Topic Reading-Vol.5117-4/28/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

AI chatbots could be making you stupider

While the tools we use help us accomplish tasks, they seem to change how we think, too. As we’ve become more reliant on search engines, we seem to remember details less. Now, what will happen to our brains when we rely more on large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT on day-to-day, business, or academic tasks? The more we outsource cognitive tasks, the less cognitive effort we make, which might impair our mental skills, such as remembering and critical thinking. In essay-writing tasks on open-ended topics for college students, the brain activity of those who used ChatGPT was much less than that of those who didn’t use the LLM. Also, the LLM users seem to retain or remember less about their essays than those who wrote them by themselves. If you walk, you’ll feel the air around you. If you drive, you’ll see things on the way. If you fly, you’ll get there faster without effort or memory. Think, search, or ask. If we don’t use our brains, we might impair our cognitive abilities.

Read the article and learn what LLMs do to our brains.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20260417-ai-chatbots-could-be-making-you-stupider

Topic Reading-Vol.5116-4/27/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

Why your recycled clothes could end up in this South American desert

Created in 1975 to boost economic and social development in northern Chile, the Iquique Free Trade Zone (ZOFRI) is a major duty-free commercial and industrial hub. It offers businesses 100% exemption from corporate tax, customs duties, and value-added tax (VAT) on first sales to boost regional development. Used clothes from all over the world are among the biggest imports in ZOFRI. Once landed, they are sorted and then sold locally or exported to other countries in Latin America, which creates considerable local businesses and employment. Unsold clothes are supposed to be sold to an authorised waste company, but not all are. Some are burnt illegally, and others are dumped in the surrounding Atacama Desert, the oldest and driest sand desert, whose surreal, Mars-like landscapes attract many tourists. It is estimated that nearly 40,000 tonnes of such unsold clothes are illegally dumped in the desert each year. But help is on the way. A new factory is being built to turn the clothes into fibers, and then into felt to be used for mattresses, furniture, and insulation. Also, the government is going to include textiles in the Extended Producer Responsibility Law, which makes the sellers responsible for the lifespan of their products. No one wants the Atacama Desert to become a dump site.  

Read the article and learn what happens to unsold clothes at the end.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62kg63k8v6o

Topic Reading-Vol.5115-4/26/2026

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

A Chinese android just ran a half-marathon faster than any human ever

China is winning one AI race, the US another (Vol.5114). Last year, it took a humanoid robot more than two hours to run a half-marathon race held in Beijing. This year, the fastest robot ran 21 kilometers in only 50 minutes and 26 seconds, faster than last year’s winner by two hours and also the human record by six minutes. Developed by a Chinese smartphone maker, Lightning, a 169cm-tall running humanoid won the race with its autonomous navigation and burst power. Over 100 teams, nearly five times more than last year, took part in this year’s half-marathon. Having been positioned as one of the 10 key industries for upgrading and identified as a new frontier by the government, China’s humanoid robotics industry is booming and has been drawing talent, resources, and investment. Last August in Beijing, more than 500 humanoid robots from 280 teams competed in 26 events at the World Humanoid Robot Games, including boxing, football, cleaning, and sorting medicine. How astonishing is this year’s event going to be?

Read the article and learn how China is advancing in the race to develop humanoid robots.

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/04/19/china/china-robot-half-marathon-intl-hnk

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