Topic Reading-Vol.4819-7/4/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

South Korea banned dog meat. So what happens to the dogs?

Dog meat is consumed in several countries, including Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia, China, and South Korea. However, it has become less common in South Korea. According to a 2020 survey, over 80% of South Koreans had never eaten dog meat, and a government poll in 2024 found only 8% of respondents had eaten dog meat in the prior 12 months. So, in January 2024, the South Korean government passed a law banning the sale and production of dog meat, which will become effective in 2027 after a three-year grace period. If dog breeders stopped producing dogs for meat immediately, the number of dogs for meat would have gradually decreased, and would be zero when the trade is prohibited. However, most dog farmers have to make their living with dogs and cling to the business until the very end. According to government estimates, there are still nearly half a million dogs in dog farms. Since most of them are medium to large breeds, it is difficult to find their foster families in South Korea, where housing prices have soared in recent years. Also, rescue shelters are already overcrowded. Some are exported to other countries like Canada or the US, where larger dogs are popular as pets. But unless their homes are found, many of those dogs might be euthanized, instead of being eaten. Only 18 months left before the grace period ends.

Read the article and learn about the challenges to phase out an established business and practice.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c20r7lkel68o

Topic Reading-Vol.4818-7/3/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

The Eiffel Tower is closed to tourists due to searing heat. Here’s why it’s happening

Heat waves have become more frequent, intense, and longer because of climate change caused by humans, and Europe is warming faster than any other continent. In Spain, the average temperature in June surpassed the normal average for July and August. The UK, where fewer than 5% of homes are equipped with air conditioning, recorded its second warmest June since records began in 1884. At the Wimbledon tennis tournament, the players had to not only cope with their opponents but also struggle with the heat on the court. In Portugal, 46.6 degrees Celsius was recorded, the record-high temperature for June. In France, the Eiffel Tower summit was closed to tourists on June 30 and July 1 due to due to the searing heat. Also, the heat wave caused wildfires in Turkey, forcing 50,000 people to evacuate. The high water temperatures in the Mediterranean Sea and hot air flowing north from Africa are causing humidity and high temperatures across Europe. Sounds like a mid-summer phenomenon, but it occurred in June. How hot will this summer be?

Read the article and learn about Europe’s pre-summer heat.

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/07/01/weather/europe-heat-wave-global-warming

Topic Reading-Vol.4817-7/2/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

What does hot weather do to the body?

It’s summer in the northern hemisphere. Summer is becoming longer and more severe with higher temperatures and heat waves of over 40 °C. Can our bodies withstand such heat? Our bodies function best at a core temperature of about 37 °C. When the outside temperature rises, our bodies try to regulate body temperature by opening up blood vessels, which leads to lower blood pressure and makes the heart work harder to pump blood throughout the body. Also, as we sweat, our bodies lose fluids and salt disproportionally, so that their balance changes. As a result, we may feel dizziness, nausea, fainting, muscle cramps, and or headaches, typical symptoms of heat exhaustion. If you feel any of such symptoms in the heat, you should cool your body and skin, lie down, drink a lot of water or rehydration drinks. But if someone doesn’t recover from heat exhaustion within half an hour, feels confused or nauseous, vomits, stops sweating, experiences a high temperature over 40°C, or loses consciousness, the person is likely suffering from heatstroke and needs medical emergency. Since the climate is changing faster than how much our bodies can adapt, we need to adapt our lifestyles and activities to the heat.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy7n6m7y6yvo

Topic Reading-Vol.4816-7/1/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Is an apple a day really good for your health?

"An apple a day keeps the doctor away" is a well-known English proverb, but is it true? Like any other fruit, apples are a good source of vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Also, apples are rich in polyphenols, which are beneficial plant compounds with antioxidant properties. However, the apple is not the only fruit that has such health and nutritional benefits. What makes apples so beneficial to our health is that they are so widely available, mostly affordable, and have a long shelf life. Unlike bananas or papayas, apples are grown in many regions worldwide. Because of their availability, apples are economically and environmentally friendly. Also, apples can be stored longer than other seasonal fruits like strawberries or oranges. Indeed, apples are nearly everyone’s fruit almost throughout the year. But do apples really keep the doctor or pharmacists away?

Read the article and learn what apples may do to your health.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250620-is-an-apple-a-day-really-good-for-your-health

Topic Reading-Vol.4815-6/30/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

24 of the world’s best salads

A salad is a dish typically consisting of a mixture of ingredients, most commonly vegetables, and often with fruits, nuts, cheese, seafood, or meat. It is usually served at room temperature or sometimes warmed, and is dressed or mixed with salad dressing or oil. Salad can be eaten as an appetizer, intermezzo, side dish, or main dish. Just like soup, rice dishes, or noodles, there are so many varieties of salad dishes around the world, each representing local or regional food culture and produce. How often do you eat salad? Here are some popular salad dishes that you may want to try for your next meal or trip.

Read the article and see the images of 24 popular salad dishes from around the world.

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/worlds-best-salads

Topic Reading-Vol.4814-6/29/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

'Eldest daughter syndrome' to the rebellious youngest sibling: Does your birth order shape your personality? 

In most developed countries or established societies, the number of family members is shrinking to as few as three or even two. Declining birthrate, unmarried couples, housing costs, inflation, working mothers, and higher education costs, to name a few reasons why parents are contributing to fewer or no children. Do only children have distinctively different personality traits, like selfishness or narcissism, from children with siblings? Also, it is often said that the firstborns are more responsible and caring because they often look after younger siblings. But are there any significant characteristics, behavioral, or intellectual gaps between earlier-borns and later-borns? In fact, the only child or the first-born child tends to have more time to communicate with and learn from their parents, while later-born children often spend more time with their elder siblings. In the meantime, later-borns often have a better chance of growing up in a better financial situation. Another aspect to be taken into consideration is that young siblings are often compared at the same time, which means they are of different ages. For example, if you compare a teenager, the most sensitive age group, with a six or eight-year-old child, the happiest and carefree age, they certainly exhibit very distinct characteristics. Indeed, there seem to be so many aspects to compare siblings.

Read the article and think whether the birth order really matters to the personality or ability of siblings.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250619-does-birth-order-shape-your-personality

Topic Reading-Vol.4813-6/28/2025

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

The women at the centre of Somalia's construction boom

Located on the Horn of Africa, Somalia is the easternmost country in Africa, facing the Gulf of Aden to the north and the Indian Ocean to the east. Former Italian and British territories united and formed the independent Somali Republic in 1960. However,  the nation had been under domestic conflicts and also suffered a US-backed Ethiopian invasion until 2012, when the Federal Government of Somalia was established. Somalia, with a population of around 18 million, is among the least developed countries in the world, with a large portion of the population living by subsistence farming. In the meantime, in Mogadishu, the capital city, the post-conflict reconstruction has led to a construction and housing boom, and thousands of new buildings have been constructed since 2020. Unfortunately, since this construction boom occurred before building regulations were put into force, there are mounting concerns about the safety of the buildings. Also, the city’s infrastructure, including water and sewage systems, has not caught up with the booming construction. In addition, there is a severe shortage of workforce, particularly construction engineers. Surprisingly for an Islamic society, two young female engineers are now overseeing construction work in a traditionally male-dominated workplace, putting hard hats on their hijabs. Rapid urban development in a least developed country gave young Muslim women the chance to work in a male-dominated construction workplace.

Read the article and learn what is happening in the capital city of Somalia.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj427dy11j0o