Topic Reading-Vol.5269-9/27/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

AI programs can interfere with key lessons of childhood. Here’s what parents can do

Anyone who has access to the Internet is now being answered, assisted, or taught by AI, including Google Gemini, ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, and Apple’s Siri. They make our work, studies, and lives much more efficient. Teenagers and school children also use them to help with their studies and video editing, maybe more naturally and fluently than adults. Then what about pre-schoolers? They are still developing key social, emotional, and physical skills before starting their social lives or education. As younger children start using smartphones, they unknowingly get answers and responses from AI. But before jumping to answers or conclusions, kids should learn by guessing, making mistakes, or arguing with adults. It is not just a matter of efficiency but a practice of reasoning and learning. How should parents guide young children to use AI properly?

Read the article and think about how young children should be taught to grow with AI.

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/09/21/health/kids-are-using-ai-wellness

Topic Reading-Vol.5268-9/26/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

Qantas is retiring its A380s. Is it time to say goodbye to the superjumbo?

In general, the larger the aircraft, the more space and comfort for passengers. Debuted in 2003 and last produced in 2021, the Airbus A380 is a fully double-decked, wide-body passenger aircraft. The four-engine superjumbo can carry as many as 500 to 800 passengers, depending on the seat configuration, for over 17 hours to cover a 14,000 km leg, such as Dubai to Auckland, New Zealand, and Dallas/Fort Worth to Sydney. The superjumbo offers a stabler, quieter, and spacier cabin, providing comfort for long-haul flights to passengers. Of the 171 planes still in service today, Emirates, UAE’s flag carrier, owns 116. Qantas, Australia’s flag carrier, operates 10 but has announced that it will start retiring them from 2028, four years earlier than the original schedule, and other airlines with small A380 fleets are also planning earlier retirements of the aircraft when they receive replacements, Boeing’s 777X and Airbus A350. Why? 

Read the article and learn why the superjumbo is going to be replaced by smaller aircraft.

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/09/13/travel/qantas-a380-superjumbo-retirement-goodby

Topic Reading-Vol.5267-9/25/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

Asia’s fruit wars: The secretive world of plant invention and seed smuggling

Japanese premium, branded fruits grown in open fields, such as grapes, peaches, and pears, are vulnerable to theft. They are stolen right before harvest when their market value peaks. It is devastating to farmers who have put in hard work and considerable expenses to grow the fruits. Another kind of fruit theft is seed smuggling and unauthorized overseas cultivation. Dozens of premium Japanese fruits, such as high-end grapes, strawberries, and citrus fruits, have had their seeds or saplings smuggled and cultivated unlawfully in other countries, such as China and South Korea, whose climates are similar and suitable for growing these premium fruits. What can Japanese farmers do to protect the business opportunities of their premium fruits? There is an intergovernmental organization that helps protect new plant varieties, but it is not an enforcement agency. So, even if a plant is legally registered, once its saplings are smuggled and cultivated overseas, it is difficult to track it down, stop the cultivation, and get compensated. Legal protection is the first step to prevent proprietary technologies from being copied illegally. But scale, efficiency, and economy of production and distribution are essential to stay competitive in the same product category. Premium fruits may not be excluded from competition.

Read the article and learn how highly-valued fruits are being invented and copied in East Asia.

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/09/19/asia/asia-fruit-smuggling-seed-espionage-intl-hnk

Topic Reading-Vol.5266-9/24/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

Why caffeine makes some people buzz - and others barely notice

Regular coffee, Nescafé, espresso, Starbucks latte, energy drink, Coke, black tea, green tea, and chocolate all contain some caffeine. It doesn’t give you extra energy itself but boosts alertness, helps you stay awake and focus, and improves your mood and reaction times. While some people can slumber shortly after drinking coffee, others have difficulty sleeping even hours after their last cup. Why so? Caffeine is a central nervous system stimulant that blocks sleep-promoting chemicals in the brain and triggers a wave of alert energy, but how long it stays in the body varies by person. Ancestry seems to affect it to some extent, and smokers and regular coffee drinkers are found to be less sensitive to caffeine. Other factors also affect caffeine tolerance, such as medicines, pregnancy, and DNA. Knowing how caffeine-tolerant you are and how much your favorite drinks or snacks contain caffeine is one thing. Controlling the timing and amount of caffeinated food/drink consumption is another thing to manage your caffeine and sleep balance.

Read the article and learn what caffeine is and does to your body and mind.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gkd4zw564o

Topic Reading-Vol.5265-9/23/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

The humans are rejecting the machines that were supposed to help them

Nowadays, most fast-food restaurants and coffee shops have touch kiosk screens or  QR codes to take orders and process payments. At many supermarkets and convenience stores, shoppers pick up merchandise, scan the items, put them in bags, and make payments all by themselves. Customers are rarely greeted or thanked by humans. Fast food and retail businesses have automated these processes to improve efficiency, believing that customers would be pleased by machines. However, these touch screens and QR codes don’t seem to have made these processes any faster or the shopping experience any better. Actually, customers have missed the chance to be greeted, supported, or appreciated by human staff, and businesses have realized that customer engagement is valuable to customers’ experience. Indeed, good employees are not just labor costs but a valuable resource and asset for businesses. Then will smiling humanoids provide better customer experiences than kiosks?

Read the article and think about what you expect and get when you shop at a fast-food restaurant or supermarket.

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/09/17/business/technology-retail-food-economy

Topic Reading-Vol.5264-9/22/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

To curb 'killer' machines in the age of AI

These days, voices calling for regulations on AI usage have increased. Public infrastructure disruptions, social service shutdowns, and business blackouts caused by AI attacks are all catastrophic to our modern lives. What about warfare and weapons? Modern warfare has been reshaped by the broader use of AI, operating unmanned vehicles like drones, identifying targets, analyzing intelligence, controlling weapons, and supporting decision-making. In warfare with AI, the time to verify information and exercise judgment is compressed, which could make commanders or operators misjudge or overreact to potential threats without verifying the underlying rationale or logic. Also, AI is vulnerable to changes in the situation, deepfakes, data poisoning, and network interruptions. For example, it could misjudge its own troops as enemies, or civilian vehicles as military ones. Such misjudgments are more critical when it comes to nuclear weapons. As AI evolution outpaces guidance and regulations, the risk of using AI in warfare increases. Furthermore, if AI-powered weapons are used in the wrong hands, like terrorists, the consequences could be disastrous.

Read the article and learn how disruptive the wrong use of AI in warfare could be.

https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202609/16/WS6aa9ecb3e4b06d4aa055e3e2.html

Topic Reading-Vol.5263-9/21/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

More than 100,000 people in Japan are now aged 100 or older

Each year on the third Monday of September, Japan commemorates Respect for the Aged Day to honor elderly citizens and celebrate longevity, and announces the number of people aged 100 or older. The first centenarian survey found there were  153 centenarians in 1963, and the figure increased to 1,000 in 1981 and 10,000 by 1998. This year, the fast-aging nation recorded over 100,000 people whose ages are 100 or older for the first time, up almost 8,000 from the previous year. About 88% of them are women, as their average life expectancy is over 88, ranking among the highest globally, while that of men is about 82. The country’s longevity is attributed to wholesome diets and a well-covered healthcare system. However, Japan’s population is aging and shrinking rapidly. Last year, only 671,000 babies were born, while 1,589,000 died, losing 918,000 people. With the total fertility rate below 1.2, the population will decline from the current 123 million to fewer than 100 million by 2050, nearly 40% of whom will be aged 65 or older. How many centenarians will there be then? Who will care for them then, their also-aged children, foreign care workers, or AI-empowered humanoids?

Read the article and learn about Japan’s century-old population.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmzezj5e18xxo