レアジョブ英会話 Daily News Article Podcast

If more tennis players find themselves breathing easier, it might just be thanks to Carlos Alcaraz.

The four-time Grand Slam champion has often worn a nasal strip in matches since last season and the sport’s other athletes took note. After all, if Alcaraz finds something useful on the court, their thinking goes, maybe it makes sense to give the adhesive bands a shot.

Once associated with Pro Football Hall of Famer Jerry Rice and soccer stars like Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar, the bands, which essentially look like a Band-Aid worn across the bridge of the nose, are popping up on tennis courts—sometimes out of necessity, sometimes out of curiosity.

They are designed to open the nostrils slightly, making it easier to breathe through the nose. Originally marketed to reduce snoring, they’re being embraced to enhance air intake during physical exertion.

The idea is simple: Better breathing could mean better oxygen intake. In practice, the science is less convincing.

In 2021, Brazilian academic Ricardo Dinardi reviewed more than 600 studies on nasal strips and found they didn’t make a real difference in how much air athletes took in, their heart rate or how strenuous exercise felt.

“The effect on athletic performance is mostly placebo,” Dinardi said. “But in elite sports, even perceived benefits can count.”

For other players, like Nicolás Jarry, the strips are more than a trend—they’re a necessity. After nasal surgery in 2020, the Chilean still needed help to draw air into his nose, so he puts them on for every practice and every match he plays.

Jarry definitely has noticed a recent spike in interest among players. He said that even though he’s worn the strips for years, including at this French Open, other competitors on tour never asked about them—until Alcaraz started wearing one last year, sometimes in black, sometimes in pink.

There are those, like 2024 US Open runner-up Jessica Pegula, who are tempted to try.

“I have a horrible deviated septum. I can’t really breathe out of one side of my nose,” said Pegula. “Maybe I should start wearing one.”

She admits, though, that the aesthetic aspect might be a deal-breaker.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

In Japan’s spiritual heartland, tradition meets craftsmanship in miniature form. Artisans in Ise are preserving centuries-old shrine-making by handcrafting sacred replicas for modern homes.

At the family-run factory Miyachu, the craftsmen produce Ise no Shinden—miniature shrines that faithfully replicate the main sanctuary of Ise Jingu, known for its unique construction technique called Yuiitsu Shinmei-zukuri.

Its simple architectural design is said to have originated from ancient raised-floor granaries. The wooden structure is built with Hinoki cypress trees without using any nails, employing a traditional joinery method. Another distinguishing feature is a thatched roof made of Susuki grass, which craftsmen at Miyachu carefully hand-prune using a pair of shears.

Miniature shrines are often made to be used as kamidana—small altars enshrining Shinto deities that are commonly found inside Japanese homes or shops. Typically hung high on a wall, the altar often consists of various religious objects and offerings together with a small-scale shrine and is used as part of daily worship.

The making of miniature Ise shrines dates back to the Edo period (1600–1868), when Ise Jingu was a major pilgrimage destination.

“Many people came to Ise to worship and to receive sacred talismans or ofuda. Naturally, this created a need for kamidana—household altars to enshrine the ofuda. That’s when the kamidana we make today began to spread across the country,” explained Yosuke Kawanishi, the third-generation head of his family business Miyachu.

But like many other traditional crafts, Miyachu faces the challenge of a possible drop in demand as traditional customs fade.

To survive, the company is trying to appeal to younger generations by producing a new line of kamidana shrines with a modern twist.

Their latest designs are minimalist but retain the key features of Ise Shrine, such as a thatched roof.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

A three-year exercise program improved survival in colon cancer patients and kept the disease at bay, a first-of-its-kind international experiment showed.

With the benefits rivaling some drugs, experts said cancer centers and insurance plans should consider making exercise coaching a new standard of care for colon cancer survivors. Until then, patients can increase their physical activity after treatment, knowing they are doing their part to prevent cancer from coming back.

“It’s an extremely exciting study,” said Dr. Jeffrey Meyerhardt of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, who wasn’t involved in the research. It's the first randomized controlled trial to show a reduction in cancer recurrences and improved survival linked to exercise, Meyerhardt said.

Prior evidence was based on comparing active people with sedentary people, a type of study that can’t prove cause and effect. The new study—conducted in Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, Israel and the United States—compared people who were randomly selected for an exercise program with those who instead received an educational booklet.

“This is about as high a quality of evidence as you can get,” said Dr. Julie Gralow, chief medical officer of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). “I love this study because it's something I've been promoting but with less strong evidence for a long time.”

The findings were featured at ASCO's annual meeting in Chicago and published by the New England Journal of Medicine. Academic research groups in Canada, Australia and the U.K. funded the work.

Researchers followed 889 patients with treatable colon cancer who had completed chemotherapy. Half were given information promoting fitness and nutrition. The others worked with a coach, meeting every two weeks for a year, then monthly for the next two years.

Coaches helped participants find ways to increase their physical activity.

After eight years, the people in the structured exercise program not only became more active than those in the control group but also had 28% fewer cancers and 37% fewer deaths from any cause. There were more muscle strains and other similar problems in the exercise group.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

A jury convicted a woman who sneaked onto a flight from New York to Paris without a boarding pass by slipping past security and airline gate agents at John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport last year.

The short trial of Svetlana Dali concluded with a guilty finding on a stowaway charge by jurors in federal court in Brooklyn. Jury selection and opening statements were both held on May 20, and Dali took the stand on May 21.

The judge did not immediately set a sentencing date. Dali faces up to six months in prison, according to her sentencing guidelines. To date, she has been in custody for more than six months.

Dali's lawyer, Michael Schneider, declined to comment to The Associated Press following the verdict.

Surveillance video shows Dali, a 57-year-old Russian citizen with U.S. residency, glomming onto a group of ticketed passengers as they pass two Delta Air Lines staffers who were checking tickets and didn't appear to notice Dali. She then strolls with the group onto an air bridge to a plane bound for Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris.

In court, Dali said she walked onto the plane without being asked for a boarding pass, though she acknowledged she did not have one.

Prosecutors said Dali had initially been turned away from a security checkpoint at JFK by a Transportation Security Administration official after she was unable to show a boarding pass. But she was able to join a special security lane for airline employees and, masked by a large Air Europa flight crew, made it to an area where she was screened and patted down. Then she went to the Delta gate.

On the plane, prosecutors said she hid in a bathroom for several hours and wasn't discovered by Delta crew members until the plane was nearing Paris. Dali told the court she went in there because she was feeling sick.

Crew members notified French authorities, who detained her before she entered customs at the Paris airport, according to court documents.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

The City of Greater Geelong is converting the municipality's green waste into compost, which is then used to grow produce at the botanical gardens. This produce is donated to a local social supermarket to help feed those in need.

Every month, Hamdieh Mohmmadi buys food from this Geelong social supermarket by exchanging vouchers for groceries. “We save money for electricity, fuel and gas and home and kids,” explains Mohmmadi.

Each year, across 57 of Victoria's 79 councils, around 750,000 tons of organic material are collected from green bins. By turning green waste into compost locally, the City of Greater Geelong is leading the way.

“The waste that we're creating, rather than going into landfill, is actually creating nutrients, going into food supply, and going back to the residents that we have that are most in need in Geelong,” explains Emma Sinclair of the City of Greater Geelong.

First, it's manually sorted to remove any contaminants. Next, it's ground into smaller pieces before a machine is used to mix and irrigate the material. It’s then piled up to mature, after which it's broken down further and bagged.

“Landfill space is really expensive. We also don't want to send organic matter to landfill because it generates methane,” explains Andrew Lucas of the City of Greater Geelong.

The Geelong Botanic Gardens is provided with about 2,000 tons of material.

“Those garden beds that have it in it have performed a lot better than the ones that don't,” says horticulturist Liam Kelly.

Approximately four crates of produce are donated to Geelong Foodshare every two weeks.

Geelong is one of the Victorian councils that received funding from Sustainability Victoria to boost the use of compost made from green waste within the community. The goal is to expand this initiative to other local government areas to help feed those in need.

“The more we can invest in turning those resources back into new products, like composts and like mulch, the better value we get out of those,” concludes Matt Genever of Sustainability Victoria. The state government's goal is to divert 80% of waste from landfills by 2030.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

The beauty of the Scottish islands in the UK is world-renowned. The unspoiled nature of the islands is what draws many tourists here, but for some locals on Shetland, the sheer weight of visitors is beginning to take a toll. It’s putting pressure on local services such as transport and leaving residents unable to access other amenities.

Many are fully aware of the financial benefits the visitors from the cruise ships bring, but it's a double-edged sword. The ships are a constant presence, and residents believe a balance needs to be struck.

The Scottish government says it’s considering giving local councils the powers to impose a levy on cruise ships after a consultation with the industry and other stakeholders, to maintain local infrastructure.

A quick poll of people near the port of Lerwick, the main town for the Shetland Islands, shows there is support for a levy.

Although the ships arriving here vary in size, some anchored in Lerwick Harbour carry 3,000 passengers, that’s almost half the town’s population.

Local businesses say the tourists have disadvantages as well as financial benefits.

Ross Manson, No88 Kitchen and Bar owner, says local customers are often deterred from coming to his restaurant because they think they won’t be able to get in because of visitors from the cruise ships.

He says, “... a lot of people don’t come into town on cruise boat days. So if you don’t have cruise booked passengers eating in the restaurant, then you’re absolutely dead.”

Other businesses say they’re able to expand and offer services off-season because of dependable cash brought in by tourists from the cruise ships.

Captain Calum Grains, the Chief Executive of the Lerwick Port Authority, says there is concern that a levy will deter ships from stopping at the island. Grains believes a levy might also convince operators to reduce the number of Scottish island ports they stop at.

He also says if the cruise ships pass on the cost to passengers, they might be put off visiting altogether, impacting the industry as a whole.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

From arm stretches to gentle Pilates, a group of pensioners in Croatia are keeping active well into their later years.

At the heart of it all is 95-year-old fitness trainer Djurdja Vukovic—still leading the way, and showing no signs of slowing down.

Twice a week, she guides elderly women through a mix of light aerobics, stretching and Pilates—movements she’s honed herself over more than five decades.

A former pharmaceutical engineer, Vukovic’s passion for movement began in 1964. She says she has made friendships that have endured beyond the gym.

“For me, I found a haven here. … Because it’s not just about physical exercise, it’s just as much about talking to people and mingling. There are invitations to go to the theater, there are book recommendations for this author or that one. … Outside of very close friends, you can’t share your problems with anyone else, like you can here. So, it works as an emotional outlet, which helped me a great deal in my private life,” she says.

For Vukovic, these sessions are more than fitness. They’re a lifeline, weaving together community, healing, and resilience.

“This is also great because it allows people to stare at TV screens much less, and spend less time with this disastrous daily news, which actually makes you ask yourself what’s living about. But life is merely a blink of an eye. We get born, we live through some period, one way or another—and then you disappear from the world, like you were never here in the first place.”

The classes are small, but the impact is large.

For many here, it’s a space to care for their bodies, and their spirits.

Bozica Birin, a class attendee, says, “I decided to do this because of health problems, that was my number one reason. But also, spending time together is also important. After our training, we like to go have coffee, hang out together, we sometimes go on day trips together. So, this kind of continues outside of the gym, and it allows us to have an active lifestyle.”

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

No Mow May encourages homeowners to stash the lawn mower each spring and let flowers and grass grow for pollinators and water retention. And if your neighbor’s lawn already looks like a wildflower field most of the time, it could be more intentional than passersby might assume.

The movement has expanded to “Let It Bloom June” and the fall version: “Leave the leaves.” Conservation and horticulture groups say year-round low-mowing while selectively leaving native plants to grow can save huge amounts of drinking water and lead to lasting and impactful ecological changes.

The movement is popularized by groups such as Plantlife, a conservation organization based in England.

American lawns, based on English and French traditions, are increasingly seen as a wasteful monoculture that encourages an overuse of pesticides, fertilizer and water. Outdoor spraying and irrigation account for over 30% of a U.S. household’s total water consumption, and can be twice that in drier climates, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

The No Mow effort does encourage people to think more about biodiversity in their yards, and many local nature organizations provide guidance on picking noninvasive plants that fit each region's climate and precipitation levels.

Reducing mowing encourages longer-rooted native grasses and flowers to grow, which breaks up compacted soil and improves drainage, “meaning that when it rains, more water is going to be captured and stored in lawns versus being generated as a runoff and entering into our stormwater system,” said Jason Sprouls, urban waters program manager for the Cumberland River Compact.

Nashville homeowner Brandon Griffith said he was just tired of mowing when he decided years ago to wait and see what comes up. Then he consciously added flowering plants to attract bees and bugs. Now he sees so many insects and pollinators all over his garden that the neighbors’ kids come over to look for butterflies.

He said he’s never heard a complaint—in fact, some of his neighbors also stopped mowing for a month each spring.

“I just enjoy coming out and walking around,” said Griffith. “And looking at it, it’s kind of peaceful. It’s kinda relaxing.”

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Two border collies named Hercules and Ned have quite the spacious office at West Virginia's busiest airport. The border collies and their handler make daily patrols along the mile-long airfield to ensure birds and other wildlife stay away from planes and keep passengers and crew safe. Hercules is also the chief ambassador, soaking in affection from passengers inside the terminal while calming some nervously waiting to board a flight at West Virginia International Yeager Airport.

Chris Keyser, the dogs' handler and the airport's wildlife specialist, said preventing a bird from hitting a plane can make a difference for someone's life. Collisions between wildlife and planes are common at airports nationwide. With that in mind, Yeager management in 2018 bought Hercules at the recommendation of a wildlife biologist.

Hercules spent the first 18 months of his life training to herd geese and sheep around his birthplace at Charlotte, North Carolina-based Flyaway Geese, which teaches border collies to help businesses address nuisance wildlife problems.

When Hercules stepped onto Charleston's airfield for the first time, I held my breath, Flyaway Geese owner Rebecca Gibson said. But boy, he took hold of the reins. It was his place.

He's done an amazing job and has just been a great dog for them. We're very proud of him.

Now 8, Hercules has some help. Ned was 2 when he was welcomed into the fold last year from another kennel where he trained to herd goats and geese. Ned has shadowed Hercules, following commands from Keyser and learning safety issues such as not venturing onto the runway.

About 19,000 strikes involving planes and wildlife occurred at U.S. airports in 2023, of which 95% involved birds, according to a Federal Aviation Administration database. From 1988 to 2023, wildlife collisions in the U.S. killed 76 people and destroyed 126 aircraft.

At the Charleston airport, wildlife-plane incidents vary each year from a few to a couple of dozen.

Anytime a plane hits a bird, it has to be inspected, and it causes a delay in the flight, Keyser said. And sometimes you don't make your connecting flights. So, that's how important it is to keep everything going smooth.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Mayor Eduardo Paes issued a decree in mid-May establishing new rules for the city’s waterfront, saying he wants to preserve urban order, public safety and the environment, as well as promote peaceful relations between tourists and residents.

The new measures came into force on June 1, and they outlaw food and drink sales, chair rentals, loudspeakers and even live music in kiosks without official permits. Also, beach huts are only allowed to have a number rather than the often-creative names many are currently known by.

Some have welcomed the move to tackle what they perceive as chaotic activity on the beach, but others say the decree threatens Rio’s dynamic beach culture and the livelihoods of many musicians and local vendors who may find it difficult or impossible to get permits.

The move to regulate music on Rio’s beachfronts has particularly struck a nerve. “It’s difficult to imagine Rio de Janeiro without bossa nova, without samba on the beach,” said Julio Trindade, who works as a DJ in the kiosks.

The restrictions on music amount to “silencing the soul of the waterfront. It compromises the spirit of a democratic, musical, vibrant, and authentic Rio,” Orla Rio, a concessionaire who manages more than 300 kiosks, said in a statement.

Some are seeking ways to stop the implementation of the decree or at least modify it to allow live music without a permit. But so far, to little avail.

Local councilwoman Dani Balbi lashed out against the bill on social media.

“What’s the point of holding big events with international artists and neglecting the people who create culture every day in the city?” she said on Instagram, in reference to the huge concerts by Lady Gaga in May and Madonna last year.

For Rebecca Thompson, 53, who hails from Wales and was again visiting Rio after a five-week trip last year, the frenzy is part of the charm.

“There’s vibrancy, there’s energy. For me, there’s always been a strong sense of community and acceptance. I think it would be very sad if that were to go,” she said.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.