Topic Reading-Vol.4007-4/14/2023

Dear MEL Topic Readers,  
Plastic wet wipes ban planned in England to tackle pollution
A wet wipe, or wet towel, is a small moistened piece of paper or fabric that is used for cleaning purposes for hygiene and cleaning. It became more widely used during the Covid pandemic. Though wet wipes look flushable, most of them aren’t. In fact, around 90% of wet pipes are produced from nonwoven fabrics made of polyester or polypropylene. Thus, they don’t break apart or dissolve in water and often cause sewer blockages. Even though the package states flushable, it often clogs internal plumbing. Furthermore, if they are discharged into rivers and waters, part of wet wipes will stay in the water for a long time like any other single-use plastics. While we enjoy the convenience and cleanliness of wet wipes, we may need to rethink how to use and dispose of them until stricter regulations come into place.
Enjoy reading the article and learn about what wet wipes bring about.
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-65166859

Topic Reading-Vol.4006-4/13/2023

Dear MEL Topic Readers,  
Goalkeeper scores from a goal kick – it could set the record for the longest range goal in history
On March 18 at the Cobresal’s stadium in El Salvacor, Chile, Chilean Primera Division club Cobresal’s goalkeeper Leandro Requena scored directly from a goal kick. His big kick flew over the head of all 20 outfield players without bouncing before the ball pitched midway inside the Colo-Colo half. The ball then bounced over the head of the Colo-Colo’s keeper, who was around 10 yards outside of his penalty area. The ball kept moving toward the goal while the keeper tried to chase it but stumbled. Then the world’s longest goal was made by a goalkeeper from a distance of over 100 meters. The goal kick originally didn’t look offensive or anything but bounced higher than the Colo-Colo’s keeper had anticipated. True. The stadium sits at 2,400 meters above sea level, where any air-filled ball bounces much higher than sea level.
Enjoy watching this amazing goalkeeper’s goal kick.
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/03/22/football/leandro-requena-goalkeeper-longest-goal-spt-intl/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.4005-4/12/2023

Dear MEL Topic Readers,  
Iranian women arrested for not wearing hijab after yogurt thrown on them
Hijab is a head covering worn by some Muslim women. The use of the hijab has been on the rise worldwide since the 1970s and is viewed by many Muslims as expressing modesty and faith. For example, hijab had been legally mandatory in Saudi Arabia, a very conservative Sunni Islam kingdom, until 2018 but now it is not any longer, thanks to the reforms initiated by the Crown Prince. In Iran, hijab for women was made mandatory after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The current law requires women and girls over the age of 9 to wear a head scarf in public. However, many women have flouted the rule over the years and pushed the boundaries of what officials say is acceptable, including exposing more of their hair and wearing smaller and more colorful head scarves. The enforcement of the law had been somehow loosened under the former administration but recently, Iran’s morality police have been increasingly active and violent in enforcing what the authorities have called the “complete hijab.” However, more women have chosen to show up in public without a head covering in protest. Recently, two women who weren’t wearing a head covering in a store were thrown yogurt on their faces by a male customer, and the two women were arrested after the incident. The Iranian authorities reemphasized that wearing a hijab is a legal mandate for women. How long will Iranian women be required to cover their heads by law? The interpretation of the Quran and implementation the of law seem to be at the discretion of the ruling authority in some Islamic nations.
Read the article and learn about what wearing a head covering means for Iranian women.
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/04/02/middleeast/women-arrested-hijab-yogurt-iran-intl/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.4004-4/11/2023

Dear MEL Topic Readers,  
Bill Nye explains light-years and the vastness of the universe
The distance from the Sun to Earth is about 150 million kilometers. Since light travels approximately 300,000 kilometers per second, it takes over eight minutes for sunlight to reach our planet. In other words, the Sun we see on Earth is that of about 8 minutes ago. This Sun-Earth distance is called 1.00 Astronomical Unit (AU), which is used to scale the distance within our solar system. For example, the farthest planet in our solar system is Neptune, which is about 30 AUs from the Sun. It takes 4.3 hours for sunlight to reach this distant planet. Now, our nearest star, Proxima Centauri, is 40,000,000,000,000 (40 trillion) kilometers, or 268,770 AUs away. Since light travels about 9.46 trillion kilometers a year, it would still take over four years to get there if you traveled at the speed of light or light speed. Now, you might understand what unit to use to scale the distance. Within our solar system, Astronomical Unit (AU) is just sufficient. But when you talk about stars and galaxies, the light-year is more convenient. To your surprise, the most distant star ever seen is still 28 billion years away from us. How many kilometers is that from the Earth?
Enjoy reading the article and learn about why light-year is used to measure the distance of the universe.
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/03/31/world/bill-nye-light-year-scn/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.4003-4/10/2023

Dear MEL Topic Readers,  
Thailand's extreme air pollution: 'I feel sorry for my daughter'
Chiang Rai is the northernmost major city in Thailand, where borders to Laos and Myanmar are closer than the neighboring major city, Chiang Mai. Every year after harvesting grains, farmers in the region burn crop residues and weeds in the field. The ash provides the newly-cleared land with a nutrient-rich layer to help fertilize crops. But this open burning practice poses risks to the environment and public health. Ash pollutes the soil, groundwater, lakes, rivers, and streams. Also, outdoor burning often causes wildfires. In addition, smoke pollutes the air in and around the region. Indeed, the air quality of Chiang Rai province has been so bad since the beginning of the year that people have been forced to stay indoors. But even with air conditioners and purifiers, air quality is nearly hazardous, especially for newborn babies and small children. The problem and the cause of the problem are not limited to Thailand but to Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. How could people solve the problem that is caused by themselves?
Read the article and learn about this devastating air pollution caused by farmers.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-65120502

Topic Reading-Vol.4002-4/9/2023

Dear MEL Topic Readers,  
Isle of Wight cow 'faking sleep' attracts global sympathy
Dairy cows are cattle bred to produce milk. They are kept in herds or dairy farms, cared for, and collected milk by dairy farmers. Dairy cows produce milk for about 10 months after calving. Then they can take a two-month break before calving again. Though dairy cows could produce milk economically for as many as 10 lactations, most of them are culled only after a few lactations in commercial farms for various reasons, such as infertility, infection prevention, and productivity. In general, milk cows enjoy the milking process. They are put into a parlor and attached to suction tubes to gently pull the milk from the teats. If a milk cow isn’t milked too long, milk will build up in her udder, causing it to become full, which causes her to become uncomfortable. However, not all dairy cows are the same. There is a milk cow on a farm on the Isle of Wight in England that doesn’t want to be milked early in the morning. In fact, she pretends to be asleep to get out of being milked. The cow’s pretending of being asleep was filmed and Tik-Toked, and then went viral. The farmer thinks the cow is more like a person than a cow.
Enjoy reading the article and seeing the video of a milk cow that tried to avoid early morning milking.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-hampshire-65123453

Topic Reading-Vol.4001-4/8/2023

Dear MEL Topic Readers,  

Ten photographs that made the world wake up to climate change

Governments from most countries discuss, argue, and agree on plans and actions to curb global warming. Goals are set and regulations are imposed. Investors and enterprises invest their funds and make their efforts trying to meet the new requirements. Yet, the planet keeps warming, the climate is changing, and extreme climate events like heat waves, heavy rainfalls, and droughts are causing devastating impacts on communities and natural ecosystems. We may need more attention to realize how serious the situation is. One way is to show visual images of the place, people, flora, and fauna that are affected. As seeing is believing, visual images are inviting the viewers and engage them with the reality that is hardly seen otherwise. Founded in 2014, SeaLegacy, an NGO that uses films and photos to raise awareness of climate issues to help protect the planet. Some of the images they took clearly show the evidence, such as waterfalls off an ice cap due to an extremely warm summer in Norway, bodies of six dead giraffes under severe drought in Kenya, and villagers standing on eroded land caused by seal level rise in Bangladesh. Quite convincing, aren’t they?

See the photos and think how serious climate change is to our planet.

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/03/29/world/climate-change-photography-paul-nicklen-cristina-mittermeier-c2e-spc-intl-scn-climate/index.html