Topic Reading-Vol.2803-12/14/2019

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

BolaWrap: LA police to use 'Batman-style' device to snare suspects

The BolaWrap is a hand-held remote restraint device that discharges a 2.4-meter tether at a speed of 150 meters per second to entangle torso or legs at a range of three to 7.6 meters. It’s like a web shooter used by Batman or Spiderman to subdue a bad guy without harming them from a distance. The hand-held remote restraint device has been used by several law enforcement departments across the country. Now, the City of Los Angeles Police Department, more known as LAPD, the third-largest municipal police department in the US after New York (NYPD) and Chicago (CPD), with nearly 10,000 officers is training some officers to use this device from January. Will that help the police officers avoid using lethal weapons? Just like any other weapon or gadget, it could be used by hands of criminals like a kidnapper, rapist, or burglar. At any rate, it may not be so long before you see BolaWrap in a movie.

Enjoy watching the video and learn about this human wrapping gadget.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50657989

Topic Reading-Vol.2802-12/13/2019

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

ABCs of vocational and training centers in Xinjiang

Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China, located in the far northwest of the country. It spans over 1.6 million ㎢, nearly twice the size of Turkey. The region has a population of over 20 million and is home to various ethnic groups, such as the Uyghur, Han, Kazakhs, Tibetans, Hui, Tajiks, Kyrgyz, Mongols, and Russians. Nearly half of this diverse ethnic population are Uyghurs, most of whom are Muslims.

According to China Daily, there had been a large number of acts of terrorism took place and civilians and police officers were killed between 1990 and 2016. It also states that religious extremists have been trying to brainwash those who have limited communication or interaction with the outside world with strong religious doctrines to engage in a holy war against the secular government. In order to cope with extremism and terrorism, vocational education and training centers were set up to stop spreading such movement by isolating those who were influenced by such extremism. There, they learn the Chinese language and laws, vocational skills, and deradicalization to stay away from violent extremist groups with freedom in language, belief, customs, and cultural needs. As a result, no violent activities have occurred since 2016 and tourism has boomed, according to the media arm of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China.

Enjoy reading the other side of the story about Xinjiang vocational and training centers.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201912/04/WS5de72d2ea310cf3e3557bedc.html

Topic Reading-Vol.2801-12/12/2019

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Artificial neurons developed to fight disease

Neurons, or nerve cells, are the basic units of our nervous system. They respond to electrical signals from the nervous system and carry signals to and from the brain and the rest of the body. Since neurons of an Alzheimer's patient degenerate or die, replicating neurons could pave the way to treat the brain disorder.

Recently, researchers in England have developed artificial neurons that respond to electrical signals from the nervous system. They replicated two types of neurons, brain cells that control memory and breathing in miniature brain chips that act like the real neurons.

Will we soon see Google or SoftBank medical solutions that provide chips or cloud services to doctors and patients?

Enjoy reading the article and learn about this new digital medical solution.

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-50644545

Topic Reading-Vol.2800-12/11/2019

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Sperm whale dies with 100kg 'litter ball' in its stomach

Whales are the largest mammals on earth. They feed, mate, give birth and raise their young at sea. Their size could be as long as 30 meters and as heavy as 190 tons.

The sperm whale is the largest toothed predator. They usually dive between 300 and 800 meters but occasionally go down to 1,000 to 2,000 meters deep to search food, such as squid, octopuses, and fish.

Recently, a young adult sperm whale was found dead on the Isle of Harris in Scotland. What was found in the stomach was not a lot of squid or fish but 100 kilograms of human waste, such as fishing nets, rope, packing straps, plastic bags, and cups. Though it is not clear if the litter ball was the cause of the death of the whale, it isn’t hard to guess that other whales have similar substance in their stomach as they basically swallow anything in the water.

While whales are now protected by international law, save a few still-whale-hunting nations like Japan and Norway, they are facing other human-caused problems in their realm.

Enjoy reading the article and learn what could kill the largest living creature on earth.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-50621304

Topic Reading-Vol.2799-12/10/2019

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Why Inclusive Wealth Index is a better measure of societal progress than GDP?

You often hear or see “GDP”. It stands for Gross Domestic Product, meaning the sum of the output, income, and expenditure in an economy like a country or region. In short, it is the size of the economy, but it doesn’t reflect the well-being of the people or problems to the environment. For example, if you burn more fossil fuels to produce more goods or buy more things in single-use plastic bags, you’ll gain GDP but cause more pollution to the environment.

Another word is GDP per capita, which is the divided GDP by the population of the economy. It shows how wealthy the economy is on average but doesn’t reflect how much of the wealth is owned by a certain segment or population of the economy. If only a handful of people own the vast majority of the wealth and they become richer, GDP per capita also increases while leaving most of the people in poverty. GDP is like the sales amount without taking cost or capital into account, so no one knows the bottom line only from the index.

Are there any better indexes to measure sustainable economic progress? The UN has adopted a new index called Inclusive Wealth Index, or IWI, in 2012. It measures more comprehensive wealth taking all five capitals that are associated with the economy into consideration, financial, manufactured, human, social and natural. The new index shows the impacts on the environment and the quality of social welfare and education. Surprisingly, South Korea marked the highest growth per capita from 1992 to 2012 followed by small countries like Singapore, Malta, and Latvia.

Though indexes just show the status or changes from the past. Without actions, they are just numbers.

Enjoy reading the article and learn about the new wealth index.

https://www.datadriveninvestor.com/2019/03/08/why-inclusive-wealth-index-is-a-better-measure-of-societal-progress-than-gdp/

Topic Reading-Vol.2798-12/9/2019

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Solar, wind and hydro power could soon surpass coal

Even in America, where the leaders in politics and businesses are mostly concerned about ballots at elections and shareholders meetings, renewable energies are about to generate more electricity than coal, which has been the most convenient and cost-effective source of power generation. Is that because American voters are more concerned about the environment despite the ignorance by the political leaders who decided to withdraw from the landmark Paris climate accord? Partially yes. But the main driver for the move is the economy.

Coal still is the main source of power in the major carbon-emitting nations, China, the US, and India. But coal powerplants in the US have been aging and become less economical as the cost for natural gas became cheaper. So, gradually, old coal power plants have been closed and no new ones have been built. It’s partially good news because natural gas emits less greenhouse gas, though it still does. Also, the cost of renewable energies, such as solar, wind, hydro and geothermal have become more competitive, and people and businesses are becoming more environmentally conscious and supporting renewable energies. Thus, coal is projected to be surpassed by renewable energies as the primary source of electric power generation in America within a year or two. Bad news for coal miners, mining towns and industries but good news for homo sapience and other creatures on the planet.

Enjoy reading the article and think what really drives people, businesses and politics.

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/11/26/business/renewable-energy-coal/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.2797-12/8/2019

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

'Just Dunzo it.' How Google's favorite Indian startup is making city life easier

When you need a ride, you may activate an app like Uber to get a ride without calling or paying to the driver. The company’s biggest shareholder is SoftBank. When you want a particular food delivered in China, you may use an online-to-offline food delivery service like Meituan, which is owned by Alibaba. Now, if you want to get certain transportation or a delivery task done, such as picking up something like laundry, deliver a forgotten textbook to your kid, bike taxi to somewhere like Uber or get a food delivery like Meituan, there is a one-click service for you in India.

Founded in 2014 in Bangalore, India’s tech capital, Dunzo Digital Private Limited is a delivery and transportation service company. It became spotlighted when it obtained funding from Google in 2017. Their delivery men wearing a bright green helmet with a lightning bolt logo are seen in major cities such as Bengaluru, Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Pune, Chennai, Mumbai and Hyderabad. If you think about the traffic congestion and air pollution in these major cities in India, such service saves not only your time and but also your health. Since their services aren’t limited to what other delivery servicers offer, "Just Dunzo it" is becoming an increasingly common phrase as the app expands its service range and coverage.

Sounds like a handyman on a bike, doesn’t it?

Enjoy reading the article and learn about new online-to-offline, or O2O, service in India.

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/11/28/tech/dunzo-india-app-google/index.html