Young Vietnamese Turn to Digital Tools for Smarter Spending

Digital banking apps are becoming increasingly popular among young people in Viet Nam. (1) __________, surveys show that many users still find it difficult to control daily expenses and often abandon their saving plans halfway, which can result (2) __________ financial pressure in the long run.

Financial experts advise young adults to build healthy money habits early. One simple step is to set aside a fixed amount (3) __________ week using automatic transfers. Consumers are also encouraged to choose (4) __________ that match their actual needs instead of following online trends. In addition, monitoring transactions regularly helps prevent (5) __________ spending on non-essential items. With careful planning and discipline, users can ensure they get full (6) __________ from their income while preparing for future goals.

(Adapted from Vietnam News)

Hanoi Night Light Festival 2026

Featuring nine international teams, the Hanoi Night Light Festival 2026 reaches a record (1) __________ of overseas participants since its launch. The programme is designed to (2) __________ visitors through immersive light displays, interactive installations, and large-scale performances across the city.

Aurora Vision, a firm (3) __________ under the supervision of the Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports, is taking part for the second time. With more than twenty years of expertise in visual design, the group is regarded as one of the (4) __________ favourites for the main title.

Taking place from June 12 to June 28, the festival will present a series of large-scale shows, (5) __________ are intended to merge cutting-edge lighting techniques with traditional values. In recent years, the event has played a key role in helping the capital city (6) __________ its status as a centre for cultural and creative tourism.

(Adapted from Vietnam News)

Unpredictable weather patterns have become a defining feature of the modern climate, unsettling communities that once depended on stable seasonal rhythms. In many regions, sudden heatwaves follow periods of heavy rain, while storms form with little warning, (1) __________. Scientists point out that these rapid shifts, often linked to rising global temperatures, disrupt farming cycles and put pressure on water supplies. Moreover, unusual atmospheric movements – a mix of changing ocean currents, shifting wind systems, and warmer air masses – (2) __________.

In countries that rely on predictable seasons, farmers, planners, and transport officials must constantly revise their strategies. Crops that once thrived in mild conditions now face alternating extremes; roads designed for moderate weather struggle during prolonged heat; and (3) __________. Consequently, governments are urged to develop early-warning systems, improve public communication, and support communities likely to face repeated disruptions.

Although unpredictable weather challenges daily life, it also encourages nations to rethink how they use resources and (4) __________. Regions that invest in resilient infrastructure – stronger flood barriers, flexible energy grids, and adaptive farming methods – are better positioned to handle environmental shocks. Ultimately, the growing volatility of weather patterns reminds societies that preparation, cooperation, and innovation must progress together (5) __________.

1. Animals are primed to be wary through natural selection rather than scary television shows, but like humans, they often make mistakes when watching out for threats.

2. Identifying stealthy predators is already a difficult task. From the perspective of a songbird, a harmless crow flying overhead may look similar to a raptor. But predator identification is made more challenging by the fact that prey animals often juggle multiple activities like foraging, keeping an eye on competitors and courting mates, all at the same time.

3. This can be made easier by working as a group. Members of a school of fish, flock of birds or herd of antelope can share the task of watching out for predators. When an animal detects a predator, they share this information with other group members directly, by producing a warning, or inadvertently, by preparing to flee. The group as a whole can then respond by fleeing, hiding or adopting a defensive position.

4. But this information is not always reliable. When predators are harder to identify, perhaps because they are well camouflaged, an animal may be more likely to mistake unrelated sounds or movements for a predator. Research found that bumblebees were more likely to produce false alarms having previously been exposed to highly camouflaged goldenrod crab spiders than bees that were unaccustomed to them.

5. Some species are instead simply more vulnerable to predators than others. This can be because they are not fast enough to escape a close encounter or not equipped to fight a predator off. For these species, ignoring a true alarm is more likely to result in death, so it may be beneficial to follow a "better-safe-than-sorry" principle and pay the cost of being occasionally wrong. Willow tits produce alarm calls in response to most large aerial objects including planes and crows. This is because they are typically hunted in ambush attacks in which they are unlikely to escape. So the costs of alarm calling at a few planes become dwarfed by the threat of being killed in an attack.

(Adapted from https://www.thesouthafrican.com/animals/why-prey-animals-often-see-threats)

A HEALTHY DOSE OF AI

Deployed in the right way, artificial intelligence in medicine can save lives.

1. DOCTORS, as a whole, are a pretty clever bunch, but they can be resistant to change. The most famous example is probably the 19th-century surgeons who refused to wash their hands when moving from mortuary to labour ward, spreading as-yet-undiscovered microbes and leading to infant deaths. [I] Hungarian physician Ignaz Semmelweis, who collected statistics to make the case that soap and water could save lives, was ridiculed and ostracised.

2. Today, we live in more enlightened times, and medical practice is generally backed by evidence – but are we always getting the right evidence to bring about change? For example, there are signs that bringing artificial intelligence into clinical use could also save lives. [II] As we report in our main story on page 8, radiologists who chose to use an image-classifying AI to help spot breast cancer picked up an extra case per 1000 people screened. Across healthcare systems, the effect could be big.

3. Does that mean we should encourage doctors to hang up their scrubs and let the machines take over? Far from it. [III] While large language model AI systems like ChatGPT can ace multiple-choice medical tests, they do less well on conversational diagnoses. A medic with a good bedside manner and listening ear is still vital, for now.

4. Instead, there are two conclusions we can draw from these studies. The first is that we should be careful about using the generic term "artificial intelligence". Although the two systems we report on share an underlying neural network technology, image classification is a very different task to text generation, and the latter has a much higher risk of the AI spitting out plausible but incorrect results. [IV]

5. The second conclusion is that we should be bolder in testing medical AI systems in real-world settings, rather than just in the lab or simulations. The breast cancer study, by giving radiologists control over when to use AI, shows it can be a useful tool. With a push to get more evidence like this, lives could be saved, just as after Semmelweis, who is now considered a medical hero.

(Adapted from New Scientist)