Topic Reading-Vol.5114-4/25/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

China is winning one AI race, the US another - but either might pull ahead

During the Cold War, the US and the Soviet Union competed in space technologies and nuclear armament. Now, the US and China are in a nose-to-nose AI race. Which has advantages over the other, and which is winning?

The US has the world’s leading AI brains, such as chatbots and large language models (LLMs), which learn, recognize, interpret human language and data, and then generate text outputs. It also dominates microchips that run AI and LLMs produced by Nvidia, a premier microchip provider, whose chips are manufactured mainly by a Taiwanese chip giant, TSMC. Speaking of generative AI, only two years after ChatGPT debuted, a highly competitive AI-powered chatbot, DeepSeek, was launched by a Chinese AI startup. Since Chinese IT developers often publish their code online (open source approach), they are quick to catch up and advance. Another advantage China has is the world’s largest manufacturing industry. It dominates the world’s EVs, drones, and robots markets, all of which are powered by AI. In particular, China excels in humanoid robots, which are expected to fill the labor shortages, particularly in care work, in the fast-aging country. As the AI race is shifting to agentic AI, which autonomously makes decisions and takes actions to achieve the goal, either country has the chance to lead in the ongoing high-tech race.

Read the article and learn about the AI race competed by the US and China.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c145enxln0go

Topic Reading-Vol.5113-4/24/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

It’s time for students to start committing to colleges. The age of AI is making it complicated

For most U.S. colleges and universities, first-year applicants are required to decide where to enroll and submit a deposit to secure their spot by May 1, a day called College Decision Day. This is often the first decision students make for their future. Then by the end of the sophomore year, college students should be finishing with their general education requirements and are expected to decide on their major for their future career courses or expertise. Business, Health, and Social Sciences are the most popular majors, while Engineering and Computer and Information Sciences bring higher income than others in general. However, as AI is redrawring the landscape of business and career opportunities, students, and their parents, too,  are now rethinking which college to study at or what major to take. Also, since college tuition and fees have risen significantly in the last few years, the return on a four-year college education is now under serious scrutiny. Does a bachelor’s degree ensure higher lifetime earnings and employment endurance compared with two-year degrees, vocational training, or military service? Do blue-collar jobs earn more than desk jobs?

Read the article and learn why College Decision Day is becoming more significant to students and their parents in the USA.

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/04/18/business/ai-college-debt-parents

Topic Reading-Vol.5112-4/23/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

Afghan villagers turn to gold-panning to sustain livelihoods

Gold is a precious metal, and has been valued for thousands of years as currency, jewelry, and investment because of its beauty, durability, and rarity. Also, gold is used in electronics, such as smartphones and computers, for its conductivity. Even though the price of gold fluctuates due to inflation, currency exchange rates, and geopolitics, it is considered a safe-haven asset because it has a limited supply and stock. In fact, over the last decade, the price of gold has fluctuated significantly, ranging from as low as $36 up to as high as $176 per gram. Most of the gold production comes from gold mines, and some from recycling jewelry and electronics. The simplest, though most laborious, way to extract gold is panning from a placer deposit using a pan, as American miners did during gold rushes in the mid-19th century in California. As job opportunities are scarce, wages are low, opium poppy farming is strictly banned under the Taliban rule, more Afghan men are now working on gold-panning along the Kunar riverbed in northeastern Afghanistan. It is a time-consuming, laborious work, but finding a gram of gold in a week seems attractive enough to bring workers from Kabul, the capital city.

Read the article and see the photos to learn about gold panning along the Kunar riverbed.

https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2026/4/16/afghan-villagers-turn-to-gold-panning-to-sustain-livelihoods

Topic Reading-Vol.5111-4/22/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

Fake damage and imaginary watches - how AI images are being used in insurance scams

Many digital photographers, including smartphone or digital camera users, often edit the photos they’ve captured by removing unwanted objects or enhancing images mainly for emotional satisfaction. Also, AI can now easily create unrealistic images based on the prompt the user inputs, like the ones the US President posted earlier this month with Jesus. However, when things are added, removed, or fundamentally altered in the image for benefit or fraud, it is regarded as photo manipulation. Recently, the number of falsified insurance claims using AI has been increasing, including AI-manipulated damage for car insurance, AI-created objects for property insurance, and AI-fabricated documents. The use of such fake proof or documents is fraud, so that such falsified claims are rejected, the insurance policy might be cancelled, or the claimer could be prosecuted. To cope with such AI fraud, the insurance industry is also using AI to detect AI-manipulated false claims. AI is now being used widely for both offense and defense.

Read the article and learn about AI-manipulated images used for insurance claims.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm2rr9pg4jzo

Topic Reading-Vol.5110-4/21/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

How bad smells affect your health 

Aroma, smell, or odour? In the kitchen, you smell when food is being cooked. At the table, you enjoy the aroma from the dish. In the garbage, you sense the odour of the leftover food. The sense of smell, or olfaction, detects airborne odorant molecules, allowing us to identify odors, influence emotions, and trigger memories. Indeed, smell doesn’t just detect threats, but it also affects our lives in many ways. The aroma of wine, tea, or coffee provides a pleasant feeling and expectations before and during tasting. However, when you don’t smell well because of a stuffy or runny nose, you don’t enjoy the aroma or taste of the food you eat as much. Also, while the smell of fresh air, plants, and nature often refreshes your mind, odor pollution caused by industrial processes, sewage, waste disposal, and animal farms often affects health and well-being. Along with other senses like sight, hearing, taste, and touch, smell plays a vital role in our safety, health, and well-being. By the way, it is more influential for dogs as they distinguish almost everything by their hyper-sensitive olfactory system.

Read the article and learn about the effects of smell on our lives.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20260403-how-bad-odours-affect-your-health

Topic Reading-Vol.5109-4/20/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

Fast food consumption is soaring in the cradle of haute cuisine. Quelle horreur!

French gastronomy is a culinary tradition that emphasizes seasonal, regional diversity, typically in a multi-course meal, from butter-based northern dishes to olive oil-forward southern cooking, with various kinds of bread, pastry, cheese, and wine. First opened in 1972 in a suburb of Paris, the fast-food giant McDonald’s has adapted to French tastes, as it does in other markets, and now operates over 1,500 locations across the country. Generation Z, born between 1996 and 2012, is the first true digital natives, who have grown up fully immersed in technology, social media, and the Internet. They are big fans of fast food and street food, and are feared to erode the fine French dining scene. It is estimated that the annual revenues of commercial chain restaurants in France have increased 30% from 2019 to 2023, and reached 24 billion dollars in 2024, showing an increase of one billion from the previous year. Sandwiches, burgers, and pizza are the most popular take-out foods, but the hottest one is Crousty, or Krousty. It is a viral French street food featuring crispy fried chicken tenders served over white rice with creamy sweet-and-sour sauce with additions like fried onions, chopped chives, and sesame seeds. It went viral on TikTok and Instagram and is praised for its affordable pricing, often less than 10 euros, generous volume, and convenience. Even in France, the traditional knife-and-fork dining culture seems to be shifting to a smartphone-and-fork/hand eating style. What is today’s main dish, Beef Bourguignon or TikTok?

Read the article and learn about the changing dining culture in France.

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/04/03/travel/fast-food-france-tasty-crousty

Topic Reading-Vol.5108-4/19/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

Should’ve put a ring on it? Maybe! Marriage is linked to lower risk of cancer

In general, married people tend to live longer and healthier lives than those unmarried, divorced, or widowed. Indeed, they often encourage orderly lifestyles, eat healthier food, take regular health check-ups, and establish economic stability. Also, some studies suggest that husbands gain more benefits from marriage than wives because they are encouraged to live healthier, safer lives than they live alone. However, a recently published study in the USA finds cancer rates are 83% higher for women who have never married compared with 68% for men who have previously married or have been married. Indeed, endometrial or ovarian cancers are related to reproductive mechanisms, and women who have never given birth tend to have a higher risk of these cancers. We still do not have the answer, though, as to whether marriage makes people healthier or healthier people tend to get married.

Read the article and learn about the health benefits of heterosexual marriage.

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/04/08/health/marriage-cancer-wellness