Topic Reading-Vol.3367-6/30/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Drones are helping to clean up the world's plastic pollution

Drones are convenient and efficient. They can shoot images, spray pesticides, carry small items, and survey areas whether manually or autonomously. So, how about using drones to map where plastic waste is? Since plastic waste is often washed up on the shore of beaches, discarded in remote places, or floating in the ocean, it is physically and economically difficult to identify where, what kind, and how much plastic waste exists. A newly developed way to make use of drones’ capability is to survey designated areas to locate where plastic waste is and identify the type and size of plastic waste through computer software and image recognition. Instead of humans walking around and capturing images manually, aerial surveillance does the job much more extensively, accurately, and quickly. Though this technology isn’t capable of analyzing microplastics, it does identify their source.

A lot of new technologies have become available recently, such as drones, robots, AI, and autonomous driving, which are waiting to be utilized more and better.

Enjoy reading the article and learn about this innovative way to use drones.

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/06/23/europe/ellipsis-drone-plastic-pollution-c2e-spc-intl/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.3366-6/29/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

National Geographic says the world has a fifth ocean

Approximately 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered by one ocean, which is geographically divided into distinct named regions. The boundaries between these regions have evolved over time for a variety of historical, cultural, geographical, and scientific reasons. Historically, there are four oceans: the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, and Arctic, composing 47%, 24%, 20%, and four percent of the ocean area respectively. Though the Southern (Antarctic) ocean has been recognized as the fifth ocean by many countries and organizations, the boundaries of the most recently named ocean haven’t been agreed upon unanimously yet. On World Oceans Day (June 8), National Geographic, one of the world's pre-eminent and most visible mapmaking groups, has officially named the Southern Ocean and drew the water border. Australia will never agree with the border as it considers everything south of the country the Southern Ocean.

No matter how it is called, the water around Antarctica is colder and less saline. There are different kinds of faunas from other regions of the ocean such as whales, seals, penguins, fish, and birds.

Enjoy reading the article and learn about the fifth ocean of the world.

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/southern-ocean-fifth-national-geographic-hnk-scn/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.3365-6/28/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Rainforests are under siege. Here's what you should know.

Last week on June 22, Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer, hosted its annual Prime Day for its prime members. On the same day, the world observed World Rainforest Day to raise awareness about the preservation of rainforests. Over half of the world’s primary forest is in Amazon rainforests, which includes parts of nine countries and covers nearly 40% of South America. It accounts for just over half the primary forests found across the tropics. It is also home to 10 percent of the world’s known species and represents over half of the rainforest on the planet. You may know that rainforests remove greenhouse gas from the atmosphere, and prevents it from warming the planet. In fact, rainforests account for 20% of ground photosynthesis, and therefore they produce oxygen and remove greenhouse gas from the atmosphere. The majority of the Amazon is in Brazil but unfortunately, the current Brazilian administration pays little attention to preserve this invaluable natural asset. As a result, the Amazon rainforest lost more trees by deforestation and wildfires in 2019. Since the Amazon is home to biodiversity and medical resources, the world will lose even more.

Enjoy reading the article and learn how invaluable the Amazon rainforest is for all living things on earth.

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/06/22/world/world-rainforest-day-facts/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.3364-6/27/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

What it's really like to be an Amazon warehouse worker during Prime Day

Did you take advantage of Amazon’s Prime Day sales last week? The event is characterized by a number of sales and promotions exclusive to Amazon Prime subscribers, who have paid annual subscription fees to get free deliveries, prime videos, games, and music. Members may find heavy discounts and good prices on items they are interested in and take advantage of this annual sales opportunity. Amazon is happy to take as many orders as they could get to increase revenues. But this sales event doesn’t seem to be enjoyed by many of Amazon’s warehouse workers. They are tasked to work overtime, like 11 hours instead of ten. You may not think it’s too much to add but those warehouse workers are working under extreme pressure to keep up with Amazon’s strict work requirements. Though they are mostly fairly compensated, mandatory overtime poses both physical and mental pressures to the workers. And there are other sales events, such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday, that keep them extra-busy.

Enjoy reading the article and learn about the behind-the-scenes of Amazon’s Prime Day sales.

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/06/21/tech/workers-amazon-prime-day/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.3363-6/26/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Can old traditions and tech help Singapore reach zero waste?

Singapore is known for its clean streets and its modern and tall buildings. It makes every effort to ensure that the streets are always kept clean with strict laws on vandalism, littering, public urination, and spitting on streets. In fact, the city-state’s overall recycling rate exceeds 50%. However, there still are things thrown away or put out to be collected on the streets. Who collects them? There are rag and bone collectors who pick up everything from newspapers, cans, used clothes, and electronic devices in Singapore. They use a hand-pushed trolley, collect items from the street, and sell them to traders or recycling firms. Though many of them are old, they have the knowledge and experience to do the job. Nowadays, thanks to the smartphone and apps, they can work more efficiently with collection companies. In fact, Singapore’s rubbish collection, waste disposal, and recycling services are all done by the private sector. They are eager to make use of new technologies to do their businesses more efficiently and sustainably.

Enjoy reading the article and learn about the last mile for waste collection in the cleanest city in the world.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-57484499

Topic Reading-Vol.3362-6/25/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Can we have democracy without political parties?

In elections, do you vote for the candidate or the party? Which opinions are more important to you or closer to yours, the candidates or the political party’s? In the US, while the gap between Democratic and Republican parties has been narrowing in national elections, there has been a steady increase in the share of US voters who claim no affiliation with either party. In fact, that share has risen to 38%, larger than the share of voters who identified with either party.

In a modern democracy, a political party is a group of persons organized to acquire and exercise political power. Party members usually have similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or policy goals. It is common for democratic elections to feature competitions between liberal, conservative, and socialist parties along with communism, nationalism, and religious parties.

Recently, issues like LGBTQ, abortion, racial and gender discrimination, immigration, environment, and even vegetarianism have become more important agendas than conventional political ideologies or priorities, and more people have become less supportive of traditional parties. Furthermore, those parties themselves have been arguing the legitimacy of the election and the opponent lately, which seems to have made themselves disreputable. Also, direct approaches like crowdfunding and tweets seem to have been giving opportunities for independent candidates who may not belong to the mainstream of the party. Maybe the time for a neo-modern political system to emerge.

Enjoy reading the article and think about what the national elections will be like in the next decade.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210607-can-we-have-democracy-without-political-parties

Topic Reading-Vol.3361-6/24/2021

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

7 tips for choosing your perfect coffee

Coffee can be brewed in different ways, such as boiling, steeping, dripping, or pressuring like expresso. Nowadays, dripped coffee seems the most popular way to serve coffee around the world besides espresso or instant/soluble coffee. Then, what kind of beans to brew? There are several factors to classify the type of coffee beans. First, the species. While Arabica coffee is richer in flavor with a smoother and sweeter taste, Robusta coffee has a stronger and bitter taste with more caffeine. Another way to classify coffee beans is whether they are blended or single-origin, just like blended or single-malt whisky. The former has a well-rounded flavor while the latter presents distinct characteristics of the region. The next type is how the beans are roasted. If beans are roasted longer, they become darker and bitterer, like French or Italian roast coffee. When beans are lightly roasted, they keep more flavor and acidity. To your surprise, dark roast coffee contains less caffeine as it is burned off as beans are heated. Then, you want to look at how the beans are ground or you grind beans yourself right before brewing. While whole beans stay fresher and longer, ground coffee goes stale quickly because more surface area is exposed to air. In addition to these characteristics, there are other factors that affect the taste of coffee, such as how you take your coffee, like with milk, cream, and sugar, when you drink your coffee, like in the morning or after a meal, and where you enjoy your coffee, like in the kitchen, office, or café, and your mood.

Enjoy reading the article and learn basic information you want to know when you buy coffee beans.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/articles/coffee_flavour