Topic Reading-Vol.5226-8/15/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

Great Apes kiss and cuddle to keep the peace, says study

Our close relatives, chimpanzees and bonobos, are both known for their aggressiveness. They compete for food, partners, and position within their group, and fight outsiders to protect their group and territory. In the meantime, they often touch, embrace, and kiss each other to show affection and friendliness as humans do. Interestingly, they also seem to use social touch to manage tension, competition, and cooperation. A recent observation of chimps and bonobos in African sanctuaries found that before they were given scheduled food, they engaged in close contact with each other. Researchers assume that they touched and hugged each other to mitigate the tension of food competition. A peaceful act before a stressful event. Indeed, social touch was part of communication exchanged before languages were developed. Even today, we often shake hands, hug, or kiss each other socially before meetings and events.

Read the article and learn how physical contact helps social bonds.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y045vprg5o

Topic Reading-Vol.5225-8/14/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Half of vaccines are binned - 'fridge-free' versions could change that

A vaccine is a medical treatment that helps our body's immune system recognize and fight disease. Vaccines are effective against many serious, life-threatening viral and bacterial diseases, including measles, chickenpox, rotavirus, polio, rabies, influenza, and COVID-19. To ensure their efficacy and safety, most vaccines require strict temperature control called “cold chain” from the moment they are shipped until the time they are injected into a recipient’s arm. Keeping vaccines at a certain temperature is quite difficult, especially in poor, remote, or conflict areas.WHO estimates failures in this cold chain requirement are a major factor in half of all vaccines being wasted or disposed of globally. Recently, scientists in the UK trialled a fridge-free version of the tetanus-diphtheria vaccine successfully. They kept it as a dry powder at room temperature for a year, mixed it with water, and injected it into volunteers’ arms. The dry-powdered version of the vaccine gave equivalent immune responses to the refrigerated vaccine. Since many other vaccines can be stored in the same way, this new approach might substantially reduce vaccine waste, allowing more people to receive injections while reducing transportation and storage costs.

Read the article and learn about this breakthrough approach for vaccine storage.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce85qe8j0nzo

Topic Reading-Vol.5224-8/13/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers,　

What jet lag does to your body - and how to cope

If you fly eastbound or westbound crossing a few or more time zones, you’ll feel jet lag to some extent for a few days. Many claim jet lag is more severe when traveling eastbound because they have to go to bed and get up earlier than their body clocks. Some people feel fatigue, experience brain fog, or spend sleepless nights, while others suffer from digestive difficulties or irregular appetite. Also, some are affected more severely than others, depending on genetic makeup, regular medications, and lifestyle. Jet lag occurs when our body’s biological clock is disrupted. Our body clock runs on a 24.1-to-24.2-hour cycle, and it is adjusted by light entering our eyes each day. So, when the Sun starts shining hours earlier or later, our body functions need to be adjusted. Also affected in a different time zone is melatonin, a natural hormone that tells the body when to rest and lower body functions. Although jet lag is almost inevitable, you can mitigate symptoms by adjusting your watch in advance and eating and sleeping accordingly, or taking a melatonin supplement. Does frequent jet lag trigger or cause long-term health problems for those who frequently fly across time zones, like airline crew?

Read the article and learn how jet lag affects our body clock and health.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20260731-what-jet-lag-does-to-your-body-and-how-to-cope

Topic Reading-Vol.5223-8/12/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

AI is giving hackers an edge. Here’s how to protect yourself from online scams

Either malicious or accidental, AI agents can access others’ data and devices faster and more easily. Deepfaked participants may be attending Teams and Zoom meetings like your colleagues or guests. AI-trained familiar voices may be asking you to donate or transmit money to an account that looks authentic. Nowadays, voice cloning can create an 85% voice match just with a few seconds of audio sample. AI can also detect patterns from leaked or stored passwords more easily and use the information to predict personalized passwords. Tricking people with fake messages or verifications is another threat caused by AI. It creates authentic-looking prompts and images to convince users to download malicious apps or change security settings. As we become more vulnerable to AI attacks, what should we do to protect our assets?

Read the article and learn the tips to protect us from AI hackers.

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/08/04/tech/ai-online-scams-protection

Topic Reading-Vol.5222-8/11/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

New Zealand has a new official language — English

While a national language is a symbol of a nation’s history, culture, and identity, an official language is defined by law for use in parliament, courts, public administration, and official documents. Of the 178 countries that recognize an official language, about 100 recognize more than one language. For example, Bolivia has 37, South Africa has 12, Switzerland has four, India has two, and Brazil has one official language. The UK, Japan, and Mexico have no official language, but English, Japanese, and Spanish have de facto status respectively. In addition to Māori and New Zealand Sign Language, English has recently become New Zealand’s official language. As English is spoken by over 95% of the population and used in courts and parliament, it has had de facto status. So why has New Zealand officialized English while its English-speaking neighbor, Australia, hasn’t? Whatever the status is, English is a lingua franca, a shared language used for communication between different native tongues in global business and in the South Pacific region.

Read the article and learn what an official language status means to New Zealanders.

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/08/03/asia/new-zealand-official-language-english-intl-scli

Topic Reading-Vol.5221-8/10/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

‘Marathon’ shines light on Gaza’s orphaned children and humanitarian crisis

Since October 2023, more than 70,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza during Israel’s genocidal attack in the Gaza Strip. According to UNICEF, more than 58,000 children have lost either or both parents, and about 17,000 children are either unaccompanied or separated from their families. They have been repeatedly displaced and deprived not only of food, water, shelter, and clothing but also healthcare, education, and protection. Children who lost their parents also need to feel protected, cared for, and recognized. To raise awareness of the plight of these children in Gaza and also give them the chance to feel part of public activity and supported by their community, a running event was held earlier this month in Gaza. Despite the destruction along the course, the young runners were cheered and honored by their relatives and friends, including the children who were physically unable to participate. Children who are experiencing such an ordeal need not just daily essentials but also a feeling of being loved, cared for, recognized, and part of society.

Read the article and learn about an event that made young children in Gaza enjoy participating.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/8/1/marathon-shines-light-on-gazas-orphaned-children-and-humanitarian-crisis

Topic Reading-Vol.5220-8/9/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

Satellite killers: What a war in space might look like

Missiles and drones are flying all over Ukraine, Western Russia, Iran, and the Gulf States. How are they guided to reach their targets? Most of them use satellite coordinates to fly autonomously along with inertial navigation systems. Then, how does military intelligence locate enemy ships at sea or tanks and aircraft on the ground? They detect and analyze movements of enemy assets from space. Indeed, space intelligence, navigation, and guidance all play significant roles in modern warfare. Today, jamming and cyberattacks against satellite systems have become an invisible part of war. Also, space is not free from kinetic attacks, such as missiles from Earth and killer satellites in space. That is problematic because such physical destruction in space would not only disrupt communication and intelligence but also create space debris that could collide with other debris and create more debris, which could hit other satellites. In fact, the USA, China, Russia, and India all have dedicated space military branches. The more we depend on space assets, the greater the risk of space warfare will be.

Read the article and learn why and how space could become a warzone.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20260730-satellite-killers-what-a-war-in-space-might-look-like