Topic Reading-Vol.5258-9/16/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

Faster homework, poor exam results: What AI is doing to students’ learning

New York City, the US’s largest school district, is banning the use of generative artificial intelligence for public school students from 2K through 8th grade to protect students’ critical thinking abilities as well as the relationships between students and teachers. But students can still use AI to do their assignments or study at home. How do they use AI, and how does AI help them learn? According to a study that tracked 27,000 junior and senior high school students in China, 56% used AI to get information, 45% had AI explain terms and concepts, and 31% used it to get complete solutions to tasks. Also, students improved their homework scores with AI while spending 30% less time on it. However, their monthly exam scores fell by 20% within six months. AI certainly helps students get their studies done faster and even better, but it doesn’t seem to help them learn much better. Does banning or restricting the use of interactive technology for youth, like SNS, help students learn any better? It may be time for teachers and educators to calibrate or develop tasks and assignments that are suitable for the AI era.

Read the article and learn how AI is affecting students’ learning.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/2/faster-homework-poor-exam-results-what-ai-is-doing-to-students-learning

Topic Reading-Vol.5257-9/15/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

Mount Fuji pics, life-changing ramen and a weak yen - why young Brits are going to Japan

Last year, nearly half a million tourists from Britain visited Japan, up 25% on the previous year and a 40% increase from 2019, the pre-pandemic peak. It’s a long way to fly, about 9,600 kilometers, and lasting over 13 hours for a non-stop flight and around 16 to 19 hours for a one-stop flight through China, a more economical choice. But once you get to Japan, travelers can enjoy completely different nature, cityscapes, buildings, foods, and cultures from Europe. First-timers often follow the Golden Route, consisting of Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, and nearby Nara and Hiroshima. But nowadays, young people in particular are tempted by the places, things, and foods that are shown on TikTok or Instagram, such as Mt Fuji photo spots or Ramen noodles. Japan is also budget-friendly for young Brits. Thanks to the well-established public transport, visitors can travel around the country quite easily, inexpensively, and safely. Also, you do not have to pay high admission fees to visit World Heritage sites like Shiretoko. And thanks to the weak yen and long-term deflation, traveling around Japan is quite affordable, including transport, food, and accommodation, compared with European or North American destinations. And the British were among the record 43 million foreign visitors to Japan last year. 

Read the article and learn why more British people are visiting Japan.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c7704l1ypjgo

Topic Reading-Vol.5256-9/14/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

How one of the 'most powerful hacks' to control stress actually works

We feel nervous or stressed from time to time, like before a job interview or big presentation, or when a loved one is in trouble or danger. One technique to ease such mental stress is box breathing, a deep-breathing method that can help calm and regulate your autonomic nervous system, including blood pressure, sense of calm, and stress. Box breathing consists of four equal-period steps: inhale slowly through your nose to a slow count of four, hold the breath and count four, breathe out slowly through your mouth for a count of four, and hold your lungs empty for another four count. Then restart the cycle as many times as you want. This practice trains you to get used to various levels of carbon dioxide in the blood and brain, and helps you to improve your stress resilience. It takes only about 16 seconds to practice one box breathing cycle, and you can do it almost anytime, anywhere, and as many times as you want. If you still wonder if it works for you, try counting to four while inhaling through your nose.

Read the article and learn about the four-step, four-count box breathing.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y5jqly153o#google_vignette

Topic Reading-Vol.5255-9/13/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

They bought a house in LA. The neighbours are bears - and they won't stay out of the pool

Of the estimated 60,000 black bears living in California, around 1,600 live in Los Angeles County. Monrovia is a suburban city in LA, located in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, about 30 kilometers from downtown LA. Soon after a pair bought a house there and moved in, they were visited by uninvited guests, black bears. The wild animals visit the couple’s house not just occasionally but several times a week, regularly. On warm days, a mother bear, named Maddie, and her cubs enjoy bathing in the swimming pool. Another bear, they call Nappy, loves taking long siestas while floating in the pool. The couple allows them to spend time on their property by keeping a healthy distance from the furry wild animals and staying inside the house during their visit. Also, they never leave trash cans or any food outdoors. Indeed. Even though black bear attacks are very rare in California, they are wild animals and could pose a risk to public safety. In the meantime, black bears are the indigenous residents in the mountains, and humans entered and developed the foothills to inhabit them.

Read the article and see the images of black bears enjoying themselves in a human’s swimming pool.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20260828-the-bears-cooling-off-in-a-california-swimming-pool

Topic Reading-Vol.5254-9/12/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

9/11: What happened and how many people died in September 11 attacks?

Yesterday, the US marked the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It was early morning on September 11, 2001, when 19 al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four passenger planes: two departed from Boston, one from DC, and another from New Jersey, all of which were loaded with fuel for their transcontinental flights to California. Shortly after their departures, they were all hijacked and controlled by Islamist extremists for their suicidal missions. Two airplanes hit and destroyed the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York, one crashed into the Pentagon, the US military’s headquarters in DC, and another crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. A total of nearly 3,000 people were killed, including all those on board the four planes, more than 2,700 on the ground, including 343 firefighters in the Twin Towers helping with the evacuation. Shortly after the attacks, the US and its allies invaded Afghanistan to eradicate Al-Qaeda and hunt down the masterminds. Around the world, flight safety measures were tightened to prevent hijackings. Yesterday, a memorial service was held at each crash site.

Read the article and learn about the terrorist attacks that took place 25 years ago.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c98elnpr0kzo

Topic Reading-Vol.5253-9/11/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

How Cubans are navigating the US oil blockade with rechargeable fans and solar-powered Chinese tricycles
In addition to the decades-long trade sanctions, the US administration launched a fuel blockade to Cuba, targeting oil tankers heading to Cuba and threatening tariffs on supplier nations, including Mexico and Venezuela. This has added more severity to the already suffering in the Cuban economy and everyday life. Such are widespread and continual blackouts, clean water shortages due to disabled water treatment and pumping facilities, and an increase in diseases because of failing water systems and food refrigeration. Also, cars and buses don’t have enough fuel to serve their purposes. However, Cubans have overcome whatever obstacles are placed in their way for decades to live without daily essentials through creativity and resilience. For example, farmers pasteurize milk over charcoal fires, commuters ride Chinese-made solar-powered e-tricycles, and restaurants grind coffee by hand if they ever have a diner. Cuba has very little fuel supply, but it seems abundant in vitality and ingenuity for survival.  
Read the article and learn how resilient Cubans are.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/09/05/americas/cuba-us-oil-blockade-electricity-creativity-intl-latam

Topic Reading-Vol.5252-9/10/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

UN votes to adopt new world map to reflect Africa's true size

Drawing an accurate two-dimensional flat map of a three-dimensional sphere is mathematically impossible because flattening a globe always introduces distortion. In the 18th century during the colonial era, the Mercator projection became the standard for navigation because it preserves angles and shapes. Even today, it is the most commonly used map projection, including Google Maps. However, it inflates the landmasses the farther they are from the equator. For example, Greenland appears the same size as Africa, but its real size is comparable to the DR Congo alone. Also, Africa appears the same size as South America, but it is actually one and a half times as large. On September 5, sponsored by Togo and supported by the African Union (AU), the “Correct the Map” resolution was adopted at the UN General Assembly. It aims to correct a centuries-old visual bias that makes Africa appear smaller in education, media, and global policy, and to present Africa’s true size. Since the resolution is not binding, Africa might be shown in different proportions on world maps, at least for a while. The USA was the only state that voted against the “Make Africa Greater Resolution”. It seems that the current administration wants to redraw the world map to make America look greater.

Read the article and learn what world maps mean to Africa.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce30vp55dnlo