Topic Reading-Vol.5261-9/19/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

What are the five pros and cons of artificial intelligence?

AI is so helpful and convenient. If you ask a question, AI searches for relevant information and finds you the answer right away. If you assign a task, AI generates a document, chart, or summary in a matter of seconds. It boosts productivity and helps complete tasks faster and more easily. In the meantime, workers’ roles change, and new skills are required to work with AI. In the world with AI, young graduates are facing difficulty getting entry-level jobs, and existing workers are required to keep upskilling. Also, generative AI can create fake text, voices, images, and videos to deceive people or security systems. As recently reported, AI can hack other systems and steal or destroy information or operations. Environmentally, AI is very costly. It requires a large amount of electricity to run and water to cool the servers. AI data centers also create noise pollution as they emit a constant hum 24/7/365. AI is reshaping workplaces, our lives, and the environment, and just like smartphones, we cannot live without it anymore.

Read the article and learn what AI does to and for humans.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/13/what-are-the-five-pros-and-cons-of-artificial-intelligence

Topic Reading-Vol.5260-9/18/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Karaoke for one: China’s $1 trillion ‘loneliness economy’ gives a glimpse of the world’s future

Singlehood has been treated as a bridge stage between independence and marriage for young people. However, more people are now choosing to live by themselves longer and enjoy lonely lifestyles. Thanks to smartphones, they can spend time on video games, video clips, micro dramas, and SNSs as long as they want and never feel lonely. If they feel like talking or chatting with someone, AI companions are there 24/7. And businesses are becoming more accommodating to singledom, especially in Japan, South Korea, and China. Individual food packages at convenience stores and even supermarkets, smaller dishes and hotpot for solo diners at restaurants, and phone-box-sized karaoke booths for lone singers, to name a few. The so-called “solo economy” is attracting businesses because singles tend to have bigger wallets for themselves. Also, since the populations are fast shrinking and more people choose not to form families in these countries, single-person households have become an important market for businesses.

Read the article and learn about the increasing economy in Eastern Asia.

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/09/12/business/asia-loneliness-economy-intl-hnk-dst

Topic Reading-Vol.5259-9/17/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

Drinking very hot beverages could triple cancer risk, large study finds

The esophagus is a muscular tube that carries food and liquid from your throat to your stomach. Like any other internal organ, this 25-centimeter-long food and beverage pipe isn’t cancer-free. In the UK, esophageal cancer makes up about 2% of cancer cases. Smoking, alcohol consumption, and indoor air pollution are known causes of this cancer, but a recent large-scale study in the UK added another risk factor, hot beverages. The risk of developing esophageal cancer increases when the beverage temperature is higher. It was found that those who regularly drink hot beverages have twice the cancer risk, and those who prefer very hot drinks, like 65 degrees or higher, have triple the risk. You may not have to check the drink’s temperature or stop sipping hot drinks altogether, but you can easily cool it down while checking and texting a few messages to reduce the cancer risk.

Read the article and learn what a very hot beverage could do to your esophagus.

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/09/10/health/hot-beverages-cancer-study-scli-intl

Topic Reading-Vol.5258-9/16/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

Faster homework, poor exam results: What AI is doing to students’ learning

New York City, the US’s largest school district, is banning the use of generative artificial intelligence for public school students from 2K through 8th grade to protect students’ critical thinking abilities as well as the relationships between students and teachers. But students can still use AI to do their assignments or study at home. How do they use AI, and how does AI help them learn? According to a study that tracked 27,000 junior and senior high school students in China, 56% used AI to get information, 45% had AI explain terms and concepts, and 31% used it to get complete solutions to tasks. Also, students improved their homework scores with AI while spending 30% less time on it. However, their monthly exam scores fell by 20% within six months. AI certainly helps students get their studies done faster and even better, but it doesn’t seem to help them learn much better. Does banning or restricting the use of interactive technology for youth, like SNS, help students learn any better? It may be time for teachers and educators to calibrate or develop tasks and assignments that are suitable for the AI era.

Read the article and learn how AI is affecting students’ learning.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/2/faster-homework-poor-exam-results-what-ai-is-doing-to-students-learning

Topic Reading-Vol.5257-9/15/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

Mount Fuji pics, life-changing ramen and a weak yen - why young Brits are going to Japan

Last year, nearly half a million tourists from Britain visited Japan, up 25% on the previous year and a 40% increase from 2019, the pre-pandemic peak. It’s a long way to fly, about 9,600 kilometers, and lasting over 13 hours for a non-stop flight and around 16 to 19 hours for a one-stop flight through China, a more economical choice. But once you get to Japan, travelers can enjoy completely different nature, cityscapes, buildings, foods, and cultures from Europe. First-timers often follow the Golden Route, consisting of Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, and nearby Nara and Hiroshima. But nowadays, young people in particular are tempted by the places, things, and foods that are shown on TikTok or Instagram, such as Mt Fuji photo spots or Ramen noodles. Japan is also budget-friendly for young Brits. Thanks to the well-established public transport, visitors can travel around the country quite easily, inexpensively, and safely. Also, you do not have to pay high admission fees to visit World Heritage sites like Shiretoko. And thanks to the weak yen and long-term deflation, traveling around Japan is quite affordable, including transport, food, and accommodation, compared with European or North American destinations. And the British were among the record 43 million foreign visitors to Japan last year. 

Read the article and learn why more British people are visiting Japan.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c7704l1ypjgo

Topic Reading-Vol.5256-9/14/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

How one of the 'most powerful hacks' to control stress actually works

We feel nervous or stressed from time to time, like before a job interview or big presentation, or when a loved one is in trouble or danger. One technique to ease such mental stress is box breathing, a deep-breathing method that can help calm and regulate your autonomic nervous system, including blood pressure, sense of calm, and stress. Box breathing consists of four equal-period steps: inhale slowly through your nose to a slow count of four, hold the breath and count four, breathe out slowly through your mouth for a count of four, and hold your lungs empty for another four count. Then restart the cycle as many times as you want. This practice trains you to get used to various levels of carbon dioxide in the blood and brain, and helps you to improve your stress resilience. It takes only about 16 seconds to practice one box breathing cycle, and you can do it almost anytime, anywhere, and as many times as you want. If you still wonder if it works for you, try counting to four while inhaling through your nose.

Read the article and learn about the four-step, four-count box breathing.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y5jqly153o#google_vignette

Topic Reading-Vol.5255-9/13/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

They bought a house in LA. The neighbours are bears - and they won't stay out of the pool

Of the estimated 60,000 black bears living in California, around 1,600 live in Los Angeles County. Monrovia is a suburban city in LA, located in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, about 30 kilometers from downtown LA. Soon after a pair bought a house there and moved in, they were visited by uninvited guests, black bears. The wild animals visit the couple’s house not just occasionally but several times a week, regularly. On warm days, a mother bear, named Maddie, and her cubs enjoy bathing in the swimming pool. Another bear, they call Nappy, loves taking long siestas while floating in the pool. The couple allows them to spend time on their property by keeping a healthy distance from the furry wild animals and staying inside the house during their visit. Also, they never leave trash cans or any food outdoors. Indeed. Even though black bear attacks are very rare in California, they are wild animals and could pose a risk to public safety. In the meantime, black bears are the indigenous residents in the mountains, and humans entered and developed the foothills to inhabit them.

Read the article and see the images of black bears enjoying themselves in a human’s swimming pool.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20260828-the-bears-cooling-off-in-a-california-swimming-pool