Topic Reading-Vol.4693-2/28/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

A samba queen's guide to Rio de Janeiro

Founded in 1565 by the Portuguese, Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the Southern Hemisphere for its natural settings, carnival, bossa nova, and beautiful beaches like Copacabana. Among all these attractive features, what makes Rio popular the most is samba, a lively and rhythmic Brazilian music and dance style with deep African and Portuguese influences, and the annual Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, the biggest carnival celebration in the world. It features extravagant parades, lively street parties (blocos), and samba music, drawing millions of people from around the world. The highlight is the Samba Parade, where top samba schools compete at the Sambadrome, showcasing dazzling costumes, massive floats, and energetic performances. Also, there are over 70 official samba circles across the city that promote a number of events during the year that connect them with the local community. 

This year’s festival is held from February 28 to March 8. 

Read the article and learn about the samba and the carnival in Rio de Janeiro. 

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20250221-a-samba-queens-guide-to-rio-de-janeiro

Topic Reading-Vol.4692-2/27/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

Your kitchen sponge teems with bacteria – should you use a brush instead?

Most of us use kitchen sponges to wash and clean dishes, cutting boards, and kitchen utensils. But are those sponges clean? Actually, sponges have holes and pockets where harmful bacteria or fungi can settle and grow. Even though not all bacteria are harmful to our health, some of them could cause diseases, such as salmonella and e-coli. How can we reduce or eliminate such pathogenic bacteria from kitchen sponges? Heating a sponge in a microwave, rinsing it with hot, soapy water, spraying disinfectant, or putting it in a dishwasher surely kills the vast majority of the pathogens but not all. Another way is to use a kitchen brush instead, which doesn’t harbor as many bacteria as a sponge does. Whichever the method might be, you want to clean the sponge or brush, the knife, and the cutting board thoroughly, especially after they’ve touched raw meat or seafood. 

Read the article and learn how to reduce pathogenic bacteria from your kitchen sponge. 

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250218-when-should-you-throw-away-your-kitchen-sponge

Topic Reading-Vol.4691-2/26/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

Northern hairy-nosed wombat: Back from the brink

The northern hairy-nosed wombat is one of three surviving species of Australian marsupials known as wombats. It is one of the rarest land mammals in the world and is critically endangered. The wombats weigh about 32 kilograms and grow up to one meter long. They eat mainly grass, dig extensive burrow systems with their rodent-like front teeth and powerful claws, and spend most of their time there alone. When their natural habitats were converted to farmland, their population started to decline, and by the 1980s, their population had reduced to no more than 35 individuals. Since northern hairy-nosed wombats do not eat anything that is provided in a captive environment, the only way to save this critically endangered species is to conserve their natural living environment. After fences were erected to protect their habitat, the population began to increase to 113 individuals including only 30 breeding females in 2003, 230 individuals in 2015, over 300 by 2021, and more than 400 by 2024. But because of their fragile nature, continuous conservation efforts are needed for the survival of this endangered species in the natural environment.

Read the article and learn about Australia’s well-conserved endangered species.

https://edition.cnn.com/science/gallery/northern-hairy-nosed-wombat-photos-c2e/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.4690-2/25/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

This alien-like field of mirrors in the desert was once the future of solar energy. It’s closing after just 11 years

The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System is a concentrated solar thermal plant located in the Mojave Desert, near the California–Nevada border. It uses 173,500 heliostats, mirrors that track the sun, to focus sunlight onto the three 140-meter-tall towers that generate steam to power turbines and produce electricity. When conceived in 2014, the concentrating solar power system was thought to be a potential breakthrough in renewable energy generation. But it was technically too challenging to control that many mirrors to track the sun, concentrate its rays onto the three towers, and turn the water to steam to drive turbines all in a synchronized way. Also, innovations reduced the cost of solar panels drastically in the last decade, which has made Ivanpah uncompetitive. Now, the much-disputed project is going to be closed next year, having wasted a $1.6 billion loan guarantee by the federal government. Then what will the 1,400 ha land be like when the plant is closed? Will it be reclaimed somehow or just abandoned? At least, no more birds will be burned or incinerated when they fly between the panels and the towers.

Read the article and learn about this futuristic solar power plant in the California desert.

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/02/13/climate/ivanpah-desert-solar-closing/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.4689-2/24/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

How much coffee is too much, according to a doctor

Coffee is rich in caffeine, and many people drink coffee to start the day. That’s because caffeine is a natural stimulant that can help you feel more awake and less tired, improve focus and cognition, and help treat headaches when taken with pain relievers. Then how much coffee is beneficial or harmless to your physical and mental health? According to the US Food and Drug Administration, about three to four short-size or two tall-size Starbucks coffees a day are not too much for adults. Also, coffee contains antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that have effects on reducing cancer risk and cardiovascular diseases and helping process cholesterol. However, caffeine is also contained in other beverages like energy drinks, cola, and tea. To enjoy the benefits of coffee and avoid restlessness and sleeping difficulty, try counting how many regular servings of caffeinated drinks you’ve had a day and avoid taking any before going to bed.

Read the article and learn about how to enjoy the benefits of coffee.

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/02/13/health/caffeine-longevity-heart-wellness/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.4688-2/23/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

Are noise-cancelling headphones to blame for young people's hearing problems?

Noise-canceling headphones suppress unwanted ambient sounds by using active noise control. They use a built-in microphone to analyze the ambient sound waves around the listener and then generate the opposite sound waves to reduce surrounding sound. They could help prevent hearing loss by eliminating the need to increase the volume to listen to music in the first place. Also, noise-canceling devices help protect the ears from high-frequency and loud noise such as in construction sites or factories. However, activating such noise-canceling sound waves is like creating a false environment, and extensive use of such a device could delay the development of high-level listening skills in the brain, especially in the late teens. Indeed, your ears hear the sounds and noises around you, your brain judges which ones are essential to you, and then you pay attention or listen to them. As more people use noise-canceling headphones while watching videos with subtitles, the number of people who experience auditory processing disorder, a neurological condition where the brain has difficulty distinguishing sounds and spoken words seems to be increasing. 

Read the article and learn what noise-canceling devices could do to your brain health.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgkjvr7x5x6o

Topic Reading-Vol.4687-2/22/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

World's sea-ice falls to record low

Ice does cool the water around it when it melts. But sea ice around the north and south poles does more to the planet. It reflects substantial Sun’s energy back into space and keeps the planet cooler. When the ice layer shrinks, the ocean below the ice absorbs more heat and warms the planet further. Unfortunately, as polar regions are warming faster than the global average, the amount of polar sea ice is declining steadily. In fact, it is found that the natural cooling effect of polar sea ice has declined by about 14% since the 1980s. The thinner the ice cover is, the stronger the impact weather events could cause, resulting in more sea ice melting. Then sea levels rise further and extreme weather events occur more frequently. And of course, the lives of polar bears and penguins are threatened. It seems like the door of the freezer has opened and the ice inside has started melting.

Read the article and learn the impact of sea ice melting in the polar regions. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgeydkz08go