Topic Reading-Vol.1664-10/31/2016

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Your dog smells you -- better than you think

You know that. But do you know much dogs can smell and how they and humans use the ability? Because dogs are extremely cooperative and responsive, they are used to search or detect smells that humans or machines can’t such as missing or buried person, explosives, drugs, insects, objects removed from certain animals.

Moreover, dogs seem to use their extraordinary sensitivity to smell time passing as the odor or smell fades away as time passes. For example, if the owner of a housedog keeps a regular schedule to go out and come home, the dog expects when the owner comes back. They can also detect changes in physical conditions of the owner, such as pregnancy or even cancer.

Isn’t it amazing?

Enjoy reading and thinking how useful it might be if dogs’ sensitivity is used in IoT and Ai.

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/10/22/opinions/power-of-a-dogs-smell-horowitz/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.1663-10/30/2016

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Loneliness often follows sudden wealth

Do people around you change so much when you become rich? They look so at least to the person whose financial status changed suddenly.

Maybe it’s better think from the other way. Do you think you can look at your long-time friend in the same way as you’ve been doing when he or she becomes ten or a hundred times wealthier? For example, do you think you will invite your old friend to your same house or go to the restaurant where you’ve been going together while he or she bought a gorgeous new house and dines often at luxurious restaurants? The answer could vary depending on how your friend has become rich, whether he or she earned the wealth by work or luck like the lottery or inheritance.

Upgrading financial position seems require new mindset for both.

Enjoy reading and thinking if your friends and family will be the same when you add three more zeros in your bank account.

http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20161014-loneliness-often-follows-sudden-wealth

Topic Reading-Vol.1662-10/29/2016

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Can you hurt yourself eating chilli peppers?

Like hot and spicy meals? The hotter the food is, the severer the pain or sensation you feel is. But some people who regularly eat very spicy and hot foods seem to feel not pain but pleasure.

When a spicy object is taken, it activates neurons that are responsible for feeling pain. Whether the pain pleases or scorches the eater seems to depend on how regularly they ate such food when they were young. That’s because neurons, which sense pain, are worn out if they are repeatedly set off, and they don’t grow back.

Now you know why some people enjoy very spicy dishes than others.

But why are there hot and spicy things in nature like peppers?

Enjoy reading and learning what hot and spicy means to you.

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20161020-can-you-hurt-yourself-eating-chilli-peppers

Topic Reading-Vol.1661-10/28/2016

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Japan's crazy underground bike vaults

Though there isn’t enough space on the ground, there is underground. So many bicycles are recklessly parked, left or abandoned on the streets in Tokyo, especially around train stations. That’s because there aren’t enough bike parking spaces. Pedestrians and stores on the streets are annoyed. Bike-parking watchers patrol around the stations and attach warning tags and tickets on illegally parked or left bikes. In some cases, those bikes are removed from the street and stored by the city. In order to retrieve them, the owner has to pay a few thousand yen fine. Why don’t they make more parking lots for bikes? They can’t because the land space is so limited in this metropolitan city.

That’s why this unique solution was created. Fully-automated underground parking bike vaults. All you need to do is to get your bike registered and obtain a smart card. It takes only eight seconds to safely store your bike underground. You can retrieve your bike by simply swiping the smart card again and the system will bring your bike from the vault.

Enjoy seeing the video and think if you want to use it every day on your to and from work.

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/10/19/design/japan-underground-bike-vaults/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.1660-10/27/2016

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Should obese passengers pay more to fly?

This isn’t a new topic but it’s still worth checking. There are so many extraordinarily over-sized and over-weighted passengers on flights these days that cause inconvenience to both airlines and fellow passengers on board.

What should and can airlines do to deal with increasing number of passengers who can’t fit regular seats or physically bother other passengers? How much does extraordinary extra weight cost to airlines compared to standard passengers? Is it fair to charge the same fare to passengers of normal weight and over weighted? If there is a human right issue, how does it apply to those who are squeezed by the passenger in the next seat? While excess baggage is charged extra fee by weight, passengers are charged by the seat class. How does this sound?

Airfare by weight is a highly controversial topic, isn’t it?

Enjoy reading and thinking what is acceptable to both normal and over weight passengers.

http://www.bbc.com/autos/story/20161020-should-obese-passengers-pay-more

Topic Reading-Vol.1659-10/26/2016

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Growing food with seawater and solar power

Tomatoes grown without soil or fresh water? That’s what exactly a new venture farm is doing in a desert region in southern Australia.

They are growing 15,000 tons of tomatoes a year using desalinated sea water in hydroponic greenhouses. The both desalination and heating-cooling systems are powered by solar energy. Sounds very green to grow red tomatoes, doesn’t it?

Though initial investment for this farming model is substantial, the running cost is significantly lower than conventional farming. This solar-powered hydroculture model seems economically and environmentally advantageous in places where there isn’t enough freshwater to grow vegetables, but not so for staple crops such as rice or wheat that require open and huge space to grow.

Enjoy reading about this new hydroculture model and think where to build this solar-powered hydro-greenhouses, what to grow there and how to finance it.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2016/10/growing-food-seawater-solar-power-161019174224231.html

Topic Reading-Vol.1658-10/25/2016

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Reality Check: Must UK settle EU divorce before it makes trade deals?

Divorce often turns nasty, and sometimes takes long to reach an agreement. And this particular case is going to be a difficult one to settle because it is not a departure of one country from just one party but a union that consists of 27 seven member states. And even the leaving state, the UK, may face difficulty to keep consistency should the incumbent administration overturned during the lengthy process, not to mention the other side of the table. There will be elections after elections among the member states under democracy.

The most unproductive and interfering issue on business and trade is the uncertainty for the future. No one can predict what the EU and UK are going to be like three years from now. This uncertainty put a brake on not only investment but also ongoing business activities.

Enjoy reading and thinking if this is a good time to invest in the UK.

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-37703670