Topic Reading-Vol.5229-8/18/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

World's oceans hit record-high July temperatures

Oceans regulate the climate, absorb excess heat, and produce half of the planet’s oxygen. Ocean warming expands seawater and causes sea level rise, marine heatwaves that affect ocean biodiversity, and evaporates more heat and moisture into the air, which intensifies tropical storms. El Niño is an unusual warming of ocean surface waters in the tropical Pacific. Combined with global warming, it can cause temperature spikes and more extreme weather conditions, including heatwaves and drought. This year, the effects of El Niño are seen in many places. Western Europe experienced the hottest June-July period, about 2.8 degrees Celsius above average, and the US recorded the hottest-ever July. Record-high temperatures and heatwaves cause rapid evaporation, sucking moisture from soils, plants, and reservoirs, and severe droughts across Europe and the western US, triggering intense and widespread wildfires in Spain, France, and Canada. Global warming fuels El Niño, and El Niño intensifies extreme weather conditions. How hot and dry is this August going to be?

Read the article and learn why and how hot this summer is in the Northern Hemisphere.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpvw8vmmgrwo

Topic Reading-Vol.5228-8/17/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

‘I’ve never been counted’: DR Congo’s first census in 42 years

A former colony of Belgium, the Democratic Republic of Congo became independent in 1960 as the Republic of Congo. The country was named Zaire between 1971 and 1997, but reverted to the former name. The UN estimates DR Congo’s population increased from around 50 million in 2000 to around 100 million in 2021, and now about 116 million, the second most populous in Africa after Nigeria. With a population of around 15 million, Kinshasa, the capital, is the largest city, and the second-largest has fewer than 3 million people. There are more than 250 ethnic groups without any dominant ethnic group, speaking their native languages, though French, the former colonial language, is most widely spoken. But these population and demographic figures are estimated without a census in the last four decades. Now, the government has just rolled out a nationwide census after identifying and geolocating inhabited places. By figuring out who and how many people live where, the government hopes to allocate its resources to build and run schools, hospitals, roads, water systems, and electricity projects. Citizens will then be registered and given ID cards, which make them feel officially recognized by their country.

Read and learn what a census could mean to DR Congo and its people.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/8/8/ive-never-been-counted-dr-congos-first-census-in-42-years

Topic Reading-Vol.5227-8/16/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

AI is booming on the West Coast. So why is unemployment so high there?

Washington, Oregon, and California make up the U.S. West Coast. They are known for their beautiful coastline, evergreen forests, and tech industries. Apple, Alphabet (Google), META, and NVIDIA are all headquartered in California’s Bay Area. Intel has its largest operation in Oregon. Microsoft and Amazon are the two largest employers in Washington. While they are heavily investing in AI and data centers, they aren’t hiring as many tech workers as they used to. Instead, many of these tech companies have been laying off thousands of employees in the name of efficiency, resource reallocation, and AI. AI-exposed jobs, such as data analysis, coding, and customer service, have been slashed the most. Job openings are rarely available for entry-level or experienced workers, even for advanced-degree holders. In the meantime, huge investments are being made into AI and data centers, and those who build, facilitate, and provide services for data centers are busy keeping up with demand. Who will benefit from AI the most, workers, management, investors, or vendors?

Read the article and learn how tech workers are affected by AI in the US.

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/08/08/business/jobs-california-ai-unemployment

Topic Reading-Vol.5226-8/15/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

Great Apes kiss and cuddle to keep the peace, says study

Our close relatives, chimpanzees and bonobos, are both known for their aggressiveness. They compete for food, partners, and position within their group, and fight outsiders to protect their group and territory. In the meantime, they often touch, embrace, and kiss each other to show affection and friendliness as humans do. Interestingly, they also seem to use social touch to manage tension, competition, and cooperation. A recent observation of chimps and bonobos in African sanctuaries found that before they were given scheduled food, they engaged in close contact with each other. Researchers assume that they touched and hugged each other to mitigate the tension of food competition. A peaceful act before a stressful event. Indeed, social touch was part of communication exchanged before languages were developed. Even today, we often shake hands, hug, or kiss each other socially before meetings and events.

Read the article and learn how physical contact helps social bonds.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y045vprg5o

Topic Reading-Vol.5225-8/14/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Half of vaccines are binned - 'fridge-free' versions could change that

A vaccine is a medical treatment that helps our body's immune system recognize and fight disease. Vaccines are effective against many serious, life-threatening viral and bacterial diseases, including measles, chickenpox, rotavirus, polio, rabies, influenza, and COVID-19. To ensure their efficacy and safety, most vaccines require strict temperature control called “cold chain” from the moment they are shipped until the time they are injected into a recipient’s arm. Keeping vaccines at a certain temperature is quite difficult, especially in poor, remote, or conflict areas.WHO estimates failures in this cold chain requirement are a major factor in half of all vaccines being wasted or disposed of globally. Recently, scientists in the UK trialled a fridge-free version of the tetanus-diphtheria vaccine successfully. They kept it as a dry powder at room temperature for a year, mixed it with water, and injected it into volunteers’ arms. The dry-powdered version of the vaccine gave equivalent immune responses to the refrigerated vaccine. Since many other vaccines can be stored in the same way, this new approach might substantially reduce vaccine waste, allowing more people to receive injections while reducing transportation and storage costs.

Read the article and learn about this breakthrough approach for vaccine storage.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce85qe8j0nzo

Topic Reading-Vol.5224-8/13/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers,　

What jet lag does to your body - and how to cope

If you fly eastbound or westbound crossing a few or more time zones, you’ll feel jet lag to some extent for a few days. Many claim jet lag is more severe when traveling eastbound because they have to go to bed and get up earlier than their body clocks. Some people feel fatigue, experience brain fog, or spend sleepless nights, while others suffer from digestive difficulties or irregular appetite. Also, some are affected more severely than others, depending on genetic makeup, regular medications, and lifestyle. Jet lag occurs when our body’s biological clock is disrupted. Our body clock runs on a 24.1-to-24.2-hour cycle, and it is adjusted by light entering our eyes each day. So, when the Sun starts shining hours earlier or later, our body functions need to be adjusted. Also affected in a different time zone is melatonin, a natural hormone that tells the body when to rest and lower body functions. Although jet lag is almost inevitable, you can mitigate symptoms by adjusting your watch in advance and eating and sleeping accordingly, or taking a melatonin supplement. Does frequent jet lag trigger or cause long-term health problems for those who frequently fly across time zones, like airline crew?

Read the article and learn how jet lag affects our body clock and health.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20260731-what-jet-lag-does-to-your-body-and-how-to-cope

Topic Reading-Vol.5223-8/12/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

AI is giving hackers an edge. Here’s how to protect yourself from online scams

Either malicious or accidental, AI agents can access others’ data and devices faster and more easily. Deepfaked participants may be attending Teams and Zoom meetings like your colleagues or guests. AI-trained familiar voices may be asking you to donate or transmit money to an account that looks authentic. Nowadays, voice cloning can create an 85% voice match just with a few seconds of audio sample. AI can also detect patterns from leaked or stored passwords more easily and use the information to predict personalized passwords. Tricking people with fake messages or verifications is another threat caused by AI. It creates authentic-looking prompts and images to convince users to download malicious apps or change security settings. As we become more vulnerable to AI attacks, what should we do to protect our assets?

Read the article and learn the tips to protect us from AI hackers.

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/08/04/tech/ai-online-scams-protection