Topic Reading-Vol.5179-6/29/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

Satellite images show 10 places where water is disappearing globally

Caused primarily by human activities and climatic variations, desertification is the degradation of land in arid, semi-arid, and dry sub-humid areas. A drought is a prolonged period of unusually dry weather with very little or no rain over an extended period. Both slowly impact ecosystems, agriculture, and water supplies. To raise public awareness about desertification and drought and promote action to restore degraded land, the UN marked June 17 as the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought three decades ago. Over the period, however, the world has lost a significant amount of freshwater. The South Aral Sea in northwestern Uzbekistan and Lake Urmia in northwestern Iran have both shrunk by more than 90%, exposing the former lakebed. Lake Mead, the US’s largest reservoir on the Colorado River, has shown a dramatic decline due to prolonged drought, rising temperatures, and excess water usage. Also, lakes in Africa and South America, and South America’s second-longest river, have shown drastic shrinkage. As the world’s population increases and temperatures rise, more water is needed for drinking, farming, and industry. Will we then depend more on recycled or desalinated water instead of fresh water?

Read the article and learn how seriously desertification has shrunk the water supply and flow around the world.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/6/17/satellite-images-show-10-places-where-water-is-disappearing-globally

Topic Reading-Vol.5178-6/28/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

Why moving about is key for children's health - and happiness

Gone are the days when children rushed to go out to climb a tree, run and jump around, or play tag in their free time. Nowadays, instead, they play online games, watch videos, or scroll screens indoors whenever they find time, moving only their fingers and eyeballs. Once children get used to a sedentary life, they tend to be less physically active in their future and visit the doctor more often in adulthood. Also, studies find that physically active children show better mental health, educational achievements, and cognitive performance. What parents and carers can do to help children is encourage them to do more physical activity, not just by words but by playing sports, running, or walking together, or enrolling them in sports clubs or events. Schools can dedicate some time daily to have students do physical activity during recess or lunch break instead of leaving them with their smartphones. As smartphones have become intimate with children’s lives, moving bodies is essential for children’s health, wellbeing, and future.

Read the article and learn why children should exercise more.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20260522-to-get-children-to-move-more-we-need-to-intervene

Topic Reading-Vol.5177-6/27/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

Tricycle ambulances are saving lives in Ghana

In Ghana, there are only 356 ambulances for a population of 35 million, approximately one ambulance per 10,000 people. However, hundreds of thousands of people in rural areas do not have access to ambulance services. There, maternal mortality remains comparatively high, with 234 deaths per 100,000 live births, 14 times higher than in the US. Most of these deaths occur in rural areas, where access to hospitals is limited or none. Then a non-profit called Moving Health came up with a practical and economical vehicle for about-to-be mothers: a tricycle ambulance. It is powered by a motorcycle engine and equipped with a stretcher, a seat for a carer, basic life support, and emergency birthing kits. It costs only $7,000, much cheaper compared with a full-spec ambulance that usually costs at least $75,000. The organization has placed 31 tricycle ambulances in five districts so far, serving more than 230,000 people, who otherwise have no access to an ambulance. Tricycle ambulances can serve in rural areas as they are engineered to drive narrow, rough roads where four-wheel ambulances cannot. Just like three-wheel tuk-tuks are transporting many passengers in Asia, tricycle ambulances may become popular emergency vehicles in Africa.

Read the article and learn about a three-wheel solution to maternal mortality in Ghana.

https://edition.cnn.com/world/africa/moving-health-ambulance-tricycle-ghana-spc

Topic Reading-Vol.5176-6/26/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

Instant noodles have a bad reputation — but the world still can’t get enough of them

Invented by a Japanese businessman in 1958 to fill hungry stomachs, instant noodles are precooked and dehydrated noodles that are quickly prepared just by adding hot water. Because of their palatability, convenience, long shelf life, and affordability, today about 120 billion servings are consumed worldwide. China consumes the most, with more than 40 billion servings annually, followed by Indonesia’s 15 billion and India’s 8 billion. On a per-person basis, Vietnamese and South Koreans eat the most, about 80 servings per year. Because instant noodles are affordable and satisfying for the tongue and stomach because of their alluring combination of salt, sugar, fat, and carbs, they make eaters addicted. They are also ultra-processed foods, such as snacks, sweets, and frozen ready-to-eat meals. Even though instant noodles are comfort food and readily available anywhere around the world, you want to avoid consuming such highly processed food too often for your health.

Read the article and learn about what instant noodles are and how they were invented.

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/instant-noodles-unhealthy-beloved-global-market-intl-hnk

Topic Reading-Vol.5175-6/25/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

AI is sparking a jobs boom — just not for newbies

As AI takes more human roles, thousands of jobs, such as repetitive, structured, predictable tasks, such as data entry, telemarketing, customer service, coding, and administrative positions, have been eliminated in the US. Accordingly, there are significantly fewer job openings for these entry-level jobs, which are suitable for new graduates to start their careers. As of March, over 5% of recent college graduates were unemployed, while the overall unemployment rate stood at 4.2%. Upskilling is one way for job seekers to qualify for remaining job opportunities, but AI is also upgrading while they are learning new skills. As for US employers, instead of growing talent through jobs, they are looking for senior-level talent who can manage AI and teams around the fast-moving world, and they are competing to hire people from the same small pool of talent. But this eliminates not only young people’s job opportunities but also their chance to bloom in the future. What seems essential for businesses might not be just replacing jobs with AI but improving and growing with AI.

Read the article and learn how AI is affecting the US job market.

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/06/11/business/ai-jobs-work

Topic Reading-Vol.5174-6/24/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

Costs, careers and choice: Why Indians are having fewer children

The total fertility rate (TFR) is the average number of children a woman would have over her lifetime. Though it had been declining gradually over decades, India’s TFR was still above 3.0 births per woman in the 2000s. Recently, however, it has fallen below 2.1, the replacement level to keep the population stable. Even though the figure remains higher than in other developed countries, the downward trend of the fertility rate reflects fundamental changes in India’s society. The drop in TFR in developed communities such as Delhi and Bengaluru, and Southern states with good health and education systems like Kerala, is as significant as in another populous country, China. In the meantime, in poorer states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, with lower education levels and higher infant mortality rates, fertility rates are twice as high as those in high-income states. Better education, career development, lower child mortality rates, changes in family values, along with inflation, seem to have led India’s women to choose to have fewer or no children. The world’s most populous country is now facing the same problem as other developed countries. 

Read the article and learn about the changes and factors behind the falling fertility rate in India.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/6/14/costs-careers-and-choice-why-indians-are-having-fewer-children

Topic Reading-Vol.5173-6/23/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

Morocco’s answer to drought is in the ocean. Could more of Africa follow its lead?

The world is now using more water than nature provides by rain and snow, and as a result, rivers and lakes are shrinking, wetlands are drying up, and aquifers are declining. Morocco spans from the Atlantic Ocean to mountainous areas and the Sahara Desert. As drought occurs more frequently and for longer, the country can no longer rely on rainfall and dam inflows. So, the country with a population of 37 million launched a project to provide fresh water from the Atlantic to coastal cities while using dam water and rainfall for inland areas. The project includes building desalination plants, dams, wastewater reuse, and water pipelines. The energy-intensive desalination plants are powered by eco-friendly wind and solar power. Economically, desalinated water will boost agricultural outputs and secure farming jobs, which account for a third of the nation’s workforce. However, they also produce high-salt-concentration brine with chemical residues, which could damage marine ecosystems when discharged back into the ocean. Currently, over 20,000 desalination plants are in operation around the world, most of which are fossil-fuel-powered and in the Middle East. Morocco wants its water project to be shared by other water-stricken African countries.

Read the article and learn about how Morocco is managing the water crisis.

https://edition.cnn.com/world/morocco-desalination-ocean-africa-spc