Topic Reading-Vol.5169-6/19/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

El Niño is here and rapidly strengthening. Here’s what it means for your weather

El Niño conditions are now underway in the tropical Pacific, with sea surface temperatures having risen sharply in recent months, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). El Niño involves the transfer of a large amount of heat energy from the ocean to the atmosphere, which boosts global average surface temperatures, leading to extreme weather conditions, such as heat waves, flooding, and droughts, depending on the location. It occurs every two to seven years and lasts for about a year, but this one is predicted to be stronger than previous super El Niño events in 2015-16, 1997-98, and 1982-83. Since global average surface temperatures have increased to a record high due to human-caused warming from fossil fuel burning, 2027 will likely be even hotter than the previous record in 2024. Humans have learned to predict climate change, like global warming and El Niño. Are we ready for a hotter, drier, or wetter climate?

Read the article and learn about what the underlying current could do to the climate.

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/06/11/weather/super-el-nino-declared-global-impacts-climate

Topic Reading-Vol.5168-6/18/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

The Netherlands vs the sea: The race to hold back rising waters

About a quarter of the Netherlands lies below sea level, and major coastal cities  Rotterdam, the largest seaport in Europe, sits at -4 meters, and Amsterdam, the capital, at -2 meters. But unlike New Orleans (Vol.5166), the low-lying nation has long been protected by massive storm-surge barriers called the Delta Works for decades from the rising levels of the North Sea and overflowing rivers. Completed in 1997, the 1,000km long protective system consists of dams, dikes, levees, sluices, and pumps. However, as sea levels rise faster and storms become fiercer, the protective system is feared to become unsustainable. The country is already spending about 1% of its GDP annually on building new structures and maintenance and operation of the existing system. It took more than 1,800 lives in the 1853 North Sea Flood to initiate the Delta Works project. How will the Netherlands cope with the rising danger?

Read the article and learn about how human ingenuity has been protecting the Netherlands’ low-lying land.

https://edition.cnn.com/climate/netherlands-vs-the-sea-hold-back-rising-waters-c2e-spc

Topic Reading-Vol.5167-6/17/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

Iran’s lakes are vanishing: Satellite images show a deepening water crisis

Iran has hundreds of dams to generate electricity and store water, yet its 92 million residents are facing severe water shortages. More than 30,000 of the country’s 69,000 villages have been abandoned so far due to water shortages. Years of drought, declining rainfall, and unsustainable water use have depleted reservoirs, rivers, and groundwater reserves. For example, Lake Urmia, the largest saltwater lake in the Middle East, has shrunk to less than 10% of its former size since the 1990s. About 90% of the water is used for agriculture, but much of the extracted water doesn’t reach crops because of inefficient irrigation systems. Iran has plenty of oil to export to buy weapons, but not enough water to sustain its farming, industry, and population. It has been at war with the US and Israel for its nuclear weaponization effort, and is putting most of its resources and efforts into firing missiles and flying drones. But which might deplete first, weapons or water?

Read the article and learn how serious Iran’s water shortages are.

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2026/6/9/irans-lakes-are-vanishing-satellite-images-show-a-deepening-water-crisis-2

Topic Reading-Vol.5166-6/16/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

Rising seas will swallow New Orleans. People need to start relocating now, scientists say

Some coastal regions in the world have already started relocating due to sea level rise and sinking land. Tuvalu, a Pacific island nation, is organizing the world’s first planned migration of the entire country to Australia. Jakarta, Indonesia, is relocating the nation’s administrative capital functions to another island. The USA is no exception. New Orleans, famous for its lively jazz, vibrant Creole culture, and historic French Quarter, sits in a low-lying basin, mostly below sea level. It is surrounded by extensive, highly vulnerable wetlands that are crucial for buffering storm surges, but they are rapidly disappearing due to human activity, land subsidence, and rising sea levels. About 75% of its remaining wetlands are predicted to be lost, and the inland could retreat by as far as 100 km. New Orleans has already lost about a quarter of its population since the 2005 Hurricane Katrina, which submerged 80% of the city and killed nearly 1,400 people. As the city’s residents move out, tax revenues, public services, and home values decline, and as a result, empty or abandoned properties will increase. As protective wetlands disappear, land sinks further, and sea level rises, New Orleans is facing an existential challenge, as critical and urgent as that of the Pacific Islands.

Read the article and learn what is going on in the historic capital of Louisiana.

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/05/25/climate/new-orleans-sea-level-rise-relocation

Topic Reading-Vol.5165-6/15/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

Siesta then fiesta: Enjoy Europe like the locals

Seville, Athens, and Rome. One thing common about these European popular tourist destinations is scorching summer heat. This year, Europe’s heatwave season had already started in late May, marking an all-time May record in London and Budapest, knocking out tennis players at the French Open, and killing over 100 people in heat-related deaths in Spain. If you’re traveling to Europe this summer with an ordinary 9 am-6 pm outdoor itinerary, you’ll be baked just like other tourists. So, instead of going out during the heat hours, how about visiting outdoor tourist destinations early in the morning, staying indoors and taking a siesta in the afternoon, and going out again after sunset to enjoy nighttime tourism? Locals spend the summer days by this work-siesta-work and fiesta schedule to avoid the summer heat while working and enjoying just like in other seasons. In fact, people in Italy and Spain usually have dinner around 9 pm and enjoy after-dinner activities until after midnight. If your body clock is already confused by the jet lag, it may be easier to adjust it not to the local time but to the local customs.

Read the article and learn how to manage your summer travel to Europe.

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20260605-siesta-then-fiesta-enjoy-europe-like-the-locals

Topic Reading-Vol.5164-6/14/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

AI is changing this job so fast the interview process can’t keep up

Recently, in the US, AI was the most frequently cited reason for job cuts. In fact, various knowledge-based, white-collar jobs have been affected by AI, including administrative support, customer service, writing, translation, and financial and legal analysis. Also, even in the technology industry, many jobs have been replaced or affected by AI, such as junior coders, programmers, technical writers, data analysts, customer support, and web developers. In fact, the landscape of tech jobs is changing so rapidly that hiring companies haven’t even come up with appropriate job qualifications, requirements, or assessments yet. When most tech workers use AI for writing and modifying code, analyzing data, and troubleshooting, the roles of software engineers have shifted from coding skills to designing, judging, and decision-making. That’s why young job seekers with tech majors have difficulty finding their first jobs. What qualifications are required for tech jobs if coding skills don’t qualify, and how should candidates be assessed?

Read the article and learn how AI is affecting the job market in the tech industry.

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/05/28/tech/ai-software-engineering-job-interview

Topic Reading-Vol.5163-6/13/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

From butterflies to breast milk, Uber's list of lost items reveals wild backseat discoveries

Uber operates ride-sharing services in approximately 15,000 cities in 70 countries with over 200 million monthly active users. It is the most widely used rideshare app in the US, dominating more than two-thirds of the nation’s rideshare market. The rideshare giant recently announced its 10th lost-and-found index, an annual list of strange items left behind by riders in the US. It revealed that more items were left in New York than any other city, and Sunday was the day when people left things behind the most. Even though phones are the most essential item for using a rideshare service, more than a million phones were left in the cars. Some of the items that led last year’s lost items trend were vapes and e-cigarettes, Labubu dolls, and Croc sandals (open-toe footwear). Unusual things on the list include a pair of partial teeth in a tissue, pelvis implants, 20 pounds of duck sausage, and a child’s prosthetic eye. While some of the items were tiny or compact, others were bulky or heavy. Make sure to check the seat before leaving the car you rode.

Read the article and learn what items were left in Uber cars.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czr25k7g7d7o