Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Vegan 'cheese' market booms as demand grows
Cheese is a dairy product produced in a wide range of flavors,
textures, and tastes. Its history dated back to 8000 BCE and there are now over
a thousand types of cheese produced in many cultures. Cheese is tasty by itself
and adds a rich taste and flavor to many kinds of foods and dishes like
sandwiches, pizzas, and tacos. But cheese is often salty and most of the fat in
cheese is saturated fat, which raises cholesterol levels. Also, dairy products aren’t
friendly to the environment. (Vol.3883) As more people move to a healthier, vegetarian,
or vegan diet, demand for non-dairy cheese has been increasing. Recently, more
palatable vegan cheese products are appearing on the shelves and online. The
demand for such healthier cheese products has been increasing despite the inflation
pressure on households. The shift from dairy to plant-based milk products indeed
helps improve our health and the environment.
Enjoy reading the article about the rising demand for vegan cheese.
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-63633479
Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Chimpanzee cheer: Video of reunion between endangered mother and baby
goes viral
How do animals, say our close cousin chimpanzees, develop and feel maternal
instinct? A video of an emotional reunion of a mother chimp and her newborn
baby was taken at a zoo in Kansas, the USA. Even though a mother chimpanzee had
been separated from her baby boy at birth because of a Cesarian operation, she
immediately demonstrated a strong mothership when she met the baby boy for the
first time two days after the C-section birth. She must have developed her maternal
instinct while she was pregnant. But she wouldn’t have known if the baby chimp was
indeed her baby. It seems that for an expecting mother, a baby is a baby. It doesn’t
seem to matter whose baby it is to keep the species alive. Whatever the reason or
motive was, her immediate attachment to the baby chimp shows how strong
maternal instinct is.
Enjoy watching the video to find how instinctively a mother chimp is attached
to her baby boy.
https://edition.cnn.com/videos/us/2022/11/19/chimpanzee-mom-and-baby-reunite-birth-zoo-cprog-orig-aw.cnn
Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Drink this type of milk to keep you and the planet healthy
It has been believed that dairy milk is good for health and growth as
it is rich in calcium and protein. But as the global population added a billion
in just a decade and is still growing, should we keep producing milk to meet
the increasing demand? Even though today’s dairy industry produces much more
milk per cow than before, it uses 10 times as much land and water as plant-based
milk, such as almonds, rice, soy, and oat. Also, as cows burp and poo, they generate
methane, an 80 times more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Then the
question is if we can substitute those plant-based milk products for dairy milk
products nutritiously, environmentally, and economically. Well, if we can
substitute chicken with lab-grown meat (Vol.3882), why can’t we?
Enjoy reading the article and learning about what milk is about.
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/11/15/health/best-milk-for-planet-and-people-wellness/index.html
Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Lab-grown meat is OK for human consumption, FDA says
Laboratory-grown meat, or cultured meat, is meat produced by culturing
animal cells in vitro. It is a form of cellular agriculture. Cultured meat has
the potential to address the environmental impact of meat production, animal
welfare, food security, and human health. It requires substantially less water
and land to develop meat than growing and getting meat from animals. Also,
since the food system, most of which is from animal agriculture, represents
about a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions, lab-grown meat is expected
to help mitigate climate change. The question is how close we are to seeing
cultured meat on store shelves. As for safety, the US Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) is getting close to approving the lab-grown chicken meat developed
by a cultured-meat manufacturer. When it comes to the economy, time will tell when
it’ll become affordable for consumers who are conscious of animal welfare and
the environment.
Enjoy reading the article and think if you’re ready to eat lab-grown
meat.
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/11/17/health/fda-lab-meat-cells-scn-wellness/index.html
Dear MEL Topic Readers,
What is behind the big tech companies' job cuts?
Until recently, the US online tech industry had been in top gear to
hire and retain talented employees with lucrative pay, luring perks, and
flexible workstyle. But as inflation put the economy into trouble, consumers cut
their spending, and therefore, advertisers slashed their online ad budgets. Then
those tech giants which only had been looking at a bright future suddenly
realized that it wasn’t going to be the case. As their growth expectations faded
and quarter earnings fell, they realized that they had hired and retained more employees
than they could afford. Because of their investors’ pressure and intention,
those tech giants are in a race to slash their spending and cut jobs, like Twitter,
Amazon, and Meta only to name a few. This will hit hard for those who were
recently hired by those tech firms as they also had expected a bright future
and spent and loaned for housing and cars. Do those corporate executives only
know to press the accelerator or brake so hard to drive a car?
Read the article and learn about the recent job cuts in the US tech
industry.
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-63635821
Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Study shows 1 billion young people are at risk for hearing loss. This
is how to prevent it
One of the easiest and quickest ways to be isolated yourself from others
and indulge in yourself is to listen to music with earphones. And the louder
the sound is, the more enjoyable and exciting the music could be up to a certain
level. Nowadays, many young kids and adults listen to music with earphones from
their smartphones. No matter how loud the sound is, you won’t be told to turn
the volume down like a TV or stereo set, which makes you listen to music too loudly
to your ears. And if you listen too loud for too long, your hearing ability
will be permanently impaired. Such unhealthy listening practice does accelerate
age-related hearing loss even or cause tinnitus even from an early age. In fact,
a new study predicts over one billion people could lose their hearing ability
over time. Is watching TV on the couch healthier than listening to music with
earphones?
Enjoy reading the article and learn about the impact of loud music on
our hearing ability.
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/11/15/health/hearing-loss-headphones-study-wellness/index.html
Dear MEL Topic Readers,
3D printed guns: Warnings over growing threat of 3D firearms
3D printing or additive manufacturing is a process of making three-dimensional
solid objects from a digital file. The creation of a 3D-printed object is
achieved using an additive process, where an object is created by laying down
successive layers of material until the object is created. Each of these layers
can be seen as a thinly sliced cross-section of the object. 3D printing can produce
complex shapes using less material than traditional manufacturing methods. And
this technology has become as reliable and affordable as making firearms. Using
the software and designs that are found easily on the web, untraceable guns can
be produced in a garage or bedroom. At the moment, 80 to 90% of the parts can
be produced by a 3D printer, and some metal components need to be manufactured
in conventional ways, including ammunition. Though such 3D weapon is still
detected by ordinary security process, authorities and experts are concerned
about the production and use of such weapons by extremists and terrorists.
Enjoy reading the article about a technology that could produce a harmful
weapon for anyone.
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-63495123
