Do you really know?

I don’t know about you but I sure miss partying the night away. In the age of social distancing, most of us can barely remember what it’s like to be part of a crowd dancing together in a club.

While we wait for life to slowly get back to how it was pre-Covid, you might be interested to know about another kind of party. Even your neighbours are unlikely to complain, seeing as there’s no noise. We’re talking about silent discos of course!

Wait, you’ve lost me; how can you have a disco without music? So you can have several different kinds of music at the same party, can you? Doesn’t it get a bit weird with everyone being in their own bubble? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

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What is a QR code?
What are the Paralympics?
What is sapiosexuality?

A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance.

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On August 14th, an Ebola virus case was detected in the Ivory Coast, for the first time in over a quarter of a century. The infected person was an 18-year old woman who had travelled over 900 miles by bus from Guinea, a country which had already seen an Ebola outbreak in early 2021, leading to 12 deaths.

The consequences of Ebola returning to the Ivory Coast are significant. The World Health Organisation quickly released a statement saying the outbreak was of “immense concern.” It also sent 5,000 vaccine doses to the country, with the Ivorian health ministry earmarking the first shots for contact cases and frontline healthcare workers. As of August 25th, the Guinean woman was declared cured, having tested negative twice within two days.

Just how serious is the Ebola virus? How do people catch Ebola? When did the virus appear for the first time? Has a vaccine been developed since then? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

To listen to the last episodes, you can click here:
What is a QR code?
What are the Paralympics?
What is sapiosexuality?

A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance.

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QR codes have likely never been used more than in the Covid age. They’ve become ubiquitous especially since the NHS started using them for its test and Trace app. These odd black-and-white grids may all look alike, but in fact every QR code is unique.

QR codes, or quick response codes to give them their full name, were first invented by Japanese engineer Masahiro Hara, working at Denso Wave, a subsidiary of Toyota. They were used in factories to track vehicles while they were being assembled, and to scan components.

Of course QR codes really took off in the 21st century, and in particular with the rise of the smartphone.

What are QR codes used for? So how do QR codes actually work? Can we create a QR code? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

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What are the Paralympics?
What is sapiosexuality?
What is the Taliban offensive?

A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance.

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The Paralympic Games got underway yesterday, with 4,400 competitors in Tokyo, including 227 representing Great Britain. Just like the Olympic Games of last month, the Paralympics are taking place behind closed doors because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The latest edition will see athletes compete at 22 disciplines, including taekwondo and badminton for the first time.

When and how were the Paralympic games created? What are the participation criteria for the Paralympics? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

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What is sapiosexuality?
What is the Taliban offensive?
What is sexsomnia?

A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance.

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What are you most attracted to when looking for someone to date? Social status? A sense of humour? Good looks? Well, those are all positive traits for sure, but for sapioseuxals there’s one quality which trumps all others, and that’s intelligence.

The word comes from the Latin word “sapien”, which means wise. Sapiosexuals don’t fall in love at first sight or even through an emotional spark. Rather they seduce one another through long and complex discussions.

Well it’s nothing new being attracted to someone who’s intelligent, is it? Is it a sexual orientation in its own right? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

To listen to the last episodes, you can click here:
What is sexsomnia?
What is the IPCC report?
What is rape culture?

A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance.

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The platform OnlyFans announced on Thursday 19 August its decision to ban "all sexually explicit content" from October. OnlyFans is a digital content platform which operates on a subscription model. As with social media platforms, when you follow a user, you get access to that person’s content. Since being launched in the UK in 2016, the service has drawn criticism from some quarters. One key difference with other social networks is that it enables content creators to charge fans for access to their images and videos. It’s a whole new way for influencers to make money online.

So it’s a bit like a paid version of Instagram is it? So why are people talking about OnlyFans at the moment? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance.

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The Taliban’s offensive against the Afghan government, which began back in May, accelerated dramatically in the last 10 days, leading to the group taking complete control of the country.

As of August 13th, the Islamist military group only held 132 of Afghanistan’s 398 districts, according to BBC research. But three days later, capital city Kabul had fallen and the figure had risen to 391 districts, with just 7 remaining contested.

Meanwhile the UNrefugees.org charity organisation reports that 390,000 Afghans have been displaced since May alone, and 80% of them are women or children. Families have been forced to flee their towns and villages, desperate to save themselves from the Taliban by any means necessary. Footage of chaotic scenes at Kabul airport has emerged.

How did the offensive begin? Who are the Taliban? How did the Taliban advance so quickly? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

To listen to the last episodes, you can click here:
What is sexsomnia?
What is the IPCC report?
What is rape culture?

A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance.

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There may still be a minority of doubters out there, but it’s becoming increasingly difficult to deny the existence of climate change and its disastrous consequences.

The summer months of July and August have once again seen extreme and unprecedented weather events, like the North American heat dome we discussed in a recent episode, the fires witnessed in Greece caused partly by a lack of rainfall, or the deadly floods which hit Belgium and Germany, countries usually known for having a mild climate.

Released on August 9th, the latest Assessment Report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change comes as a stark reminder that planet Earth is heating up. It’s known as AR6 for short, reflecting the fact that it’s the sixth such report, with the first dating back to 1990.

Who actually makes up the IPCC? What can we read in the latest edition? Is there any hope? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

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What is rape culture?
What is Maslow's hierarchy of needs?
What is the Covid vaccine pill?

A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance.

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Society generally sees rape as one of the most heinous crimes that exists. But the sociological theory of rape culture suggests that sexual assault continues to be so common precisely because of certain attitudes on gender and sexuality.

Certain myths and misconceptions are handed down from generation to generation, ending up embedded in cultural norms. The consequences: victim shaming, impunity for perpetrators and encouraging women to sacrifice freedoms to avoid being raped, are drastic

Are you talking about the idea of the patriarchy? How has the situation evolved in recent years? How can we combat rape culture? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

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What is the Covid vaccine pill?
What is the black fungus epidemic?
What is geophony?

A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance.

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During the Covid-19 pandemic, governments around the world have taken it on themselves to judge what’s essential or not for their citizens. Think of non-essential shops, businesses, products and leisure activities, for example. Restrictions based on these judgements have evolved constantly during various stages of lockdown or closures.

At an individual level, the Covid era has forced us all to think more deeply about what is truly essential to get by day to day; things we may have taken for granted before. Small comforts or luxuries have had to be sacrificed in many cases.

Back in the 1940s, American psychologist Abraham Maslow came up with a paper entitled “A Theory of Human Motivation”, in which he suggested a hierarchy for human needs.

It’s commonly represented as a five-level pyramid, with physiological needs at the base, being the biological component for survival. Working up from there, you’ve got safety needs, love and belonging needs and then esteem needs. At the top of the pyramid is self-actualisation, which means a person reaching their full potential.

How does the theory relate to human behaviour? What do those critics argue? And in what ways has Covid been an equaliser? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

To listen to the last episodes, you can click here:
What is the Covid vaccine pill?
What is the black fungus epidemic?
What is geophony?

A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance.

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Summer 2021 has seen Covid-19 vaccine campaigns making steady progress around the world. As of the start of August, 15% of the global population had been fully vaccinated.

While health authorities in some countries are considering a third dose by injection, Oravax Medical, a subsidiary of Israeli pharmaceutical company Oramed, is hoping to produce a Covid-19 vaccine in pill form.

A pill?! So you’d just swallow it like paracetamol then? How would the vaccine actually work? Is it really that revolutionary of a vaccine method? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

To listen to the last episodes, you can click here:
What is geophony?
What is Earth Overshoot Day?
What is Godwin’s Law?

A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance.

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Since May 2021, India has been faced with an additional epidemic on top of Covid-19. It’s that of a black fungus, also known as mucormycosis. This rare infection spreads among Covid patients, first of all attacking their faces, in particular the nose, sinuses or eyes, before moving onto the brain and lungs.

According to AFP, India has recorded over 45,000 black fungus cases in the last two months. That’s compared to less than 20 cases per year in pre-Covid times. The real figure may be much higher and the epidemic is causing major concern, especially given the infection has a mortality rate of 50%.

Why has this epidemic taken off in India? What is done to treat those infected with mucormycosis? Is the black fungus a new kind of Covid then? Has it been seen in other countries? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

To listen to the last episodes, you can click here:
What is geophony?
What is Earth Overshoot Day?
What is Godwin’s Law?

A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance.

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Taking its name from the Greek prefix geo, as in the earth and phony as in sound, geophony could be most simply described as part of Planet Earth’s music. It’s a component of the soundscape that has surrounded us humans ever since we have been present on Earth.

We owe the concept to experts like Canadian composer and environmentalist Raymond Murray Schafer, who popularised the idea of the soundscape, or American and bioacoustician Bernie Krause. This field of study gives us a lot of insight into the state of the planet.

What kinds of sounds are we talking about? What can geophony tell us about the world? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

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What is Godwin’s Law?
What are the Puppy Blues?
What are blue zones?

A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance.

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July 29th saw an unwelcome landmark in the calendar as we reached Earth Overshoot Day. It might sound like a celebration, but the reality is a lot more troubling.

Earth Overshoot Day marks the point during a year at which humans have used up all the planet’s resources. To use a budgeting analogy, from that day onwards, we’re effectively living on credit and building up ecological debt.

It’s estimated that we currently use 74% more resources than what the planet can produce. To sustain consumption rates, we would need 1.7 planet Earths. Spoiler alert: we only have one! The consequences on the environment are drastic.

What kind of resources are we talking about? That’s a positive sign at least, isn’t it? Is the calculation foolproof? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

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What is Godwin’s Law?
What are the Puppy Blues?
What are blue zones?

A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance.

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The events of the Holocaust are part of the compulsory curriculum in many countries across the world, especially in Europe. Indeed, it’s pretty rare to come across any adult who hasn’t heard of the unique horrors that took place.

Most people would agree that comparing recent Covid-19 restrictions and vaccination campaigns to Nazi atrocities is at best extreme and misguided; at worst disrespectful and downright offensive. But that’s exactly what some politicians and members of the public have done during recent protests.

This is an example of an adage known as Godwin’s Law, which originated on an internet forum in 1990. It reads as follows: “As an online discussion continues, the probability of a comparison to Hitler or to Nazis approaches one.”

What does that even mean? Who are these people comparing Covid-19 rules to the Holocaust? Is Godwin’s Law still relevant in the 21st century? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

To listen to the last episodes, you can click here:
What are the Puppy Blues?
What are blue zones?
What is Niksen?

A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance.

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You’ve no doubt already heard of the baby blues, a nice-sounding euphemism for the rather unpleasant postpartum depression. Well, some new pet owners have started talking of puppy blues in the same way, to describe the sadness they sometimes feel after adopting a new furry companion.

The puppy blues might be behind increased animal abandonment rates during the summer. Additionally, Fortune magazine reported a week ago that many Americans are surrendering their pets now the time has come to return to the office.

What is it like having the puppy blues? What can I do to get more confident about being a pet owner? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

To listen to the last episodes, you can click here:
What are blue zones?
What is Niksen?
What is Pop-It?

A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance.

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Humans have wondered about the secrets behind longevity since the beginning of time. Well, as it turns out, the world’s five blue zones offer some revealing insight into this mystery. In these regions, people seem to live longer than in the rest of the world. Researchers have sought to understand the unique lifestyles that may be behind this phenomenon.

Let’s go back to the year 2000. Studying the province of Nuoro in Sardinia, Italian professor Gianni Pes and Belgian demographer Michel Poulain discovered to their great surprise that certain villages were home to a high number of people in their 90s or even over a hundred years old. The researchers marked these locations with blue circles which is how the non-scientific blue zone label was coined.

Where are the other four blue zones then? So what are the secrets behind these people’s long lifespans? Diet and exercise have something to do with it too? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

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What is Pop-It?
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A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance.

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Ever had one of those days when you just feel like doing nothing at all? Well, increasingly we as humans are wired to be doing something all the time. We might even feel guilty when not dedicating every last moment of our day to accomplishing tasks from a written or imaginary to-do list. Technology no doubt has a role to play, what with us being connected almost constantly.

Maybe we could all learn a lesson from the Dutch concept of Niksen, which celebrates occasional idleness. It’s formulated as a verb, with the prefix Niks literally meaning “nothing”. We’ve discussed the Danish concept of hygge on Do You Really Know? in the past and Niksen is another Northern European wellness trend that seeks to combat the stress of modern life.

Isn’t that just an excuse for being lazy and unproductive? How does one go about doing nothing then? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

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What is Pop-It?
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What is the I.O.C.?

A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance.

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If 2017 was the year of the hand spinner in the toy world, 2021 is the year of the Pop-It! Even if the name doesn’t immediately ring a bell, the chances are you’ve seen one of these fidget toys in a picture or video on social media without realising. Manufacturers have had to ramp up production due to the recent surge in popularity.

The Pop-It is basically a silicone-based tray containing colourful half-sphere bubbles. You’d be forgiven for saying it looks pretty unremarkable at first. You can push the bubbles through one by one, which creates a satisfying popping sound. Once you’ve finished popping one side, you can simply flip it over and pop back the other way!

It sounds like a reusable version of bubble wrap! What’s the appeal of Pop-It then? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

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What are sonic weapons?
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What is the global bike shortage?

A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance.

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Ever since the Snowden case of 2013, the world has gotten used to the idea that states use surveillance to monitor people’s activity. All the same, the fallout from the Pegasus Project revelations of recent weeks has been huge, making it a highly significant cyber espionage scandal.

The initiative was coordinated by French media nonprofit organization Forbidden Stories, who last year obtained access to a list of 50,000 phone numbers targeted by Pegasus spyware. Thanks to the work of a consortium of investigative journalists from all around the world, as well as the support of Amnesty International, the global scale of government surveillance has become apparent.

Where does the name of the project come from? Who do the phone numbers belong to then? What have the repercussions been following the Pegasus Project revelations? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

To listen to the last episodes, you can click here:
What are sonic weapons?
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What is the global bike shortage?

A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance.

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In June it emerged that Greek police had acquired two long range acoustic devices, designed to discourage migrants from approaching the country's border with Turkey. At the size of a small TV, the cannons don’t look particularly threatening, but are capable of emitting powerful sound waves as loud as a jet plane.

An LRAD is an example of a sonic weapon, which is an umbrella term used to cover the many different types of acoustic harassment devices. They emit a particularly audible sound in a precise direction, making it very unpleasant for those who get close.

The use of LRADs has been a source of controversy in a number of scenarios. In addition to the pain and disorientation caused, their alert feature has been reported to cause lasting hearing damage.

In what other scenarios are sonic weapons used? Is there anything peaceful protesters can do to protect themselves? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

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What is the global bike shortage?
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A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance.
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Yesterday saw the Tokyo Olympic Games begin with the traditional opening ceremony. For the first time in the event’s history, the Games were delayed by a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. At the International Olympic Committee’s latest Session in Tokyo, president Thomas Bach described the uncertainty facing Games organisers in the last 15 months.“There were sleepless nights. Like everyone else in the world, we did not know, I did not know, what the future would hold.” But the stress isn’t over just yet!

Why not? The Games are underway now so there shouldn’t be anything to worry about, should there? Apart from overseeing the Games, what’s the role of the International Olympic Committee? Does the IOC select host cities for the Olympic Games? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

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What is the global bike shortage?
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A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance.

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Cycling has enjoyed a huge boom since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Local authorities have increased efforts to prioritise cyclists over drivers, creating new bike lanes and making other investments in this form of transport. However, a shortage of bikes has been affecting the whole world since 2020. This supply chain nightmare is still going on in summer 2021, and may be for some time.

What’s causing the global shortage? How long will I have to wait if I order a bike now? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

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What is Eswatini?
What is mansplaining?
What is the digital divide?

A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance.

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Situated between South Africa and Mozambique in southern Africa, the small landlocked country of Eswatini has a surface area of just 17,000 km2 and a population of 1.3 million. Until 2018, it was known as Swaziland, a name which may be more familiar to you. Then King Mswati III decided to restore the pre-colonial name Eswatini, in recognition of 50 years of independence.

Eswatini also happens to be Africa’s last absolute monarchy. In late May, an anti-establishment protest movement took off. The country’s people are rebelling against their king and demanding a democracy. Shops have been burned and looted by rioting youths, with government buildings also attacked.

What led to the start of the protest movement? How did the authorities respond to the protests? Isn’t Southern Africa usually a calm region? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

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What is mansplaining?
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What is Hungary's anti-LGBT law?

A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance.

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