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What is the New Cold War?Relations between China and the United States have been deteriorating for years, and the global COVID-19 pandemic isn’t helping. Each country blames the other for the situation and do not hesitate to brandish threats. Some analysts believe a new cold war is upon us. The original Cold War was a period of confrontation between the US and the USSR, between 1947 and 1991. It was marked by the ideological rivalry of communism versus capitalism, each seeking to exert as much global influence as possible. However, the two countries never confronted each other directly, hence the war is referred to as “cold”.  Today the term “the new cold war” is often used by experts, editorialists and even political figures. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, for instance, has suggested that Washington’s attacks pushed China towards a new cold war. Indeed, China and the US are in a geopolitical conflict over issues like Taiwan, Hong Kong and the South China Sea. China is seeking to assert its power; it enjoys a substantial presence in Africa and aims to consolidate its maritime position with the help of the New Silk Road project. Another part of the battle is fought online by hackers looking to access sensitive information. The countries have been at loggerheads for years over allegations of the Chinese government stealing trade secrets from American companies, like Google, Microsoft and Intel. China and the United States are fighting a trade war, too. Americans had introduced punitive customs duties which remained in force until the two countries reached a new agreement in January 2020.  But with Covid19 in the picture, tensions have escalated even further. The United States recently withdrew from the World Health Organisation, accusing the agency of supporting China.  The US also recently made a formal accusation that China was funding and operating cells of hackers to infiltrate COVID-19 research labs.See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is chlordecone? Thanks for asking! Chlordecone is a highly toxic pesticide which is known for being an endocrine disruptor. That means it can interfere with hormones and cause disease. It has been described by the World Health Organization as “potentially carcinogenic” and causes liver tumours in lab mice. Although it’s been banned for nearly three decades, it’s still causing controversy in the 21st century. Its prior use led to the poisoning of almost the entire adult population of Martinique and Guadeloupe in the French Caribbean. Many are calling on the French government to take responsibility for this chronic pollution problem.   How this polemic begins? Thousands of tonnes of bananas are produced each year in Martinique and Guadeloupe. The banana sector is key to the economy, employing over half of agricultural workers across the two islands. Most of the produce is exported to, and sold in, mainland France. In the early 1970s, plantations were affected by root-boring weevils which attacked the banana plants. So it seemed like good news when it was discovered that chlordecone could be used to eradicate the insects. The farmers likely had no idea how dangerous chlordecone was, but the government really should have known better. Studies on chickens and mice in the 1960s had already proved chlordecone to be poisonous. So is everything OK now, 30 years later? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions! To listen the last episodes, you can click here: What is brand activism? What is free software?What is speciesism?See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What are influencers? Thanks for asking! Influencers are people who are capable of impacting consumption habits among their followers on social media. Brands are relying more and more on influencers as part of their communications strategies, but are sometimes duped by fake influencers. You could be forgiven for thinking influencers were invented in the 2010s. In reality, it stems from a theory discussed by sociologists for decades. Until the past decade, we talked about “opinion leadership”, meaning people who had influence on their family, friends or colleagues. This could be giving an opinion on products, brands or celebrities, for example. How does the opinion leadership manifest itself? In the internet age, opinion leadership manifested itself in the form of bloggers. These were generally amateurs who used their websites to share their opinion online, whether it be on a particular niche or wide-ranging subjects. Gradually bloggers ceded their position to influencers on social media, mainly Youtube and Instagram. Influencers tend to be specialised in a certain area of interest, like beauty, fashion, travel, cooking, culture or sports. Indeed, being an influencer has become a career for many in recent years. Brands quickly realised they would need to work together with these opinion leaders, in order to reach certain communities. They spoil their influencers with gifts, trips and VIP event invitations. A study by social media analytics platform Klear found that companies pay nano-influencers an average of $100 for an Instagram post, with that figure rising to $2000 for a celebrity.In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions! To listen the last episodes, you can click here: What is brand activism? What is free software?What is speciesism?See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is brand activism? Thanks for asking!Brand activism is when companies seek to have an impact on a social, economic, environmental, or political problem. It’s increasingly common, especially at the moment, but it can have negative consequences. In many cases, companies are called out for being hypocritical when engaging in brand activism. Cynics often see it as opportunistic marketing. Even worse, the company may in fact have a poor track record when it comes to the issue on which they are taking a stance.Why do brands feel like they need to get political then?There are a number of reasons why brands feel like they need to get political. Companies might engage relating to an issue that aligns with their values and vision, for the good publicity it generates or simply to boost their bottom line. Consumers, especially from younger generations, are becoming more and more demanding when it comes to brand activism. This is backed up by studies which show that millennials and members of Gen-Z are likely to choose products from a brand which aligns with their values. Recent weeks have seen a massive increase in brand activism relating to the Black Lives Matter movement against racial violence and injustice. This follows the high-profile killing of black man George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis police in late May. Staying silent on racial inequality is no longer an option for brands, with the risk of them being seen as complicit. Companies have been posting powerful messages on social media, announcing seven-figure donations to racial equality charities and making pledges to increase diversity within their own organisations. Adidas has pledged that 30% of its future hires in the USA will be people from black or Latino backgrounds. Amazon has been displaying the Black Lives Matter logo prominently on all its social media platforms, while its CEO shared racist emails he had received from members of the public. Uber Eats announced it would waive delivery fees for orders from black-owned restaurants until the end of the year.That all sounds like it will help equality. So what’s the problem? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions! To listen the last episodes, you can click here: What is free software?What is speciesism?What is Starlink?See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is free software? Thanks for asking! Despite what it might sound like, free software isn’t necessarily free of charge. Here, the word is used with regards to liberty, not price. That’s also why it’s sometimes referred to as “libre software”, to avoid any ambiguity. Perhaps more significant than its definition is what free software stands for. It’s a social and political movement which aims to offer software with no trade secrets, and guaranteed free circulation of source code. Some of the most well-known free software applications are the Firefox web browser, OpenOffice and VLC media player. Examples of non-free programs, also described as proprietary software, are Photoshop, iTunes or Microsoft Windows.So what sets free software apart from the rest then?The Free Software Movement was started in the 1980s by former hacker Richard Stallman. Many manufacturers had recently stopped distributing source code and started using restrictive licenses or copyright. This was to prevent competitors from using their software and it became the norm. Stallman announced the GNU project, which consisted of developing a free computer operating system by the same name. The GNU Manifesto set out four essential freedoms that software must have in order to be considered free. Users have to be able to 1) run the program as they wish, for whatever use they wish; 2) study the programme’s source code, and edit it; 3) share exact copies with others; and finally 4) make and distribute edited versions to others. Is it the same as open source? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions! To listen the last episodes, you can click here: What is speciesism?What is Starlink?What is femicide?See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is speciesism? Thanks for asking! The assumed superiority of humans over all other animals is often unspoken. Without necessarily wishing any harm on animals, we take it for granted that we are more complex beings and therefore have greater moral rights. So much so that most of us are not even aware of the concept of speciesism, which is an increasingly complex ethical issue. Speciesism refers to discrimination based on species membership, and is usually used to describe the assumption of human superiority. In the worst cases, it leads to the exploitation of animals. Some people condemn it as a massive form of bigotry, just like racism or sexism.When did we start talking about speciesism then?The term first appeared around 50 years ago, in a pamphlet written by British psychologist Richard D. Ryder. Ryder was a member of the Oxford Group of intellectuals, who met frequently to discuss animal rights, at the time an emerging concept. But the idea itself has existed for a long time. Aristotle talked about the dominance of men over animals in his work The History of Animals, which is seen as a pioneering work in the field of zoology. Abrahamic religions like Christianity and Judaism have also contributed to spreading speciesism by teaching that animals were created for use by humans. French philosopher René Descartes introduced the animal-machine notion in the 17th century, which had great influence on Western cultures. He argued that animals acted on instinct alone and had no emotions. Meanwhile, humans had a conscience and could think for themselves. According to Descartes, this moral distinction meant humans deserved more rights than animals. This attitude is still widely held in modern society. at least to some extent. If you think about the example of a human child and a dog caught in a fire, most people wouldn’t hesitate in saving the child first.Well that’s true, but it’s a bit of an extreme case, isn’t it? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions! To listen the last episodes, you can click here: What is Starlink?What is femicide?What is non-binary?See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is Starlink? Thanks for asking! While the Space Race makes us think back to the 20th century, some billionaires are dreaming of ruling space in 2020. In particular Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, who’s planning to send tens of thousands of satellites into orbit in coming years. The name of the project is Starlink and the goal is to deliver high-speed broadband access across the globe. Behind Starlink is the private company SpaceX, which Elon Musk founded in 2002. Earlier this year, it became the first private company to send astronauts into space. Musk has long held the ambition of colonizing the planet Mars, which remains a future objective for SpaceX. Since 2015, the company has been developing the Starlink megaconstellation of satellites. The stated aim is bold: providing high-speed internet access anywhere on earth. We’re talking at sea, in the middle of the desert or the depths of the countryside.Doesn’t satellite internet access already exist?Existing satellites giving internet access are in geostationary orbit and the technology only allows a limited number of users to access it. Latency times are also high, due to the 20,000 mile distance between the satellites and us on Earth. Starlink, on the other hand, sends satellites into Low Earth orbit at 550 miles. Latency will be reduced, and as the satellites will orbit more quickly, they will be able to cover the whole of the planet. Starlink has been authorised to send 12,000 satellites into space. To put that into perspective, Earth currently has just 2,200 artificial satellites.There are already 600 Starlink satellites orbiting, with the first launch mission dating back to February 2018. Service is set to be available in North America by the end of the year, with “near global coverage of the populated world” promised for 2021.What about 5G? Are there environmental risks in sending all these satellites into orbit? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions! To listen the last episodes, you can click here: What is femicide?What is non-binary?What is cross immunity?See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is femicide? Thanks for asking! Many countries reported increased gender-based violence during recent coronavirus lockdowns. Femicides are the most extreme form of such crimes against women, and they have been on the rise for many years now. The term dates back centuries, but has taken on a new meaning in recent decades, with feminists placing emphasis on the specific nature and intent of femicide. It has gradually been adopted by international organisations like the United Nations and World Health Organisation.If a man kills a woman, is it automatically a femicide then? The murder of a woman isn’t always femicide, even if committed by a man. Femicide refers specifically to murders carried out because the victim is a woman. The WHO published an information sheet on the subject in 2012, providing details of several different types of cases. The most common is intimate femicide, which is committed by a current partner or ex partner. Worldwide, these account for 35% of all murders of women in the world. A study by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime found that 87,000 women were murdered in 2017, with 58% being killed by an intimate partner or family member. By the same logic, non-intimate femicide is when the murderer and victim do not have an intimate relationship. This includes killings linked to a sexual assault and antifeminist murders, for example. Other types of femicide include dowry-related murders and honour killings. Are there specific laws on femicide? How the victime can get justice? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions! To listen the last episodes, you can click here: What is cross immunity?What is the female gaze?What is white privilege?See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is non-binary? Thanks for asking! Non-binary is an umbrella term to describe people who don’t identify within the traditional gender binary of male or female. This is also known as enby for short, or genderqueer. There isn’t a whole lot of reliable data about the number of non-binary people in the world. But the general trend is gradually more people are identifying as such, bringing into question the role of gender in society. Since when non-binary people are recognize? The term originates from the binary system used in mathematics or electronics, where the only two options are 0 and 1. We have historically discussed our gender in the same way - we are either male or female. Those who talk about non-binary genders are opposed to this way of thinking, claiming the existence of other possibilities. Some people feel like they have more than one gender, have none at all, or are in a fluctuating state known as genderfluid. The term non-binary started being used in the 2000s and spread with the emergence of social media. That doesn’t necessarily mean non-binary people didn’t exist before. The term simply helped otherwise isolated people to recognise their identity. Several countries already legally recognise non-binary or third gender classifications. Australia may have been the first, going back to 2003. Others include New Zealand, Malta, India and most recently Canada, where gender-neutral passports were introduced in 2019. In some countries, it’s possible to change the gender marker on your ID document by simply filling in a declaration form. Is it another word for androgynous or intersex? Which pronouns should we use when talking to a non-binary person? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions! To listen the last episodes, you can click here: What is cross immunity?What is the female gaze?What is white privilege?See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is cross immunity? Thanks for asking! Until recently, it’s been assumed that nobody had pre-existing immunity to COVID-19. Experts and world leaders such as Angela Merkel warned that the virus could go on to infect up to 70% of a country’s population, if it wasn’t eliminated. But studies are suggesting some people may already be resistant. We’ve already talked about herd immunity in a previous episode. Some countries like Sweden opted not to enforce strict lockdown measures, in the belief herd immunity would come about naturally. That scenario still seems a long way off, but scientists are looking into another kind of immunity, known as cross immunity. Basically, some of us may already be immunised against covid-19, due to past viral infections.But Covid-19 is a new disease. How could we have already encountered it in the past?SARS-COV-2, the strain which causes COVID-19, is a novel coronavirus. So no-one had ever been exposed to it before it appeared in late 2019. But it is just one member of the coronavirus family. Human coronaviruses were first discovered in the 1960s, so they have existed for many decades. Our bodies defeat viruses thanks to the antibodies created by our immune systems. Generally speaking, any one type of antibody is effective against a unique type of antigen. But sometimes, antibodies are able to bind to other types of antigens with similar structures. This is described as cross reactivity. Recent research looked at antibodies recovered from survivors of the SARS epidemic of the early 2000s. That was caused by SARS-CoV-1, which is closely related to the current coronavirus strain. In-vitro tests found the antibodies had a ‘robust’ cross-reactive immune response to SARS-CoV-2.Well SARS only affected 8,000 people; what about the rest of us? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions! To listen the last episodes, you can click here: What is white privilege?What is CrossFit?What is jiko sekinin?See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices