Topic Reading-Vol.3306-4/30/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

A short history of the world's tallest buildings

Though there isn’t any clear standard definition, buildings taller than 150 meters are usually considered skyscrapers. And today, there are nearly 200 supertall skyscrapers whose heights exceed 300 meters around the world. Many of those are found in Asia, especially in China where there are over 1,400 skyscrapers and about 50 supertall skyscrapers are rising in nearly all urban downtowns.

The 150-year history of tall buildings began in 1870 when a then-skyscraping seven-story building appeared in New York. As land prices rose in urban cities, taller buildings gain economic advantage having been helped by technologies like steel frames and elevators. For the last few decades, mass dampers and swinging counterweights have made taller building more wind and earthquake-resistant. Also, the use of glass has been contributing to enhancing the economy, comfortability, and image of even taller buildings. Although each additional story generates more revenues, construction costs for higher floors become even more expensive. So, there is a certain economic limitation as to how tall a building should rise. However, people and societies have been historically building structures beyond economic reasons, such as pyramids and monuments, many of those are listed on the world heritage list. But nowadays, another factor should be considered to design a building. Environment. There seem to be three ”Es” that affect architecture designs, ego, economy, and environment.

Enjoy reading the article and watching the video to learn about what skyscrapers were, are and will be about for our society.

https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/history-of-the-skyscraper/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.3305-4/29/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Perseverance rover just made oxygen on Mars

Perseverance rover landed on Mars on February 18 this year and has been working on science missions including looking for habitability, seeking biosignatures, and catching samples. It has another mission that is essential for future space trips to Mars. Sending humans to Mars is just a part of the trip. Astronauts will spend some time on the red planet for whatever missions they are assigned. Then, they will need to fly back to the Earth, which takes at least seven months. During the over-a-year-long journey, humans need to breathe oxygen, which will eat up a lot of space to store and carry for the entire duration. Fortunately, there is plenty of CO2 on Mars, and Oxygen can be extracted from CO2 technically. That is one vital experiment Perseverance, or Percy, successfully conducted recently using the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment, better known as MOXIE, which is capable of producing up to 10 grams of oxygen per hour. Though the mass of MOXIE is only 17 kilograms, the conversion process requires a very high temperature, reaching as high as 800 degrees. So, the materials used for the device and Perseverance must endure such high heat on the red but cold planet. There really are a lot of things that need to be engineered flawlessly for a space trip.

Enjoy reading the article and learn about another step to realize human missions to Mars.

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/04/22/world/mars-rover-oxygen-moxie-scn/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.3304-4/28/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

A neglected protein-rich 'superfood'

When we talk about the environment, fossil fuels, plastic waste, deforestation, air and water pollutions are usually the common agenda. To your surprise, agriculture is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, rearing livestock not only takes land, water, and crops but also emits nearly 15% of global greenhouse gas. On the contrary, protein-rich insects are very efficient and environmentally friendly food. First, cultivating insects requires much smaller space, less energy and water. Second, insects produce much less methane than animals. Third, insects grow much faster with much less crop than livestock. Also, they grow incredibly fast. In fact, they become edible only in days, not months or years like livestock, and then they produce a large number of offspring. Lastly, they are eaten without waste like meat. Indeed, you don’t have to remove the skin or bone from insects to eat. In fact, insects have been famed and consumed in many parts of Asia, South America, and Africa. In order to provide good nutrition for the growing population without harming the environment any further, insects are the most nutritious and beneficial food for humans and livestock. And they don’t need to be presented or shown as a whole. They can be powdered or minced to be eaten unnoticed. Farmed and processed insects seem to be superfood that seems to help solve many problems.

Enjoy reading the article and think not if but how you would enjoy the benefits of this superfood.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210420-the-protein-rich-superfood-most-europeans-wont-eat

Topic Reading-Vol.3303-4/27/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,  

France cuts two nuclear-powered submarines in half to make one new one

A good attempt to save the body and materials that can still be used. There was a submarine whose front half was totally unusable because of a fire. There was another sister submarine that had been decommissioned and waiting to be scrapped whose front half could still be used. So, the French navy decided to put the usable half of the two vessels together to revive the fire-damaged submarine. What a great mindset it is to save materials and resources! Though it sounds like simple work, it involves enormous engineering effort and shipyard work to cut two subs in half and put them together to ensure reliability and performance under extreme water pressure.

But what kind of submarine? It’s a nuclear-powered attack submarine of the French navy.

Should those originally damaged and decommissioned subs be revived in the first place? Well, they are building a new type of nuc-submarines anyway. So, somehow or the other, there still be a certain number of nuclear-powered subs underwater anyway.

Enjoy reading the article and learn what it’s like to put two halves of subs together.

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/04/14/europe/france-submarines-cut-in-half-intl-hnk-scli-ml/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.3302-4/26/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,  

Viewpoint: What would a world without prisons be like? 

There have been prisons in most of the countries.

A prison is a facility where inmates are confined and live with restricted conditions and limited freedoms as punishment for their crimes. So, prisons are supposed to prevent, deter, or reduce crimes, aren’t they? Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any clear link between imprisonment and the crime rate. In fact, the crime rate by former prisoners, or re-offenders rate, isn’t as low as it’s supposed to be, nearly 40% in England. Also, the rate of convicted offenders among people in minority or poverty groups is higher than the others. So, there may be wider economic, structural, and psychological harms are being committed by the majority or powerful. Another aspect to look at prisoners is the type of crime they committed. Nowadays, there are more non-violent offenders among male prisoners. So, what are prisons for? Of course, preventing crimes from happening is the best way. Also, restorative justice, or a truth and reconciliation process, is another effective way to prevent initial offenders from committing a crime again. After all, justice isn’t just about punishment. Social justice and people’s involvement seem to work more effectively to prevent crimes than simply confining offenders.

Enjoy watching the video and imagine a world without prisons.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/ideas/videos/viewpoint-what-would-a-world-without-prisons-be-li/p08nbj02

Topic Reading-Vol.3301-4/25/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,  

What America would look like with zero immigration

The United States of America had been a country of opportunity and dreams for people coming from different corners of the world seeking a better life for themselves and their families, only until recently when the former administration nearly zeroed new arrivals. It is both a humanitarian obligation as well as a legacy of the nation. It also has been and will be the way to drive and secure the country’s wealth, prosperity, and future. Without a steady inflow of immigrants, the US population will decrease, so will the workforce, innovation, productivity, diversity, and social security funding. Especially, an increase in working and reproduction age populations is crucial for sustainable growth. If there were no immigrants, twice as many elderly persons will need to be sustained by the same number of working-age people just in four decades. This is actually no new news in other already developed aging societies like Japan where there are very few immigrants are admitted. Yes, immigrants and their families have been and will be a vital source of growth for America, and probably for other aging developed countries.

Enjoy reading the article and think if historic human migration would help the world grow more sustainably not only in the economy and productivity but also for the environment.

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/04/19/opinions/america-future-depends-immigration-gest/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.3300-4/24/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,  

This vacation hotspot is offering vaccinations to visitors

The Maldives is a small archipelagic country that lies southwest of Sri Lanka and India. It consists of nearly 1,200 islands in 26 atolls for now. As the average ground-level elevation of 1.5 meters above sea level, Maldives is famous as the world’s lowest-lying and most threatened country by rising sea levels. Because of the beautiful ocean view and beach properties, the archipelago country with a population of just over a half-million received 1.7 million visitors a year before the pandemic. Now, in order to revive the nation’s most vital tourism industry, Maldives is planning to promote a “3V” tourism scheme, which includes Visit, Vaccination, and Vacation. Upon arrival, tourists are offered vaccinations for them to be and feel free from Covid-19 during and after their stay in the Maldives. Since tourists to the Maldives usually stay in different islands, the nation claims that social distancing is naturally much broader than other tourist destinations. Indeed, safety seems to be what allures tourists during and after the pandemic. This vaxication package will only become available after all the residents have gotten vaccinated. Can vaxication be also used for workcation?

Enjoy reading the article and learn about a new tourism initiative by a tiny archipelagic nation.

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/maldives-offers-vaccines-to-visitors/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.3299-4/23/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,  

Google Earth's new Timelapse feature shows chilling effect of climate change

One of the most evident ways to show the changes over time is before-after images. For example, the Aral Sea, which lies between Kazakhstan in the north and Uzbekistan in the south, had been shrinking for the last half-century until 2010 and it is mostly dried out. It was mainly a result of the increased salinity as well as the testing of weapons and other fertilizer run-offs. Receding glaciers and melting ice sheets are typical examples of global warming. Urbanization and irrigation have caused deforestation and desertification in many places. Our only planet, at least for the time being, has been changed by human activities ever since the first industrial revolution took place. Especially since the late 20^th century when population and economy have both been growing at much a faster pace than ever before, changes in the land, waters, and air are drastic. Google, having worked with NASA and other agencies and institutes, create a new eye-opening feature called Timelapse that shows satellite images of continuous changes of the Earth between 1984 and 2020. It shows clearly how much glaciers have receded, deserts have been irrigated or urbanized, or forests have been cultivated. Seeing is believing. Images might help people motivate to take action more and faster.

Enjoy seeing the before-after images and checking Timelapse to learn about the changes of our mother planet.

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/04/15/tech/google-earth-timelapse/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.3298-4/22/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,  

'Medical marvel': Mom got pregnant while already pregnant

When a second, new pregnancy occurs during an initial pregnancy, it is called superfetation. For this to happen, another egg is fertilized by sperm and implanted in the womb days or weeks later than the first one. First, another egg needs to be released during an ongoing pregnancy. Also, the second egg must be fertilized by a sperm cell. Then, the fertilized egg needs to be implanted in an already pregnant womb. Since all these events are unlikely in normal situations, only a small number of superfetations has been confirmed.  

Recently, a British mom gave birth to “super twins” she conceived three weeks apart. In fact, baby Noah spent his earliest weeks all alone. Three weeks later, he was joined by a little sister, baby Rosalie, whose existence hadn’t been known until week 12. What a surprise! Though they were conceived at different times, they are considered twins as they were born at the same time. But when they came out, the boy was six weeks earlier than the normal due date and weighed just two kilograms, quite small for a baby boy. And for the girl, it was nine weeks early, so her weight was only just above one kilogram, extremely small. Fortunately, both of the twin babies are healthy and seem to enjoy their company.

Enjoy watching the video to learn about this super-rare pregnancy called superfetation.

https://edition.cnn.com/videos/health/2021/04/16/british-mom-pregnant-while-already-pregnant-cohen-pkg-newday-vpx.cnn

Topic Reading-Vol.3297-4/21/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,  

The remarkable power of Australian kelp

Kelp is a large, brown alga that is found in cold, coastal marine waters around the world. It grows very fast, as much as 60 cm a day without fertilizer. Kelp provides nutrition for a wide range of sea life like other species of seaweed. People in Eastern Asia also farm and eat kelp and other kinds of seaweed because of its high nutritional value, including vitamins K, A, C, E, B12, and B6 and mineral. As it is also used in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, Kelp and other seaweeds produce valuable ingredients for humans. Recently, seaweed has been farmed in other parts of the world to combat climate change. Just like any other land flora, seaweed takes carbon out of the atmosphere by its photosynthesis process and brings the carbon to deep oceans. Also, it helps restore the surrounding marine environment by lowering the acidity levels. Surprisingly, when cows are fed seaweed, they produce less methane from their burps and farts, which is also a greenhouse gas. All in all, this fast, cheap, and easy to grow sea plant seems to be a promising contributor to people’s health and the planet’s environment.

Enjoy reading the article and watching the video and learn more about the benefits of seaweed.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210406-how-kelp-can-help-solve-climate-change

Topic Reading-Vol.3296-4/20/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,  

France moves to ban short-haul domestic flights

What drove the last century was mainly convenience and economy. Fossil fuels, mass production, plastic packages, cars and airplanes, and fast food, only to name a few. All of which had brought about unexpected or ignored environmental consequences, such as air pollution, plastic pollution, deforestation, and global warming. In fact, there are short-haul flights of just a few hundred kilometers even where there are alternative and competitive train services, which produces a much less carbon footprint. Now, French lawmakers are moving to ban such short-haul flights that can be substituted by train services. And there is a fierce argument about how long is too short to fly. They are arguing between two and a half hours and four hours at the moment. It seems to depend on what the priorities are, economy or environment, convenience or consciousness, and now or the future.

The world seems to have reached the point where the real meaning of profits and benefits need to be redefined.

Enjoy reading the article and think about what matters more for tomorrow and beyond.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-56716708

Topic Reading-Vol.3295-4/19/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,  

Domino's is launching a pizza delivery robot car　

If you live in Woodland Heights in Huston, Texas, and order a Domino’s pizza, you can choose a robot car delivery at the front of your house. You can also check where your pizza is once it is dispatched. Though it is still a pilot program, fully autonomous delivery vehicles are on the road to bring pizza there. Though you’ll have to go outside, input the code that was sent to your smartphone, and pick up the pizza, you can opt to avoid human contact for whatever reason. Sounds convenient, doesn’t it? But what about the security of the autonomous vehicle? If someone who is very hungry tries to break into the vehicle to fetch the pizza, what protective mechanism can it deploy? By the way, if you live in a high-rise apartment building, you’ll have to take an elevator to retrieve the pizza at the door front. A bit inconvenient. In the near future, a customer may be asked to choose a delivery option from a robot car, drone, or human. Will you tip the vehicle or drone?

Enjoy watching the video to learn how a pizza delivery robot car works.

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/04/12/tech/dominos-pizza-delivery-robot/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.3294-4/18/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,  

Vaccines alone will not stop Covid spreading - here's why

No layer is perfectly solid to block the virus. Though vaccines are regarded as an effective weapon to protect us from the coronavirus, none of them has proved a 100% assurance, yet. Also, a vaccinated person could pass the virus on to others even though he or she might not get sick. Yes, we can track down those who have contacted closely with a positive case. But that only reduces the chance for widespread infections. Also, lockdowns, quarantines, and stay-home orders are difficult to enforce 100% coverage. And masks and face coverings alone can’t completely block virus droplets, either. What about social distancing, air ventilation, and the sunlight? They are all effective only to reduce the chances of infection, not to eliminate them. As many people do, washing hands thoroughly could kill the viruses on them but unfortunately, it won’t prevent airborne infections.

You now know none of the Covid defense methods works perfectly, just like Swiss cheese. But the more defense layers we have, the higher the chance will be to stop the virus from spreading.

Enjoy reading the infographic to learn what the Swill cheese defense model shows us.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-40ac92b1-1750-4e86-9936-2cda6b0acb3f

Topic Reading-Vol.3293-4/17/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,  

Why we define ourselves by our jobs

In old days, most people got the jobs that their parents were doing. A carpenter, miller, farmer, and fisherman only to name a few. Also, most people didn’t have so much time or money to do other things than their jobs. So, personal identities tended to be generational and occupational. Even in the previous century, many people worked just one job or developed a career in a certain profession, such as a factory worker, postman, bank clerk, editor, engineer, policeman, and civil servant. So, occupation or profession has been naturally the most common identity when people introduced themselves to a new acquaintance. Indeed, occupation or profession speaks the financial, educational, and intellectual profile of the person explicitly and implicitly. It is a quite convenient identity as long as the person stays in the course. But things change more often and drastically these days. You may change or lose your job, start a new career, or retire from work at some point. Do you want to be identified as a retired sales representative or personal assistant? Also, you may not want to be known about your jobs for whatever reason. So, tying your identity to your job may not be such a good idea especially these days. Instead, you may want to develop a new cultural identity gradually. You can start by asking what the other person enjoys doing instead of what the person does for work. Then, you can talk about what you like instead of what you do for a living.

Enjoy reading the article and think about your identity and self-worth.

https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20210409-why-we-define-ourselves-by-our-jobs

Topic Reading-Vol.3292-4/16/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,  

Singapore’s endless pursuit of cleanliness

Singapore is a small city-state with a population of 5.7 million, which became independent from Malaysia about 60 years ago. It lies about the equator off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula where there is little water, land, and natural resources. In order for the multi-racial, resource-scarce newborn country to thrive, then-prime minister Lee Kuan Yew introduced and vigorously implemented a cleanliness policy to become a first-world oasis in a third-world region, which differed greatly from Japan’s fostering economy and strengthening of military power policy that had been initiated about a century ago from then to cope with foreign powers. The cleanliness policy is not limited just to physically clean the city but also involves government and society that don’t tolerate corruption. Such policy requires not only government actions and services but also people’s consciousness of their responsibilities for their community. Indeed, Singapore is such a small state that every street, corner, and facility matters to their lives and society. As cleanliness also involves hygiene, Singapore’s actions to fight the coronavirus are thorough, rigorous, and high-tech, and people respect and follow the guidelines in unity. It seems that Singapore’s cleanliness has been realized by the bold vision, firm commitment, and public participation.

Enjoy reading the article about Singapore’s pursuit of cleanliness.

http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20210407-singapores-endless-pursuit-of-cleanliness?referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.com%2F

Topic Reading-Vol.3291-4/15/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,  

Elon Musk's Neuralink 'shows monkey playing Pong with mind'

Did you know that a monkey can play video Pong with a joystick just like humans? Well, it’s actually no new news there. Yes. Monkeys can play such video games without difficulty. But can they play it with their mind? To your surprise, yes. That is what a US brain interface firm Neuralink, which is funded by Elon Musk and others in 2016, has recently shown. Instead of wiring the brain and other devices, Neuralink’s technology sends brain signals wirelessly via an implanted device. So, you’ll see no abnormality with the monkey playing the video game. In fact, this wireless application is new and innovative as it could improve the safety of human applications, which Musk is aiming to give those who have physical impairments the chance to communicate or interact with others and devices.

Will humans be part of the IoT, Internet of Things, soon like science fiction novels? Well, it often takes only decades to make the imaginable possible.

First, enjoy watching how the monkey plays the Pong with his hand and without.

Monkey plays Pong video gave with his mind using Neuralink brain implant

Then, enjoy reading the article about this innovative application of neuroscience.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-56688812

Topic Reading-Vol.3290-4/14/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,  

Archaeologists discover 3,000-year-old Egyptian city, left 'as if it were yesterday'

Recently, archaeologists discovered an ancient Egyptian city on the western bank of Luxor, the great capital of Upper Egypt during the New Kingdom. The lost city is presumed to have flourished 14^th century BCE when the ninth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty King Amenhotep III ruled the most prosperous time of the kingdom. What is remarkable about this city, which is named “The Rise of Aten,” is that it is in such good shape that it looks like having been buried only recently. You can see not only the walls and streets of the city but also the tools and things used by the ancient residents. It is in fact regarded as the second most important archeological discovery since the tomb of Tutankhamun. Also found was a mysterious skeleton whose knees were wrapped by a rope. Mysterious, isn’t it?

Since the excavation work hasn’t completed yet, there is going to be a lot more to be found in this ancient city, and archeologists are going to be busy finding answers to arising questions. Another new challenge for archeologists!

Enjoy reading the article and see the photos of this newly unearthed ancient Egyptian city.

https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/egypt-lost-city-rise-of-aten-scli-intl-scn/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.3289-4/13/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,  

Climate change: Electric trucks 'can compete with diesel ones'

Trying to be more environmentally conscious, more people are buying electric cars as their prices become more competitive with gasoline-powered vehicles and more charging points are being built. Also, as reported in Vol.3286 on April 10, there already are e-buses transporting passengers in major cities in China. Then, what about heavy freight trucks, which look like emitting a lot of black smog every time the driver pushes the gas pedal? In fact, as much as 7% of global carbon emissions come from heavy freight trucks, which are powered by diesel. You may think it would require a huge battery to power a heavy truck loaded with a container or lumber. But some researchers think it’s not really the size of the battery but how fast an e-truck is charged. Also important is the accessibility of charging points. Even for an autonomous driving truck, the driver needs to take a rest from time to time. So, if quick chargers are placed in every few hour's distances, the battery may not have to be as big as you might think. Of course, there still are financial barriers like the vehicle price and the charging cost, but they could be lowered by government incentives and tax rates on diesel.

When we work on environmental problems, we seem to need to put a different hat on. And ships and airplanes are next on the line. We are working on Re-Industrial Revolution.

Enjoy reading the article and think about the time when no more fossil fuel is burned on the road.

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-56678669

Topic Reading-Vol.3288-4/12/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,  

China one-child policy: can dropping limits increase birth rates? 

Generation One Child had been created in the 1980s to cope with the rapidly growing population in China. Exempted were those who depended on the family workforce like farmers. The policy apparently worked well to serve the purpose. However, it seemed to have helped create an unexpected social problem. One child preference. Though the policy was eased off to have another child, not so many parents, who themselves were the only child, weren’t so encouraged to have a second child. In fact, there were around 30 million new births in the late 1960s but the figure declined to half its peak in 2019 to 15 million and plunged to 10 million in 2020. Even though the child policy is expected to be removed soon, will those younger generations, who had grown in small, mostly single-child, families, be motivated to have more than one child? And this isn’t only China’s problem. South Korea and Japan are suffering the same historic problem.

Enjoy watching the video to learn about what discourages young parents from having more than one child.

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-56608495

Topic Reading-Vol.3287-4/11/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,  

US lawmakers call YouTube Kids a ‘vapid, consumerist’ wasteland

Another wave of the Covid outbreak is reaching many cities and countries, and schools are still or again closed. School children have been spending much longer time at home than they had never experienced since they were infants. But many parents and caregivers found that children nowadays are not as demanding as their childhood days long ago. Today’s kids are equipped with digital devices like a smartphone or tablet that draw their attention as long as their entire awake time. Unlike toys, puzzles, or TV shows, web content, and online games are all dynamic and on-demand, and many of them are free of charge. So, children can do exactly the same things as adults. They become reliant on online services like YouTube. Conveniently, there is a kids version called YouTube Kids, where only children-friendly video contents are supposed to be shown. Also, parents can set restrictions on unrefereed contents and limitations on playing time. However, there are only a few real-free contents on the web. Most of them are sponsored by marketers who want to influence the audience somehow or the other. And Google, the parent company of YouTube, generates significant revenues from ads.

The underlining problem may be the fact that both parents and kids are doing the same things at the same time in the same place. The only difference seems to be the contents.

Enjoy reading the article and learn about how children could be influenced while being online.

https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2021/4/6/us-lawmakers-call-youtube-kids-consumerist-vapid-wasteland

Topic Reading-Vol.3286-4/10/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,  

China's largest e-bus charging station opens in Hangzhou

Hangzhou lies about 180 km southwest of Shanghai and is the largest city and capital of Zhejiang province with over 20 million population in the metropolitan area. Home to the headquarters of world Internet industry leaders such as the Alibaba Group, Hangzhou is known for attracting professionals and entrepreneurs who work in information technology and scientific research. It is also known for West Lake, a UNESCO site, and tea production. Indeed, Hangzhou is an innovative, high-tech-oriented city. So, it is not surprising that the city has been running numbers of electric buses to transport people in and around the city. What you may be surprised is that they just opened a massive e-bus charging site with over 300 charging piles where more than 400 electric busses can be charged daily. Also surprising is that those charging piles can identify bus models, close deals, and charge fees after charging. This intelligent charging station can also adjust the charging speed according to the city’s electricity consumption rate. Smart city, smart transportation.

Enjoy reading the article and learn about this innovative e-bus charging site in Hangzhou, China.

http://www.ehangzhou.gov.cn/2021-04/01/c_276692.htm

Topic Reading-Vol.3285-4/9/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,  

New discoveries fundamentally change the picture of human evolution in Africa

While the oldest human mummies were produced only thousands of years ago, the origins of complex Homo sapiens dated back to around 70,000 to 125,000 years ago in Africa. The climate of the continent in those days seems to have been more forgiving to early humans to evolve. With omega-3 fatty acids, an essential nutrient for brain growth in seafood, it had been believed that coastal sites in Africa were the origin of humankind that were capable of symbolic thought and complex behavior. But a recent study found that such innovations and skills, which helped Homo sapiens evolved in groups, existed even in the inner part of the continent. The researchers of the study think the search for the human origin center needs to be expanded from one region to others including inland. It seems that archeologists will have to work more in harsh environments like deserts to find more evidence of human origins.

Enjoy reading the article and learn about this historic finding of hour origins.

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/03/31/africa/human-evolution-africa-inland-scn/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.3284-4/8/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Egypt puts on a show as it moves royal mummies to new home

Pharaoh [fɛəroʊ/feɪroʊ] is the title of rulers of Ancient Egypt from the First Dynasty approximately 3100BCE until the annexation of Egypt by the Roman Empire in 30 BCE. On April 3, 2021CE, mummified remains from the ancient New Kingdom between 1539BCE and 1075 BCE, including the infamous Ramses II, paraded 7 kilometers in Cairo’s center to their new resting site. It wasn’t the first time for the royal mummies to travel. They had been taken from Luxor to Cairo by boats in the 19^th century before they rested in the museum. Also, infamous Ramses II’s remains traveled to Paris in 1976 for restoration work. But this time, the remains of 18 kings and four queens all together made the Pharaoh’s Golden Parade in climate-controlled containers for an hour, which was broadcasted on TV and online widely. They are now all rested in their new home in the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, which is expected to draw tourists from all over the world. Indeed, Egypt needs to revitalize its tourism, which suffered severely from the 2011 uprising and the recent coronavirus pandemic.

Enjoy reading the article and learn about this historical Egyptian royal mummies’ parade.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/4/3/egypt-parades-royal-mummies-in-show-of-pharaonic-heritage

Topic Reading-Vol.3283-4/7/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Number of ATMs in China shrinks by 80,000 in 2020

In China, the number of Automatic Teller Machines, or ATMs, per 100,000 adults was 84 in 2017, 97 in 2018, 95 in 2019, and 72 in 2020. You can see a rapid increase from 2017 to 2018 and then a sharp decline from 2019 to 2020, or 80,000 fewer ATMs last year alone. These changes clearly show how much Chinese people are relying on non-cash payment, mobile payment in particular recently. In fact, the transaction volume of bank deposits and withdrawals started to decline in 2015 but banks had been adding more ATMs until 2018. Indeed, ATMs are expensive devices to produce and operate. You can easily imagine that ATMs must be guaranteed the highest quality and precision as they count bills and coins accurately and provide the exact amount of cash. Also, they need to be collected and supplied cash from time to time, which involves costly transportation with security. Furthermore, they need to monitored constantly for security reasons. When China’s central bank rolls out digital currency in near future, those who have smartphones will mainly or almost only use Alipay, WeChat Pay, or Digital Currency in China even though cash will stay at least for a while. Will foreign travelers be able to use such non-cash payments in China?

Enjoy reading the article and think about the day when there are no ATMs even in a bank.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202104/02/WS6066d6c9a31024ad0bab3595.html

Topic Reading-Vol.3282-4/6/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Mama bear's struggle with cubs looks hilariously familiar

If a mom has a few kids and tries to have them do the same thing at the same time, she gets really busy keeping them and things in order. The same is true for wild animals. When a mama bear tried to go across a seemingly busy street with her cubs that all looked like about the same ages, she really had to struggle to make them follow her. They were all doing very different things from what she wanted, climbing a tree, sitting down, and going backward in front of dozens of cars that were stopped by the bear family’s roadshow. While the drivers felt sorry for the desperate mama bear trying to her cubs cross the road safely, they also enjoyed watching little cubs behaving cutely and innocently. Did the mama bear sweat?

Enjoy watching the video of this somehow familiar scene.

https://edition.cnn.com/videos/us/2021/03/31/mother-bear-and-cubs-cross-road-moos-pkg-vpx.cnn

Topic Reading-Vol.3281-4/5/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Switzerland's female soldiers can finally stop wearing men's underwear

The Swiss Armed Forces are Switzerland’s military that consists of a small number of regular soldiers and conscripts or volunteers in the army and air force. While maintaining the compulsory military service to all men, Swiss has been reducing the number of active personnel from 400,000 to 100,000. Among the regular service forces, less than 1% of the personnel are women, who are supplied only men’s underwear. Now, in order to increase the female proportion to 10% by 2030, the Swiss army announced to bring in women’s undergarments. A big change.

But if female soldiers were only provided men’s underwear, what about other conditions, such as toilets, barracks, and other privacies?

Enjoy reading the article and learn about the Swiss Army’s ongoing changes.

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/03/31/europe/swiss-army-female-recruits-underwear-scli-intl/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.3280-4/4/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Japan's cherry blossom 'earliest peak since 812'

For nearly all the Japanese people, cherry blossom flowers are the most enjoyable flowers historically and culturally. As they are the symbol of the spring in Japan where new things and lives start including schools, financial year, and new grads’ employment. Surprisingly, there have been records as to when cherry blossoms, or Sakura, bloomed since the 9^th century. Of course, some years they flowered early, but it is obvious that Sakura in Kyoto has been blooming earlier since around 1800 when the industrial revolution started emitting greenhouse gasses. And this year, they broke the previous record. The phenomenon is not limited to Kyoto. Cherry blossom season in Hiroshima began eight days earlier than the previous record in 2004.

As posted yesterday in Vol.3279, the world is surely experiencing earlier springs and longer summers.

Enjoy reading the article and learn about this phenological analysis of Sakura in Japan.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-56574142

Topic Reading-Vol.3279-4/3/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

By the end of the century, summer weather could last half a year (and that's not a good thing)

Was May or October in your childhood as warm as these days? Didn’t you have more snow in winter when you were a kid? Most people now feel hotter summers and warmer winters these days. Are longer summers good news or bad news? It is for beachgoers and mountain climbers as well as resort businesses that can enjoy longer seasons. But as summers are getting longer, other seasons are getting shorter and the world is becoming hotter on average. According to a new study, the length of summer increased from 78 to 95 days while that of spring, fall, and winter decreased by 9, 5, and 3 respectively over the last six decades. We all know that emissions of Greenhouse gases are the main cause of warming temperatures and climate change. If more Greenhouse gas emissions are reduced, summer could become as long as half a year by the end of the century, less than eighty years from now. And every year, we’ll be experiencing hotter and longer summer. The impacts of longer and hotter summer, or warmer climate, are significant to human life and ecosystems, including agriculture, extreme weather conditions and natural disasters, diseases carried by mosquitoes, and allergies by increased pollen. And remember. The more air conditioners are used for a longer time, the hotter the outside will become and the more greenhouse gases are emitted.

Read the article about another evidence of global warming and think

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/03/23/weather/climate-change-hotter-summers-trnd/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.3278-4/2/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Extinction: Elephants driven to the brink by poaching

Modern-day poaching is usually done for sport or commercial profit, both in legal and black markets. For example, killing the rhinoceros for its horn, the African elephant for its ivory, and the pangolin for the skin. Poaching threatens many wild species, particularly those protected in wildlife reserves or national parks and it is a major cause of the population decline especially for African elephants, both bush elephants, and forest elephants, which are considered endangered species along with land degradation and fragmentation. In fact, the number of forest elephants declined over 80% in the past 30 years and bush elephants fell by over 60% in the last half-century. Since elephants need large areas and move long distances to live regardless of the human-set borders, international cooperation is required to stop poaching and conserve their habitats. We don’t want our descendants to learn about the elephant just like the mammoth, do we?

Read the article and learn about the challenges to save the African elephant.

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-56510593

Topic Reading-Vol.3277-4/1/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

'Ice-cream toothache': Cold food and drinks pain explained

Do you feel toothache when you have ice cream or iced drink? Some people have sensitive teeth to such sudden temperature drops. But why? Researchers found that if the underlying dentine below enamel becomes exposed, painful stimuli will cause pain. Such enamel exposure could be caused by tooth decay or gum disease. So, if you feel pain often when you have cold food or drink, you may want to have your teeth checked by a dentist. In the meantime, such tooth pain or dentine hypersensitivity can be treated by specifically designed toothpaste or even chewing gum. However, they won’t cure the cause of the pain. So, in any case, if you feel pain, you’d better see the dentist. Indeed, nerves are there to warn problems.

Enjoy reading the article and learn about the mechanism of toothache by cold stuff.

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-56536300