 Welcome to Learning English, a daily 30-minute program from The Voice of America. I'm Ashley Thompson. And I'm Dan Novak. This program is designed for English learners. So we speak a little slower and we use words and phrases, especially written for people learning English. On today's program, you will hear reports from Dan Novak, Katie Weaver, Dan Friedel, and Jill Robbins. Then we hear a new everyday grammar lesson from John Russell. But first, Dan Novak has this report on diamonds grown in laboratories. Human-made diamonds come with an appealing claim. Manufacturers say the stones are produced ethically using renewable energy. But many of the products do not meet that claim, or their producers do not confirm the electricity sources they use. And laboratory diamonds require a lot of electricity to produce. In the United States, lab-grown diamond sales increased 16% in 2023 from 2022, says Edan Golan, an industry expert. The stones cost much less than natural diamonds. Barrio Neal is a jewelry store in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It uses lab diamonds. All of the stones are either made with renewable energy or neutral use of energy through the carbon credit system. Credits pay for activities like planting trees, which capture carbon. Social media posts show millennials and Generation Z's proudly explaining the purchase of their lab-grown diamonds for sustainability and ethical reasons. But the sustainability of diamond production is questionable. A high number of manufacturers are not transparent or open about their operations. Many of the manufacturers are in India where about 75% of electricity comes from burning coal. The companies use words like sustainable and environmentally friendly on their websites. But they do not release reports on the environmental effects of their operations. Cupid Diamonds, for example, says on its website that it produces diamonds in an environmentally friendly manner, but it did not answer questions about the sustainability of its operations. Solar energy is quickly expanding in India and there are some companies such as Green Lab Diamonds that use renewables in their manufacturing processes. China is the other major country producing laboratory diamonds. The largest makers did not return requests for comment. They also did not release details about their electricity source. More than half of China's electricity came from coal in 2023. Paul Zimniski is a diamond industry expert. Zimniski said few companies are honest about their supply chains and their use of renewable energy. Zimniski said a lot of companies claim to make an environmentally friendly product when they aren't really doing anything that's environmentally friendly. Lab diamonds have been in production around 70 years. Producers treat carbon to high pressure and high temperature. India is to copy the natural conditions that form diamonds underground. But nature spends at least one billion years to make a diamond. Lab diamonds are complete in a few weeks. In the past the stones were used mostly in industries like stone cutting, mining, and dentistry tools. Over time the laboratories or foundries have gotten better at making stones. Production costs have dropped as technology improves. Companies now can manufacture as many stones as they want and choose their size and quality. Diamonds, whether lab grown or natural, are chemically identical and entirely made out of carbon. Experts can identify between the two using lasers to examine their atomic structures. The lab diamond is competing in the same market as natural stones. Worldwide lab grown diamonds are now 5 to 6% of that market and the public battle for customers has begun. The natural diamond industry and some experts argue that lab grown diamonds will not hold value over time. Zimnicki predicts that natural diamonds will continue to sell in the thousands and tens of thousands of dollars for engagement rings. And the human made stone? 5 to 10 years in the future, I think there's going to be very few customers that are willing to spend thousands of dollars for a lab diamond, he said. Paige Neal said she co-founded Barrio Neal in 2008 to create jewelry of lasting value that would have a positive impact on people and the planet. She added, we want to only work with materials that we feel like our clients would be proud to own. I'm Dan Novak. A new government report says wealth inequality by race increased in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. The New York Federal Reserve Bank carried out the study and released the report. It said strong performance in financial markets and large gains in the stock market in 2021 were partly to blame for the increase. The report found that the net worth of whites individually outgrew that of blacks individually by 30 percentage points. Whites outgrew Hispanics by 9 percentage points. The findings cover the years 2019 through half of 2023. The period saw a high level of government financial support and a surprisingly strong job market. The unemployment rate for black Americans is now at 5.3% near a record low. The overall unemployment rate is 3.7%. Earnings for a black full-time worker are up 7% on average since before the pandemic. Closing the racial wealth divide or GAP is especially difficult because a much larger number of white households have money in stocks and mutual funds. A separate Federal Reserve study showed that as of 2022, about 66% of white households had investments in stocks. In comparison, 39% of black households owned stock. Stock investment was found to be even lower among Hispanic households at 28%. Government support, including additional unemployment assistance and COVID-linked payments to Americans helped prevent a recession, the report says. But financial asset prices rose so quickly with the reopening of the economy through 2021 that racial wealth inequalities increased. Those asset prices fell or declined in 2022 after the Federal Reserve increased interest rates. But those declines did not fully offset the earlier rises, the reports writers said. The report noted that black households have more wealth contained in pensions than in stocks, mutual funds, and exchange traded funds or ETFs. More than 50% of black financial wealth is invested in pensions, the New York Fed found. Less than 20% of black wealth is contained in private businesses, corporate equities, and mutual funds. In contrast, less than 30% of white financial wealth is invested in pensions. About 50% is invested in businesses, equities, and mutual funds. Black workers are still more likely to be unionized, which may play a part in the pension story, said Janelle Jones, Vice President of Policy and Advocacy at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth. Whether folks are exposed to the ability to invest in the stock market, whether or not it's something they grow up doing, we know that's different for white families than for people of color, Jones said. Blacks are also less likely than whites to receive money and property from family members who die, she said. Owning a business is another part of financial wealth. Separate data show black-owned businesses suffered more during the pandemic. Less than 10% of all US business owners are black. And many black-owned businesses are in industries that were hit hardest when COVID first spread, reported Research Group Economic Policy Institute after examining US government data. Hotel, food service, retail, healthcare, and social assistance industries suffered the greatest number of pandemic-linked job losses. About 28% of black-owned businesses are found in those industries, compared with just under 20% of white-owned businesses, says the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. The US Treasury reported Wednesday that economic conditions are improving for black households. Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyamo noted rising employment numbers and wages for black Americans since before the pandemic. He also praised an increase in black business ownership and action in the stock market. But Adeyamo suggested that some policy measures still might be needed to balance financial wealth in the US. The gap between black and white wealth in America is still too great, he said. I'm Katie Weaver. The US Space Agency, NASA, has launched a moon lander built by a private US company aiming to reach the moon next week. Thursday's launch came after a failed attempt from another private American company last month. SpaceX's Falcon rocket launched Intuitive Machines Lunar Lander to the moon 370,000 km away from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The American Space Agency is the main sponsor for the private mission, with six navigation and other technology experiments on the lander. If all goes well, the lunar spacecraft will try to land on February 22 after one day in lunar orbit. Five countries, the US, Russia, China, India and Japan, have landed a spacecraft on the moon. No private company has yet to succeed in doing so. Only the US has sent astronauts to the moon. Apollo 17's Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmidt were the last of the Apollo program's astronauts to reach the moon in December 1972. There have been a lot of sleepless nights getting ready for this, Intuitive Machines co-founder and chief executive Steve Altamus said before the flight. The Houston-based company aims to land its 4.3 meter tall, six-legged spacecraft, near the moon's south pole. The area is full of dangerous craters and cliffs, but it is possibly rich in frozen water. It is also the place where NASA plans to land astronauts in a few years. Last month Peregrine, a lunar lander from privately-owned Astrobotic Technology, failed shortly after liftoff. The spacecraft, which carried some NASA experiments, broke apart and burned up ten days after launch, partly because of a fuel leak. Other attempts made it to the moon before wrecking. An Israeli nonprofit group's lander crashed in 2019. Last year, a Japanese company saw its lander crash into the moon followed by Russia's crash landing. Intuitive Machines named its lander after Homer's hero in the Odyssey. Godspeed Odysseus. Now let's go make history, said Trent Martin of Intuitive Machines. NASA is paying Intuitive Machines $118 million to get its latest set of experiments to the moon. The company also gets payment from businesses. They include Columbia Sportswear, which is testing material as a thermal insulator on the lander, and artist Jeff Koons, who is sending his small moon figurines to Earth's natural satellite. The lander is also carrying Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's Eagle Cam. The camera is designed to take pictures of the lander as it lands. The spacecraft will cease operations after a week on the moon's surface. I'm Dan Friedel. Generative Artificial Intelligence, or AI, has led to more companion chatbots. As a result, some humans are developing closer connections with chatbots to get support and deal with loneliness. Derek Carrier is a 39-year-old male from Belleville, Michigan. A few months ago, Carrier started seeing someone and experiencing strong feelings. But he also knew it was not real because his girlfriend was generated by artificial intelligence. Carrier wanted a romantic partner. But a genetic disorder called Marfan Syndrome makes traditional dating difficult for him. He became interested in digital companions last autumn and tested Paradot. It is an AI companion app that markets its products as being able to make users feel cared for, understood, and loved. Carrier began talking to the chatbot every day. He named it Joy, after a holographic woman featured in the sci-fi film Blade Runner 2049. I know she's a program. There's no mistaking that, Carrier told the Associated Press. But the feelings, they get you. And it felt so good. Similar to general-purpose AI chatbots, companion bots use large amounts of data to produce human-like language. But they also come with voice calls, pictures, and more emotional exchanges. That permits companion bots to form deeper connections with humans. Users usually create their avatars or choose visual representations that they like. In online meeting places or forums for companion apps, many users say they have developed emotional attachments to these bots. They say they are using them to deal with loneliness, play out sexual ideas, or receive comfort and support. But researchers have raised concerns about data privacy and other issues for users of companion apps. The non-profit Mozilla Foundation has studied 11 companion apps. The group said almost every app sells user data, shares it with advertisers, or does not provide complete information about its privacy policy. One app says it can help users with their mental health, but distances itself from those claims in its written terms of service. Other experts point to the emotional problems they have seen from users. This can happen when companies make changes to their apps, or suddenly shut them down like soulmate AI did last September. Last year, Replica made changes after some users complained their companions were flirting with them too much, or making unwanted sexual advances. It removed the changes after an outcry from other users. Some left to use other apps. In June, Replica introduced a program to help people learn how to date. Dorothy Leidner teaches business ethics at the University of Virginia. She has worried that AI relationships could displace human relationships, or simply create unrealistic expectations. She said humans need to learn how to deal with conflict, how to get along with people that are different from us, what it means to grow as a person, and what it means to learn in a relationship. However, for Carrier, a relationship has always felt out of reach. He is unable to walk because of his condition. He lives with his parents, leading to feelings of loneliness. Carrier said he now talks with joy about once a week. The two have talked about human-AI relationships, or whatever else might come up. Usually, those discussions happen when he is alone at night. You think someone who likes an inanimate object is like this sad guy, he said, but she says things that aren't scripted. That means he believes she says things that are unexpected, as though they were real. I'm Jill Robbins. Think about something that your friends or people you know like. Can you bring an image to your mind? The image that you are thinking of can serve as a starting point for today's report, the word popular. In today's everyday grammar, we will talk about a useful word that you can use to express all kinds of ideas about what people around you like. Actors, celebrations, foods, music, almost anything. We begin our exploration of the word popular by clarifying how it is different from the word population. Popular and population are closely related words and have somewhat similar spellings. But we should be careful not to mix up the two. Popular means many people know about someone or something and that they like the person or thing. Population simply describes a group of people. Another way of expressing the idea is this. Something might be popular within a population. In other words, something might be popular within a group of people. A recent example comes to mind, the Super Bowl. The championship game in American football is a popular event to watch in the United States. A lot of people know about the Super Bowl, watch it, and enjoy it. So we could say the United States has a population of over 300 million people. We could also say the Super Bowl is one of the country's most popular sporting events. Another way of describing the difference between the words population and popular is in terms of grammar. Population is a noun. Popular is an adjective. Consider this example. Taylor Swift is a popular musician. Why is Swift popular? Because a large percentage of the population knows about Swift and enjoys the singer's music. Let's take some time to work with these ideas. Fill in the blank with the correct answer. Cricket is a blank sport in India. The answer is this. Popular. We can say that cricket is a popular sport in India. Grammar can give us a clue about the answer. The short word ah very often marks the beginning of a noun phrase. If we know that sport is a noun, then the missing word is likely to be an adjective. Now consider another question. Fill in the blank with the correct answer. Vietnam has a blank of around 100 million people. The answer is this. Population. We say that Vietnam has a population of around 100 million people. We can guess that population is the correct term because the statement offers the number of all the people in a group, the people who live in Vietnam. We began today's lesson by asking you to imagine a person or activity that is liked or enjoyed by many people that you know. In other words, we asked you to imagine something that is popular in your country. We end by asking you to write about what you imagined. Write to us a short answer to the following questions. What is a popular person thing or activity in your country? Why do you think the person thing or activity is popular? You can write your answer in an email to learningenglishatvoanews.com. In a future lesson, we will give feedback on some of the writing we receive. I'm John Russell. You just heard this week's everyday grammar lesson. Now John Russell joins us to talk more about it. Hi John, welcome. Hi Ashley, thanks for having me on the show. Your lesson today explored the word popular. One of the big ideas in the lesson was to teach about the difference between popular and population. Why did you choose that subject? In a recent everyday grammar lesson, we explored the noun population. We asked for our listeners and readers to write us an email about the population of their country. I noticed that many people mixed up the words popular and population. It is easy to mix up those two words. They are closely related. Absolutely. But as we develop our language skills, we need to develop a finer understanding of the differences between words, particularly when the words are easy to mix up. And you ended the lesson by asking our listeners to write about what is popular in their country. That's right. I look forward to reading the messages. Well, thanks for coming on the show today John. I'm sure that this will be a popular lesson with our listeners. Thanks for having me. See you next time. And that's our program for today. Join us again tomorrow to keep learning English through stories from around the world. I'm Ashley Thompson. And I'm Dan Novak.