose number of newborns and population have been declining rapidly. Also, these societies are aging fast. Nearly 30% of Japan’s population is 65 or older, who are eligible for a pension. Despite the financial incentives and social support, young people in Japan and these countries don’t seem to be encouraged to get married or have children. In the meantime, the number of foreigners living in Japan increased by 337,000 to 3.6 million. They are young, eager to work, and reproductive. In order to sustain the economy and society, what matters more is the population than nationality.

Read the article and learn how and why the number of births is declining so fast in Japan.

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/06/05/asia/japan-birth-rate-record-low-intl-scli

Topic Reading-Vol.4796-6/11/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

How your pets alter your immune system

Living with animals can significantly enhance our lives by providing companionship, reducing stress, and offering a sense of purpose and meaning. Trained service animals, in particular, provide support to the disabled both physically and mentally. Domesticated animals also contribute to our physical health by increasing exercise and potentially impacting heart health. Indeed, animals make us work physically. In addition, studies have found that children living in farming communities where cattle, farm animals, and pets live close to humans have a lower risk of allergies, asthma, and hay fever. That is because exposure to microbes during infancy and childhood helps train the immune system to distinguish between harmless and harmful microorganisms, fostering tolerance to commensal bacteria and preventing overreactions to foreign invaders. While AI-powered humanoid robots might take over or help human labor, pet animals do provide physical and mental benefits to our lives.

Read the article and learn how animals help our immune system.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250602-how-your-pets-alter-your-immune-system

Topic Reading-Vol.4795-6/10/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

One death every seven minutes: The world's worst country to give birth

With an estimated population of nearly 240 million, Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa and the sixth most populous country in the world. Its population is growing rapidly due to a high fertility rate, nearly five births per woman, a large young population, and relatively low death rates. However, the number of Nigeria’s maternal deaths, the death of a woman while pregnant or within six weeks of the termination of pregnancy, is the highest in the world, with about 75,000 deaths in a year. Severe bleeding, high blood pressure, infections, and prolonged or difficult labor are common causes of maternal deaths, along with unsafe abortions. There were only 121,000 midwives for a population of 218 million in 2021, which is well short of the 820,000 that the WHO recommended for the country. Also, many healthcare facilities lack proper equipment, supplies, and trained experts. In addition, many expecting mothers, especially in rural areas, are reluctant, cannot afford, or don’t have access to hospitals. Since more and more young girls are growing into reproductive age, Nigeria needs to improve maternal care urgently.

Read the article and learn how serious maternal death is in Nigeria.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yk8ek86kdo

Topic Reading-Vol.4794-6/9/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Hagia Sophia: Secrets of the 1,600-year-old megastructure that has survived the collapse of empires

The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was a continuation of the Roman Empire in the East, lasting from 330 CE to 1453 CE. Its capital was Constantinople, modern-day Istanbul, which was founded by Emperor Constantine. The Byzantines developed their own distinct cultural and religious practices, including Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Greek became the official language, and the Byzantine Empire preserved and developed aspects of Greco-Roman culture. Hagia Sophia, meaning holy wisdom in Greek, is a significant historical and architectural site built in 537 CE in Constantinople. It had been the hub of Orthodox Christianity and the last standing symbol of the Byzantine Empire until it was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1453. Subsequently, the holly church was converted into a Sunni Muslim mosque, and minarets were added. In 1935, Hagia Sophia was converted into a museum by Atatürk, the founder and the first President of modern Turkey, but in 2020, it was re-converted into a mosque. Only the second floor is now serving as a museum where tourists can enjoy seeing and feeling the magnificent architecture and artworks that represent the long history of the Byzantine Empire to the Ottoman Empire, and the religious conversion from Christianity to Islam.

Read the article and see the photos to learn about one of the most significant architectural sites in Istanbul, Turkey.

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/hagia-sophia-istanbul-hidden-history/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.4793-6/8/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

The Hajj explained visually

Today ends the annual Hajj, an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is a mandatory religious duty for financially and physically capable Muslims at least once in their lifetime. Though depending on where the pilgrim travels from, it costs at least hundreds to thousands of dollars to take part in the five to six-day pilgrimage to Mecca. In addition, pilgrims have to bear the lost income and the cost of living of their family member at home during the trip. Furthermore, Hajj is physically demanding, challenging, and even dangerous. Pilgrims are required to walk more than 10 kilometers each day under the scorching desert sun at temperatures over 40 degrees Celsius. In fact, temperatures during last year’s hajj soared past 50 degrees, and over 1,300 people on the Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca died due to extreme heat. So, what kind of rituals do those pilgrims perform in what kind of places in Mecca?

Read the article and watch the animated video to learn what the Hajj is really about.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/longform/2025/6/3/hajj-explained-a-visual-step-by-step-guide-to-the-pilgrimage-in-mecca

 

Topic Reading-Vol.4792-6/7/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Five-year forecast paints a troubling picture of extreme weather and deadly heat

10 years ago at the UN climate summit in Paris, 190 countries agreed to limit global warming to 2.0 degrees Celsysus, preferably 1.5 degrees, warmer than the time before the Industrial Revolution when humans started burning a substantial amount of planet-heating fossil fuels, so-called the Paris Agreement. However, the planet has experienced the 10 warmest years, and last year, it crossed the 1.5-degree threshold. Now, meteorologists predict there is a 70% chance that global warming will exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius, and even a higher chance that we’ll experience the hottest year on record in the next five years. As the planet warms, sea ice and glaciers in polar regions melt, causing further sea level rise. Also, glaciers in high mountains collapse and destroy settlements in valleys, like Blatten in Switzerland (Vol. 4788). China, the largest emitter of warming gases, has been promoting new energy vehicles (NEVs) and extending its high-speed railway network to reduce fossil fuel emissions. However, the US, the second-largest warming gas emitter, decided to withdraw from the Paris Agreement again. The world seems likely to experience warmer temperatures, more extreme weather conditions, and further sea level rise in the coming years.

Read the article and learn how the planet has been and will be warming.

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/05/28/climate/wmo-ukmet-5-year-report

Topic Reading-Vol.4791-6/6/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Millions of honeybees abuzz after truck overturns in Washington state

Honey bees play a vital role in plant reproduction and food production. While foraging for nectar, Bees collect pollen on their bodies. When they visit another flower, some of this pollen is deposited on the stigma, enabling fertilization. This process is crucial for the reproduction of many crops, including nuts, vegetables, berries, citrus, and melons. Beekeepers manage and care for honeybee colonies for harvesting honey and other hive products like beeswax and pollen. They also provide pollination services for crops. They transport bees to take advantage of different growing seasons and control the environment in which their bees live. On May 30, in northwestern Washington state in the USA near the Canadian border, a truck carrying over 30 tons of active honey bee hives rolled over, and as many as 250 million honeybees escaped. Local beekeepers responded to rescue as many honeybees as they could to rehive the worker bees and find their queen bees. The public was warned to avoid the swarm until they were retrieved. An emergency bee response!

Read the article and learn what happened to millions of honeybees during transport.

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/05/31/us/washington-state-honeybee-hives-crash

Topic Reading-Vol.4790-6/5/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

France to ban smoking on beaches, parks and near

Smoking in enclosed public places, such as restaurants, schools, workplaces, and public transport, is usually banned in most developed countries. Also, some local municipalities ban smoking on beaches, in parks, and around schoolyards. From July 1, France will ban smoking nationwide in all outdoor areas where children frequently appear, including beaches, parks, public gardens, outside schools, bus stops, and sports venues. The new rule affects about 23% of the French population who smoke regularly. Economically, smoking in France is prohibitively expensive, costing over 10 euros per 20-cigarette pack. Now, finding a place to smoke a cigarette is even more difficult. Gone are the days when smokers enjoyed puffing whenever and wherever they wanted, like they did in movies.

Read the article and learn how strict France is going to be about smoking.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c7873veygv2o

 

Topic Reading-Vol.4789-6/4/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

13.4m students register for gaokao this yearIn China, more than 10 million students have been admitted to colleges or universities annually in the last four years, representing roughly 60% of the 18-year-old population. Of the over 3,000 higher education institutions, 140, or roughly 5%, are designated as prestigious Double First-Class Universities. The admission is mainly judged by the scores at the National College Entrance Examination, commonly known as Gaokao, which is held in early June each year. Students have to take three mandatory subjects: math, Chinese, and another language, usually English. They also take art subjects like history, political science, and geography, or science subjects, including physics, chemistry, and biology. High school seniors who want to be accepted by good universities study very hard to get good grades on the two-day examination. This year’s Gaokao starts from June 7^, and both exam takers and the Education Ministry are preparing for the make-or-break exams. This year, a record number of 13,35 million students are taking the exams nationally, nearly 1% of the population.

Read the article and learn about the world’s toughest college entrance exam.

https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202505/28/WS68367b7ba310a04af22c1fa8.html

Topic Reading-Vol.4788-6/3/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Glacier collapse buries most of Swiss village

Global warming is melting ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland, raising sea levels around the world. Rising sea levels are posing a significant threat to coastal areas, especially in tropical and subtropical river deltas, low-lying islands, and densely populated coastal zones. Warming temperatures are also melting snow, ice, and glaciers in arctic regions and mountains at an unprecedented pace. Blatten is a small mountain valley village in Switzerland with a population of around 300. On May 28, approximately 90% of Blatten was lost under a landslide triggered by the collapse of the Birch glacier. Debris destroyed large parts of the village, and ice, earth, and rock partially blocked the Lonza River. Thanks to prior warning, all the residents but one had evacuated from the village safely before the glacier collapsed. Glaciologists have been monitoring melting glaciers and permafrost and warning some other alpine towns and villages of such incidents. Since the glacier is unstable, many of the residents of Blatten may never be able to return to their homes.

Read the article and learn what global warming could do to an alpine village.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cnv1evn2p2vo

Topic Reading-Vol.4787-6/2/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

So what happens to America’s 114 billion pennies once the US stops making them?

A penny is the smallest denomination coin in the US, worth 0.01 or a cent of a dollar. The penny was one of the first coins made by the US Mint, a bureau of the Department of the Treasury responsible for producing coinage, that entered circulation in 1793. A modern US penny is made of  97.5% zinc and 2.5% copper, and the cost of producing a penny is now 3.69 cents per coin. Thus, the US Treasury Department has decided to stop producing pennies next year. While existing pennies will retain their value for transactions indefinitely, those in circulation will decrease gradually. So, what’ll happen if you try to pay your bill in cash? In Canada, the distribution of pennies ceased in 2013. Retailers were then no longer expected to return pennies as change for cash purchases, and they started to round purchases to the nearest five cents, even though goods are still priced in one-cent increments. For example, totals ending in 1 or 2 round down to 0, totals ending in 3, 4, 6, or 7 round to 5, and totals ending in 8 or 9 round up to 10. Non-cash transactions like credit cards or mobile payments will not be affected and will be paid to the exact cent. After all, it is a matter of cash transactions, not a re-denomination of the currency.

Read the article and learn what will happen when pennies are no longer produced in the USA.

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/05/25/business/penny-what-happens-to-them

Topic Reading-Vol.4786-6/1/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Scientists propose novel way of treating mosquitoes for malaria

Malaria is a life-threatening disease spread to humans by some types of mosquitoes, which are still common in tropical and subtropical countries. People who have malaria usually feel very sick with a high fever and shaking chills, and in severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. In fact, as many as 600,000 people die of malaria each year, mostly in Africa. The infection does not spread from person to person, but is caused by a parasite, which is carried by some type of mosquito. Human malaria infection is initiated when a female anopheline mosquito injects Plasmodium sporozoites into the skin during a blood meal. To prevent malaria, you should reduce contact with mosquitoes by wearing protective clothing, using window screens, and sleeping under a bednet. You can also use insecticide to kill mosquitoes, but they’ve become resistant to it. Now, researchers at Harvard University have come up with a new way to prevent malaria by using drugs that kill parasites in mosquitoes instead of mosquitoes themselves. In their test, the drug applied onto bednets didn’t kill all mosquitoes, but killed all the parasites. After all, it is the parasites that spread malaria, not mosquitoes themselves. More research is still needed, but the effectiveness of bednets against malaria infection might improve significantly.

Read the article and learn how the spread of malaria could be prevented.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1j554pgjgko