My Top 10 Articles (May 10th – 16th )
Here are my top 10 news and articles I found in the week of May 10th – 16th, as the 2nd entry for the project of posting my top 10 articles weekly. There were overwhelming amount of articles about the US-China trade war on internet and everywhere, but I did not add any of them to my list. It’s because most of news on the trade war were about daily (or hourly) updates or about financial market movements that followed. The purpose of my Top 10 Article project is to share articles that I believe convey essential information for parents or anyone who care about the next generation. I ranked the articles subjectively. I hope you’ll enjoy reading them!
10. Immigrants’ descendants lose their heritage languages – sadly
First generation immigrants speak their language to their children (second generation), but their heritage languages most likely will not be inherited to the third generation, as many researchers conclude. That could be huge missed opportunities given that bilingualism is a boon and that speaking two language provides not only cognitive benefits but also advantages in the job market. As a parent who strive to teach heritage language (Japanese and Arabic) to our young children, it is sad that what I am teaching will disappear sooner or later. However, even if it is not inherited to my grandchildren (if I have any), I still see a huge benefit of my children being bilingual: heritage languages will help them to build their personal and unique identity.
(Source: Financial Times)
9. How faithful athletes compete while fasting
This article talks about how being faithful and practicing fasting make professional athletes stronger. Fasting has been practiced by many countries/religions around the world from ancient times. While Islam’s practice during Ramadan is most well-known, other major religions such as Judaism, Christianity, and Buddhism have practiced fasting. There should be reasons why fasting has been practiced so long. I think one reason is that fasting could benefit people by making them stronger mentally and physically. For former NFL star Hamza Abdullah, a devoted American Muslim, fasting helped him to concentrate during games and gave him opportunities to share his knowledge of a religion that is often misunderstood in America.
(Source: The Guardian)
8. Should we fear population aging?
The global population is rapidly aging. To answer the title question, humans have generally well-adjusted at the personal level; however, the governments across the world should do their part more. Nowadays, more elders continue working and remain active even after reaching to what was once considered retirement age. More younger people and women come to the workforce, contributing to offsetting the shrinking of workforce caused by aging. Productivity has not so fallen as aging progress. On the other hand, the government need to do more on reforming pension, healthcare system by sustainably financing the pension and healthcare from taxes. Besides, the government should carry out labor market reform to expand the opportunities for women, the young, and the elderly.
(Source: Brookings Institute)
7. Why girls are less confident in math and themselves
Although British boys and girls study math until the age of 16 and their average test scores are similar, more boys feel confident in math than girls do. Besides, more boys are willing to continue studying math than girls are. The author analyzes that girls are “trained into self-deprecation, modesty and never, ever being vocally proud of our achievements, for fear of being labelled boastful”, resulting in women feeling lack of confidence and holding back. It’s a huge waste of talent and potential for girls, sadly. Given that math is fundamental to many other academic fields and to business and finance, good math background is a huge advantage for their career.
(Source: Financial Times)
6. How to avoid falling victim to fake news
False belief, fake news, and misinformation are so widespread on internet and social media nowadays. In this article, a philosopher of biology and behavioral sciences, suggests three ways to avoid online misinformation:
Consider sources, not the sharer. Although we tend to trust particular persons (influencers or authorities), most of them will sometimes be fallible.
Seek for news sources that carefully fact check their claims, because such news sources are generally reliable.
If an article is about scientific research, trust journalists who cover a wide range of studies. Single study (especially if it’s surprising or novel) can be misleading or even false.
(Source: Psychology Today)
5. A.I. might just save your job, rather than robbing you of job
This article nicely summarizes the impact that A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) could bring on our work, instead of raising already rampant anxiety that A.I. might replace predictable and routine jobs. The author says that A.I. will actually help employees do their job more effectively. First, A.I. can help employees by freeing them up from focusing on tasks that are repetitive, predictable, and manual. Rather, they can focus more on customers. Also, A.I. helps sales representatives by letting them know where to allocate their time so that they can meet the quota.
(Source: Fortune)
4. In search of the next sustainable seafood
Owing to the predicted rise of sea water temperature worldwide, we may not be able to consume some fish in the future. So far, partly because of good management, fish populations haven’t been strongly impacted by warming. But some large fish (such as salmon and tuna) is expected to decrease, while small fish (such as sardine and herring) might be relatively intact. Further, the article mentions that seaweeds, farmed with shellfish such as oysters, can absorb tons of carbon, possibly contributing to offsetting of sea temperature rises. As a Japanese, it is a good news, because Japanese have eaten seaweed such as nori, kombu, wakame from ancient times. We can certainly offer a wide range of delicious seaweed recipes to the world.
(Source: Fortune)
3. Could aviation ever be less polluting?
Aviation contributes about 2% of the world's global emissions, and air travel continues to grow in popularity across the world. Thus, aviation industry is under pressure to reduce global emission. Technological innovation such as developing more fuel-efficient jet engine or using greener energy like biofuel would be an ideal solution, but putting them into practical use seems very challenging. The article ends with a sentence that “(t)he inescapable conclusion seems to be that, if we really want to reduce aviation's carbon emissions, we should all fly less often.”
(Source: BBC)
2. The dispute between Philippines and Canada over waste imports has escalated
Many advanced countries import wastes to developing or emerging economies, potentially causing harm to health and environment of the receiving countries. This is a shame. Consumers in advanced countries need to educate themselves about how recycling works and what they should do. This article reports that Canada has shipped to Philippines the disposal of waste wrongly labelled as recyclable, causing an escalated dispute between the two countries.
(Source: BBC)
1. Defending science in the face of political attacks
This is a powerful article written by a marine biologist after the third annual March for Science held in New York City earlier this month. Science plays a critical role in policymaking. Based on trustable data and scientific facts, policymakers can take appropriate actions. Unfortunately, however, science has been often ignored for a long time especially in the context of global warming. In USA, science has been significantly attacked in the last two years, including through the administration’s implementation of anti-science rules/regulations/orders. Although people have been fighting back, the author states that more need to be done, including citizens’ voting and building communities for our climate, health, economies, and safety.
(Source: Scientific America)
(Photo: JR Korpa of Unsplash)