Topic Reading-Vol.3504/11/14/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Sleep with your pet? How that may affect you (and your pet)

Is sleeping with your pet dog or cat good for you and your pet? For those highly popular, domesticated animals, sleeping with their human friends doesn’t seem to create any particular downside. Rather, it seems to create a tighter bond and higher trust with humans. However, that is not always the case for humans who need four to six 90-minute sleep cycles each night to repair the brain’s cellular level, consolidate memories and store new information to prepare for the next day. Anytime these sleep cycles are interrupted as is often the case when sleeping with a pet, you lose the chance to restore and refresh the brain. Remember, animals, especially cats, tend to move and disrupt sleep during the night, and each move could disrupt your continuous sleep. In the meantime, pet animals may give comfort and peace to their human friends especially to those who are depressed or feel anxious. So, if you can maintain your good sleeping cycles, your pet animal may be a good sleeping companion, provided that the pet wants that, too.

Enjoy reading the article and learning the pros and cons of an animal sleeping partner.

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/11/05/health/sleeping-with-pets-wellness/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.3503/11/13/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Delhi pollution: Are Diwali fireworks to blame?

The air quality of many cities in India is poor or even hazardous. In fact, 20 of the world’s 30 most polluted cities are in India. Especially in this time of year, Delhi and other cities in northern India experience poor air quality due to crop burning and seasonal weather patterns. Furthermore, there is a popular festival called Diwali, India's biggest and most important holiday of the year that celebrates lights. People decorate their homes with clay lamps and enjoy firework festivities outside. Yes, a lot of fireworks, which seems to worsen the already poor air quality especially with PM2.5, a type of pollution involving fine particles fewer than 2.5 microns, or 0.0025mm, in diameter and is one of the most harmful particles for human health. During the festival, the PM2.5 levels go way above the recommended WHO guidelines in these cities. Also, another research found significantly increased levels of hazardous substances like Sulphur dioxide, ozone, lead, and copper during the Diwali period. So, why do people still burn such hazardous substances just for fun?

Enjoy reading the article and learn about Diwali and air quality in India.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-46138064

Topic Reading-Vol.3502/11/12/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

COP 26: What Alaska’s shrinking island means for all of us

The impacts of a warming climate are of course not limited to tropical islands but also in Alaska. Billions of tons of ice are melting from glaciers each year, rising sea levels. With a population of only 600, this small village on the western edge of Alaska is under threat of global warming. In the last few decades, temperatures have been rising and permafrost has been thawing in the supposedly cold region, which has been gradually eroding the coastline. Also, as the ice isn’t forming and storms are getting more violent, the village is losing its land space. Melting ice is forcing the villagers to change their traditions like hunting and fishing. Band aiding measures like sea walls don’t seem to be enough to keep their lifestyles and lifelines, including the vital runway. Residents are afraid that the whole town needs to relocate at one point. If humans suffer this much, what about other lives like polar bears and seabirds?

Enjoy watching the video and learn about what is happening in an Alaskan village.

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-59186214

Topic Reading-Vol.3501/11/11/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Should young children be made to wear face masks?

Just like adults, children are required or recommended to wear a mask at school in some countries like France and Italy while they are free from wearing a mask in other places like the UK. It is evident that much fewer cases have been reported in schools where teachers and students are required to wear masks as they provide an additional layer of protection. However, some people are concerned that mask-wearing could impair children’s development of emotional understanding. In fact, children start recognizing basic emotions such as happiness, sadness, fear, and anger from voice tone, body posture, and facial expression even before they begin walking. So, if half of the face is covered by a mask, how can they recognize others’ emotions? But is it that different from wearing sunglasses? Interestingly, a study found that the difference between wearing a mask and sunglasses didn’t show any distinct difference to recognize the emotion of the wearer. Then what about language learning?

Enjoy reading the article and learning about what impacts mask-wearing could cause to young children.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20211025-how-face-masks-affect-young-children

Topic Reading-Vol.3500/11/10/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Law clarifies family role in education

China adopted a new law that clarifies the roles and responsibilities of children’s welfare and education by family, school, the State, and society. It has long been accused that excessive studying to get better grades and pass entrance exams by over-loaded assignments and expensive private tutoring created over-stressed young children in China. Now, parents are responsible for family education and are prohibited to make their children study excessively. They are also required to help their children spend time studying, resting, and exercising in balance. In the meantime, local governments and schools are required to provide guidance, support, and services for family education. They are already expected to improve classroom teaching and develop after-school services to help students learn better without too much homework under the guidelines issued in July. Recently, China limited the time for online gaming on weekdays and weekends, restricted new off-campus tutoring services, and banned online tutoring services to improve young students’ health and welfare while reducing financial burden to their parents. Though these measures may seem too radical to impose at once in your country, do they sound too unreasonable?

Read the article and think about what the roles of family education should be.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202111/03/WS6181d7e6a310cdd39bc72ed9.html

Topic Reading-Vol.3499/11/9/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

COP26: 190 nations and organisations pledge to quit coal

A coal power plant burns coal to generate electricity. There are around 8,500 such power plants in the world and generate approximately 37% of the world’s electricity in total. It is an economical way to generate electricity because coal is easily available in many parts of the world. However, coal-fired power stations emit about one-fifth of world greenhouse gas emissions and are the largest cause of climate change. Although the number of such power plants is decreasing in Europe and the US because of the environmental concerns and pressures, more are still being built in Asia, especially in China to meet the increasing demand for electricity and run environmentally-friendly electric vehicles. At the COP 26 climate summit in Glasgow, UK, as many as 190 countries and organizations agreed to shift away from coal powerplants. However, heavily coal-dependent countries like Australia, India, China, and the US did not commit themselves to the agreement probably because the economy in the next few years is more important than the environment in the future. Sustainable Development Goals seem still far high to reach even after the gathering of the global leaders. Though they seem to have made small steps, they don’t seem to be enough to stop global warming.

Enjoy reading the article and learning about COP26 and coal power plants.

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-59159018

Topic Reading-Vol.3498/11/8/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

COP26: Should there be limits on meat eating? And more questions

In 2015, COP21 took place in Paris and every participating country agreed to work together to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees and aim for 1.5 degrees. It was an important milestone step to keep the planet sustainable because every fraction of a degree of warming will result in the loss of many more lives lost and livelihoods damaged. Now, COP26, the 2021 United Nations climate change conference is being held in Glasgow, UK. It has brought parties together to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. World leaders seem to have committed many ambitious goals that may be achieved beyond their terms in their offices but rarely anything in the short term. Then, what can we do to reduce greenhouse gasses and the impacts of global warming? Should we eat less meat? Should we stop flying? What is the impact of methane on the environment? Are there any positive effects of warming temperatures?

Even though both are global issues, unlike Covid-19, the climate crisis requires the rethinking and re-engineering of nearly every aspect of our lives and economy in every country.

Enjoy reading the article and finding simple answers to these complex problems.

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-58925049