Do you really know?

What are Incels? Thanks for asking!Incel is a portmanteau word which is short for “involuntary celibate”. These people are single despite themselves, and have abandoned any hope of one day finding love or even sex. The incel community is overwhelmingly made up of young men, who are particularly active online, expressing their hatred towards women. Members of this subculture are obsessed by the fact that women apparently refuse to have sex with them. Ironically, the term itself was actually invented by a woman.How can that be the case? Back in 1997, a female Canadian student built a website known as Alana’s Involuntary Celibacy Project. She intended to create a community for sex-deprived people of all genders, to discuss their lack of sexual activity, whether it be due to social awkwardness, being marginalised, or any other reason. Since then, tens of thousands have joined incel forums online and community groups. But in most cases, they are straight men between 18 and 35 years old. Their common idea is that women are responsible for their long-term single status. Many incels openly display their resentment towards women in online posts, labelling them as “pathological liars” for example, or using misogynistic insults like “slut” and “whore”.Incels have their own jargon, calling supposedly more attractive men and women “Chads” and “Staceys”. These people are able to choose their sexual or romantic partners, whereas incels can’t. That’s violent language! Has Incel anger ever manifested itself in physical attacks? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!To listen the last episodes, you can click here: What is mental health?What is antimicrobial resistance?What is K-Pop?See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is blasphemy? Thanks for asking!An act of blasphemy is an insult or offence committed towards a deity. Blasphemy is often a sensitive subject, and one which can lead to tragic consequences. So should insulting God or a religion be a crime or recognised as a basic right? The Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam have long condemned blasphemy. In the Middle Ages, the notion was written into law in certain places. It was feared that insults to god would anger him into causing natural disasters and contagious diseases. Is blasphemy still illegal in this day and age?It is indeed in some places, such as Italy where blasphemy is clearly outlawed. gavel Meanwhile in Germany, Poland and Greece among other countries, there are laws against religious defamation which could apply to blasphemy. In Saudi Arabia or Iran, blasphemy is punishable by the death penalty. Other countries have actually gone the other way and scrapped previously existing blasphemy laws, like Denmark in 2017. That was the case in France too as far back as 1881, when a law on freedom of the press was introduced. Sometimes, the legal distinction can be subtle. While it may not be illegal to make general criticism of a religion, it is usually a criminal offence to insult somebody based on their faith.There has long been a tradition of drawing religious figures in satirical cartoons or works of art. Think about the Piss Christ painting created by Andres Serrano back in 1987, or more recently the French magazine Charlie Hebdo, which has frequently published cartoons depicting the Muslim prophet Mohammed.Such works make national or even international headlines, generating significant public debate. Amid the controversy, there is often a violent backlash from religious extremists.If national laws are clear on the subject, why is there still so much debate around blasphemy? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!To listen the last episodes, you can click here: What is mental health?What is antimicrobial resistance?What is K-Pop?See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is mental health? Thanks for asking!New lockdown measures are due to come into effect across England this week, following Boris Johnson’s announcement on Saturday. Pubs, restaurants, leisure facilities, most shops and places of worship will be forced to close, with remote work encouraged where possible. These new restrictions are sure to have an impact on the population’s mental health. The World Health Organisation defines mental health as “a state of well-being in which an individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and is able to make a contribution to his or her community.” One in four people experiences some kind of mental health issue during their lifetime.What are some signs of mental health disorders? Well, there are over 500 different kinds, so the answer is it really depends. It could be something like difficulty in controlling emotions or getting a good night’s sleep. Then you have more serious disorders like bipolar or schizophrenia. The most common mental health issue among Europeans is anxiety, followed by depression. A study found that the continent’s most affected countries were Finland, the Netherlands, Ireland and France. Meanwhile at the lower end of the scale were Romania, Bulgaria and Poland.These disorders don’t just happen overnight do they? To what extent is mental health recognised by states? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!To listen the last episodes, you can click here: What is antimicrobial resistance?What is K-Pop?What is the Electoral College?See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is antimicrobial resistance? Thanks for asking!Antimicrobial resistance, or AMR for short, refers to how bacteria are able to become resistant to antibiotics. This phenomenon has been increasingly common since the turn of the century and is of great concern to public health authorities. AMR could become one of the highest causes of mortality across the world. Back in 1928, Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, the first ever antibiotic. It was revolutionary in the world of medicine and antibiotics ended up increasing human life expectancy by 10 years! But the widespread uptake of such treatments has led to the development of AMR. To put it simply, antibiotics are becoming less and less effective.So are we saying that doctors prescribed antibiotics too often, leading to this problem?That’s partly true, and sometimes for conditions or illnesses which didn’t really require antibiotic treatment. But that’s not the only issue. Antibiotics are also used on animals, in livestock farming. Research published in Science magazine last year showed that resistance rates had doubled at some farms since the start of the century. When resistance develops in animals, it can be transmitted to human beings, especially through food. After being exposed to antibiotics, bacteria can evolve and develop defence mechanisms, eventually being able to resist the impact of medicine. Even worse, when this resistance develops in one species of bacteria, it can be transferred to others too. In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!To listen the last episodes, you can click here: What is the Electoral College?What is synthetic DNA?What is tax evasion?See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is K-Pop? Thanks for asking!On October 15th, Big Hit Entertainment debuted on the Korean stock exchange. If you’re not familiar with the company itself, you’re more likely to have heard of BTS, one of the bands they created. In barely 24 hours, the success of the IPO had exceeded all expectations. A single day of trading was enough to bring the value of Big Hit Entertainment up from $4.5bn to nearly $7.4bn. Also known as the Bangtan Boys, BTS are the most famous boy band from South Korea, and a global music phenomenon. Particularly popular among teenagers, the group’s last single “Dynamite” reached 350 million views on Youtube in under a month.So what’s the magic K-pop formula?There are two essential ingredients really. Firstly a flashy look, usually accompanied by an equally extravagant hairstyle. And the second key part is of course the Korean language. K-pop band members are generally young and quirky. Throw in a strong marketing push and you’re ready to turn these young people into stars. K-pop bands really are popular icons for the youth of South Korea. The songs themselves talk about various themes like friendship, love, life and death, right and wrong, and of course sex!It sounds like a neatly packaged commercial product! In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!To listen the last episodes, you can click here: What is the Electoral College?What is synthetic DNA?What is tax evasion?See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is the Electoral College? Thanks for asking!In the United States, the President isn’t actually directly elected by citizens. That responsibility goes instead to the electoral college. The system means it’s actually possible for the candidate elected president to have less votes overall than their defeated opponent. Since the year 1880, Election Day has taken place on the Tuesday following the first Monday in November. Next week, Americans will go to the ballot and cast their votes in the 2020 election. As you may well recall, four years ago Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump went head-to-head. What if I told you that Clinton actually won that election? I’d say you were living in an alternative universe!Well, Hillary Clinton received 48% of all votes, while Donald Trump got 46%. There was an overall difference of 3 million votes between the two candidates. Don’t get carried away, Donald Trump didn’t cheat. He did win the electoral vote. But Clinton won the popular vote. It was only the fourth time that had happened in the history of the US election. How is that even possible?! In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!To listen the last episodes, you can click here: What is synthetic DNA?What is tax evasion?What is a think tank?See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is synthetic DNA? Thanks for asking!Humanity is faced with the complex issue of how to store and archive all the digital data it produces. Sometimes the solutions to our problems are right before our eyes. Or even in every cell in our body! Soon enough, we may end up using synthetic DNA to store our data. In the last few years, scientists have made significant progress in sequencing and synthesising DNA. We are now able to create DNA quickly, without needing to use chemistry. And this progress is leading to great hope. But what’s the point of producing DNA?Synthetic DNA can be used to create new medicines, produce better quality food and cruelty-free meat or leather for example. Researchers are trying to use this technology to meet a wide range of modern-day challenges. But we hear most about the promise of synthetic DNA in relation to the digital world. With the ever-expanding internet and increasing number of connected devices, there’s an endless amount of data that needs to be stored somewhere. For the moment, we rely on enormous data centres, which have to be permanently cooled, consuming billions of litres of water to do so. They’re expensive to maintain, they take up a lot of physical space and they’re really not good for the environment.So are we going to replace massive hard drives with tubes of DNA?  In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!To listen the last episodes, you can click here: What is tax evasion?What is a think tank?What is QAnon? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is tax evasion? Thanks for asking! Tax evasion refers to individuals, corporations, or trusts using illegal means to avoid paying tax. This could be by exploiting loopholes in the state tax system, or transferring property or business activities activity to another country with a more favourable tax regime. Meanwhile, tax avoidance, also known as tax optimisation, consists of using legitimate methods to minimise the amounts paid. Some companies and rich households do this by transferring their profits or revenues to a tax haven.Hold on a minute - what’s a tax haven?The OECD has been officially concerned with the matter since the 1990s. In 1998, it published an international report defining what a tax haven actually is.There are three criteria for a country to be considered as such. Firstly, a very low tax rate for companies and individuals compared to levels applied in other countries. Secondly, a lack of transparency in tax calculation. And finally, a lack of cooperation with other countries, with regards to the identities of tax declarants and the sums they declare. These fiscal laws often provide for banking secrecy, which guarantees the confidentiality of banking data, and a legal privilege which allows company owners to remain anonymous. But why do these countries choose to have such a low tax rate? How can countries fight tax evasion then? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!To listen the last episodes, you can click here: What is QAnon? What is the anti-vaxxer movement?What is linguistic discrimination?See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is a think tank? Thanks for asking!A think tank is a private group of experts who conduct research and develop proposals for governments. There are many powerful think tanks all over the world, and some are criticized for a lack of transparency. Perhaps the world’s oldest think tank is the Fabian Society, which was founded in London in 1884 and is still active to this day. It wasn’t until the 1970s that think tanks started proliferating. It’s estimated that there are currently over 6,000 across the world. The idea behind think tanks is that they connect researchers and politicians. Experts propose new ideas in various fields, such as economics, the environment, IT or geopolitics. Some think tanks involve confidential meetings with decision-makers, where they discuss their ideas. Others address the general public and share their expertise by means of the media.So in a nutshell, think tanks are groups of researchers who want to make the world a better place!That’s one way to put it, but they are powerful researchers, mainly from Anglo-Saxon countries. Since their rise in the 1970s, think tanks have contributed to strengthening liberal economic policies of the United States and Great Britain. The group called the Project For The New American Century also influenced George W. Bush's decision to wage war in Iraq. In the US, some think tanks have become “incubators” for the elite ready to be employed by the government.But what's the difference between a think tank and a lobby? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!To listen the last episodes, you can click here: What is QAnon? What is the anti-vaxxer movement?What is linguistic discrimination?"Ambience, London Street, A.wav" by InspectorJ (www.jshaw.co.uk) of Freesound.orgSee acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is QAnon? Thanks for asking!The right-wing QAnon conspiracy theory alleges that the United States is run by a cabal of paedophiles who control the media and politics. The only person who can stop this cabal? President Donald J Trump of course. Critics have talked about QAnon beliefs as internet misinformation, while others have described it as a disturbing movement or even a terrorist threat. As a phenomenon, QAnon is quite recent. It first sprung up on the 4Chan online forum in 2017. A certain Mister Q presented himself as an informer who shares secret data of American intelligence agencies. His alias refers to the Q qualification required to access classified information. Since QAnon is anonymous, nobody knows who is hiding behind the 5000 messages published over the last three years. There are now thousands of QAnon groups on social media, amassing millions of followers.And what are the main beliefs of QAnon followers?Buckle up and hold on tight. A secret group of paedophile elites is set on world domination, at the same time organizing a child trafficking ring. Powerful figures like Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi have sacrificed and eaten newborns, all the while filming the Satanist ritual. Presumably with the aim of obtaining the elixir of life. Luckily, Donald Trump was made head of the United States to become the saviour and clean up this mess. Over time, the movement has expanded to connect other conspiracy theories around historical events like 9/11 or the assassination of JFK, as well as anti-vaccine, anti-5G and anti-immigrant ideas. QAnon’s followers identify themselves as digital soldiers, waiting for the big storm which is supposed to put things back in order.But technically, it’s just a conspiracy theory much like any other? Does Trump disavow the theory? This all seems very American, we should be safe enough over here in Europe, shouldn’t we? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!To listen the last episodes, you can click here: What is the anti-vaxxer movement?What is linguistic discrimination?What is malnutrition?See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices