Topic Reading-Vol.5313-11/10/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

Delhi’s toxic winter air is back - is the Indian capital prepared for pollution?

Delhi residents suffer intolerable air pollution each winter, which is caused by a mixture of trapping weather patterns, regional geography, crop residue burning, and vehicle and industrial emissions. Delhi’s Air Quality Index (AQI), the level of fine particulate matter in the air that could clog lungs and cause diseases, constantly rises beyond poor or even dangerous levels. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) promised to improve air quality during last year’s election campaign, and the Delhi government introduced a Winter Action Plan that came into effect from the beginning of November until the end of February. It includes entry curbs and fuel supply restrictions for high-emission vehicles, work-from-home schedules, and bans on dust-generating construction, demolition, and material transport. Also, the use of firecrackers during the Hindu festival of Diwali in early this month is limited to certified less-polluting types and only on two days. However, it is yet to be seen how much of these measures are implemented and how much Delhi’s air quality improves. In the meantime, Delhi’s residents wear masks, cover their faces with cloth, stay indoors as much as they can, and turn on air purifiers if they can afford them to protect themselves from the severe pollution season.

Read the article and learn about Delhi’s air pollution season.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm78p0n09q3xo

Topic Reading-Vol.5312-11/9/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

Google will let schools turn off AI, but they may also lose Search

Before it integrated generative AI, Google Search operated primarily as a search engine and presented the most relevant web pages to the user's query. Users were required to search for relevant information and compare, organize, and summarize it to accomplish the task. Nowadays, when users ask a question or task to AI-integrated Google Search, it ranks and displays relevant websites, images, and videos, and creates a summary. Unless you ask further questions or clarifications, the task is completed, but you’ll learn little or nothing through the process. School teachers and educators are concerned that students learn less if they don’t work through problems and questions, and try to limit or even prohibit the use of AI for schoolwork. Then Google has come up with an option for schools to turn off AI. However, since today’s search engines are integrated with AI, Google's search engine will also be turned off if AI is opted out. It seems that while AI is revolutionizing workplaces, it hasn’t been effectively integrated into school education yet. Will AI solve this problem?

Read the article and learn about Google’s response to AI usage at schools.

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/11/03/tech/google-ai-search-policy

Topic Reading-Vol.5311-11/8/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

Toulouse to Ho Chi Minh City: Five fast-rising cities that should be on travellers' radars right now

Created annually by Oxford Economics, the Global Cities Index is the world’s foremost city benchmarking tool that measures the strength, stability, and opportunities across the 1,000 largest cities, including economics, human capital, quality of life, environment, and governance. The top five cities in the 2026 Global Cities Index are New York, London, Paris, Seattle, and San Francisco, undeniable megacities where money and talent are drawn. There are also 28 cities to watch, where rapid growth and rising fortunes are expected in the coming years. Among them are Toulouse, a major aerospace hub in France, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s largest and busiest city, Warsaw, Poland’s historical capital, Medellín, the city of the Eternal Spring in Colombia, and Abu Dhabi, the capital of the oil-rich UAE. Unlike other overgrown megacities or over-tourism destinations, these cities are growing modestly without sacrificing the day-to-day lives of the residents. Aren’t they worth visiting before it’s too late?

Read the article and learn about five rising cities that might be worth visiting.

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20261015-the-worlds-top-cities-to-watch-in-2026

Topic Reading-Vol.5310-11/7/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

If hackers can take control of a supermarket freezer, how vulnerable is other tech?

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a network of physical objects embedded with sensors, software, and network connectivity that allow them to collect, share, and act on data via the Internet. While the technology makes devices, machines, and cars smarter, it could make them vulnerable to cyberattacks. In May last year, UK supermarkets were attacked by ransomware hackers, and their business operations were disrupted for weeks. Last month, over 500 supermarkets in France were hit by a major cyberattack, and the temperatures of their internet-connected refrigerators and freezers were manipulated, creating a huge amount of food losses. Earlier this month, a widespread wave of cyberattacks hit supermarket and grocery refrigeration systems across many European countries and spoiled large amounts of chilled and frozen food. As more home appliances, such as refrigerators, air conditioners, and security systems, become connected and can be monitored and controlled remotely, they can become targets of cyberattacks. Manufacturers, service providers, and users of such connected devices all need to keep them updated to protect from cyberattacks. 

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckpqg8lve73go

Topic Reading-Vol.5309-11/6/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

The high-tech efforts to restore ‘climate hero’ mangroves

Mangroves are salt-tolerant trees and shrubs that grow in tropical and subtropical coastal zones and tidal rivers. They survive in salty water by filtering out most of the salt through root barriers or releasing excess salt through leaf glands. Their dense root networks absorb wave energy, buffer storm surges, and reduce coastal erosion. They also store massive amounts of carbon, absorbing four times more carbon dioxide than the average terrestrial forest. In addition, mangroves’ tangled root systems provide safe breeding and feeding grounds for wildlife that live in and around them, including fish, birds, and animals. Mangroves are environmentally friendly, life-saving trees.

Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), is known as a global oil and gas powerhouse and growing hub for airlines, architecture, culture, and luxury. It is also continuing to restore and expand mangroves to protect its coastal environment, aiming to plant up to 100 million mangrove trees before the end of the decade. They use specially designed drones to distribute seeds while avoiding disrupting the ecosystem in sensitive natural areas. So far, Abu Dhabi has increased mangrove cover by over 90% in the last 35 years. Not all drones in the Gulf region are hostile.

Read the article and learn about why the desert capital is flying drones to plant mangroves.

https://edition.cnn.com/world/middleeast/mangroves-technology-abu-dhabi-spc

Topic Reading-Vol.5308-11/5/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

Humans accidentally canceled the next ice age — but it’s no reason to celebrate, scientists say

An ice age is a long period of reduced global temperatures where thick ice sheets and glaciers expand across large areas of the Earth’s surface. It cycles between colder glacial periods when ice sheets advance and warmer interglacial periods when ice sheets retreat. The Earth is now in a warm interglacial period, and its glacial stage is in the Little Ice Age that began in the 16th century.

The massive continental ice sheet that covered North America 20,000 years ago shrank to a much smaller ice cap in northernmost Canada. But about two millennia ago, it slowly began to expand again, marking a new period of glaciation, an ice age. However, the ice cap suddenly started to shrink around 1960, when summer temperatures rose due to climate change caused by fossil fuel burning. Some geochemists believe that the reversal is a sign that the then-about-to-happen glaciation, or ice age, was halted by human activities. Some argue that the next ice age isn’t expected to start for another 50 millennia. Humans have most likely affected climate change and caused global warming. Have we also affected the ice age cycles?

Read the article and learn about the signs of ice age cycles.

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/10/29/climate/how-humans-halted-the-next-ice-age

Topic Reading-Vol.5307-11/4/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

Dead dolphins, naval mines: Russia-Ukraine war destroys the Black Sea

Dolphins are marine mammals that feed mainly on fish and squid by tracking them using echolocation, a built-in sonar. There are a few dolphin species that live in the Black Sea, but their populations have declined drastically due to the Russia-Ukraine war. Explosions of ships and drones deafen and kill fish, and spilt toxic fuel and other chemicals poison the water and harm marine creatures. Deafened dolphins become unable to locate their prey, and when they are too hungry, they eat their own blubber, which makes them even weaker. Even if they find and eat fish, they are spoiled. Dolphins are at the top of the food chain in the Black Sea, and they are too vulnerable to war pollution. Over 120,000 dolphins, or one in four dolphins, have died in the Black Sea since 2022. Even when the war ends, it’ll take decades for dolphins to recover their population. The ecosystem in the Black Sea is being destroyed more than what is seen on the surface.

Read the article and learn how badly dolphins suffer from the Russia-Ukraine war.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/31/dead-dolphins-naval-mines-russia-ukraine-war-destroys-the-black-sea