Topic Reading-Vol.3266-3/21/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

UK labels Russia top security threat, issues warning on China, and promises to build more nuclear warheads

On March 16, the UK government released a 116-page report titled “Global Britain in a Competitive Age.” The Prime minister stressed that the nation can prosper and fulfill its historic mission as a force for the good by the expanded military and science investment. The increase in defense, science, and technology spending surpasses the investment to tackle climate change, biodiversity, or coronavirus. It specifically identifies Russia as the biggest security threat to the nation and also China in the Indo-Pacific region. The plan includes a 33% increase in nuclear warheads, more nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines, and more frequent deployment of their troops overseas. The UK also intends to maintain competitive capabilities not only on Earth but also in space. In short, the once-world-empire seems to reaffirm its commitment to be competitive and influential in today's and future world.

Enjoy reading the article and learn about how Britain views and deals with the new world.

Topic Reading-Vol.3265-3/20/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Covid-19 paused climate emissions – but they're rising again

It has been about a year since the pandemic was declared by the WHO. Many cities were locked down, cars were parked, and airplanes were grounded. So, you might expect greenhouse gas emissions must have been reduced as much as our business and social activities suffered. Not much. Even though there had been some drop in CO2 emissions during the first lockdown, a steady growth in global emissions was monitored during the second half of 2020. This emission recovery was again observed after even a smaller dip during the second wave in late last year-early 2021. It seems that the pandemic, or a short-term human activity break, doesn’t halt the long-term effects of global warming. So, what needs to be learned is the world shouldn’t forget or postpone the commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions under any circumstances. If the actions are delayed, more emissions will have to be reduced.

Enjoy reading the article and learn how little the pandemic has helped to slow global warming.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210312-covid-19-paused-climate-emissions-but-theyre-rising-again

Topic Reading-Vol.3264-3/19/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Why in-person workers may be more likely to get promoted

It’s been over a year since the pandemic began changing how people work. Now, more people work from home than ever. In some cases, new employees have never met their bosses or coworkers in person. In other cases, more employees are given the chance to choose to work from home so that they can save time to commute, take care of their families, or manage their time more productively. But are those remote workers treated as equally as their office coworkers especially when it comes to promotions? Even though their outputs are presented in the same way as their colleagues in the office, their figures are visible only when they are present at an online meeting. Research shows visibility plays an important role when a promotion opportunity arises. Also, being observed by others still has some advantages because it shows the worker’s commitment to the job, team, and organization.

If productivity isn’t the only measure for career development, what can be done to eliminate or alleviate such bias? One idea is to give everyone the chance to show up in the office at least once or a few times a week instead of just the choice.

Since we are still unaccustomed to the new environment and technologies and haven’t gotten used to living with them yet, more trials and reviews need to be done to make full use and benefit of remote work.

Enjoy reading the article and think which way you prefer to work, from home or at office.

https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20210305-why-in-person-workers-may-be-more-likely-to-get-promoted

Topic Reading-Vol.3263-3/18/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Wuhan invites nationwide medics to enjoy cherry blossom season

Wuhan, the capital city of Central China's Hubei province, maybe one of the most well-known cities in China after Beijing and Shanghai. Indeed, Wuhan was the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic last year. After weeks-long strict lockdown, the city became nearly Covid-free. During the difficult time, many medical workers in the city and from other places dedicated themselves to combat the deadly virus, and many of them fell. It was like going to a battlefield with protective gear.

Now the city is enjoying its cherry blossom season even without masks! And they want to show their appreciation to those medical workers who risked their lives to fight the deadly virus by offering special treatment including free exclusive visits, tours, shows, and performances in the following three years. They deserve such special offers by the citizens who were helped by them.

Enjoy reading the article and see the photos of people enjoying cherry blossoms without face masks in the once-epicenter of Covid-19.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202103/13/WS604c6a46a31024ad0baaefcd.html

Topic Reading-Vol.3262-3/17/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

'Deepfake is the future of content creation'

Deepfakes are synthetic media in which a person in an existing image or video is replaced with someone else's likeness. Deepfakes can manipulate or generate visual and audio content by techniques from machine learning and artificial intelligence. They have been used maliciously in celebrity videos, revenge porn, fake news, and facial fraud. As technologies advance, it is becoming more and more difficult for humans to tell if the images and quotes on the screen are real or fake. In the meantime, such AI-created videos, or synthetic media, are being used commercially in news, entertainment, and education. As people become more accustomed to getting information from short videos, it is more productive and effective to present a short video that features an avatar to inform, train, or educate the audience than by written document. In fact, there are synthesized video creating apps that produce videos from simple texts. There is no need to shoot a video of an actual speaker or translating it to other languages. Also, such avatars can be created from a real person or chosen from the list. How time and cost-saving they are! Though the ownership of such AI-created videos needs to be clarified, AI-created videos are expected to be used widely without being recognized so much.

Enjoy reading and learning about this commercial usage of synthetic media.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-56278411

Topic Reading-Vol.3261-3/16/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

India is trying to build its own internet

When India banned TikTok and other Chinese apps last year because of a border conflict, Chingari, India’s equivalent app, recorded 15 million downloads just in two days. The move was meant to keep Indian user data within the country and avoid security risk but was never had been the business plan for the Indian app. Also, the Indian government has been posing pressure on US tech giants like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube for not doing enough to block malicious accounts. India has the second-largest internet population with over 750 million users and hundreds of millions more yet to come online. And there are numbers of ambitious tech talents, startups and entrepreneurs, and abundant funding to support not only to grow the industry but also to fill sudden vacancies of foreign apps.

Or will we be witnessing the decline of the global internet concept as the gap widens between the East and West, democracy and autocracy, religions and traditions? Though users’ data may be preferred to be stored within their respective countries, that could make it less effective and efficient to train recommendation algorithms because of the limited and fragmented data source. Then, will such internet nationalism be justified in today’s globalized world?

When internet nationalism becomes reality, none of the apps seems indispensable.

Enjoy reading the article and think about what the future of the Internet is going to be like.

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/03/08/tech/india-internet-homegrown-apps/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.3260-3/15/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

China and Russia to build lunar space station

It was six decades ago when the first human flew into space. Though it was just a little more than one orbit around the Earth during the 108-minute flight, the captain of the Soviet Union’s Vostok spacecraft, Yuri Gagarin, is remembered in space history.

Then about two decades ago, the International Space Station, more known as ISS, was launched. It is a multinational collaborative project by space agencies of the US, Russia, Japan, Europe, and Canada. The space station looks still in the photos but it actually orbits the Earth 15.5 times a day at a speed of 27,600 km per hour.

Now, China and Russia jointly announced that they will build research facilities on the moon, in orbit, or both. The International Scientific Lunar Station is expected to carry out a wide range of scientific research that can be used by other nations. Though the timetable of this bold agreement hasn’t been announced, it demonstrates a new cooperative move by these not-always-friendly neighboring nations.

Enjoy reading the article and think if this international research project could unite or divide the recently escalating gap between the West and China/Russia.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-56342311