Do you really know?

Microwork is paid work which usually involves short and repetitive tasks carried out on a smartphone or computer. It could be identifying objects shown in an image, watching videos, labelling data, translating short sentences or recording one’s voice for example. Charging electric scooters or taking photos of products for an app could also be considered microwork.

That sounds simple enough; what is life like as a microworker then?

Generally speaking, each task is paid at a rate of a few cents so microwork is rather unstable. On the other hand, this kind of work is available to all as it doesn’t require specific qualifications. Another benefit is flexibility, with microworkers able to work when and where they want, as long as tasks aren’t time-sensitive. It’s as simple as registering on a platform which acts as the middle man between workers and companies. Amazon Mechanical Turk is an example of one such platform. Many companies use microwork to develop technology like artificial intelligence. To educate machines, we have to talk to them. For example, Alexa and Siri learn to understand our voices thanks to microworkers who record themselves saying all kinds of phrases, each with their own accent and sound environment of course.

And driverless cars are able to recognise trees and pedestrians thanks to humans identifying them on millions of photos. This form of work is relatively recent, having emerged in the United States in the 2000s. Back in 2011, it was estimated that microwork contributed $375M to the world economy. However, 22% of microworkers live under the poverty line. And there are other drawbacks too, in addition to the lack of economic security. Some may be demotivated by the apparent lack of meaning in their tasks. Often, microworkers don’t know the name of the company they’re working for, or anything about the project to which they’re contributing.

So are we saying robots aren’t yet ready to replace humans in th…

Vaccine is the word on everyone’s lips right now when talking about COVID-19. While making a vaccine available is of course important, it’s not the only option for countries continuing the long struggle against the virus.

Another tactic, used successfully in Asia, but so far to a far smaller extent in Europe, is retrospective contact tracing. That aims to identify the source of infection of each case.
looped mind

Many European countries came out of lockdown in the early summer, with public authorities highlighting the importance of testing, tracing and isolating. That approach had limited success and since the continent was hit by a second wave, experts have been looking at how to improve tracing methods.

Until now, the main focus has been on identifying who else a sick person may have infected, and testing those contact cases. But now, it’s being suggested that retrospective tracing may be more useful, to determine who exactly infected that sick person in the first place.

If the person’s already infected, what’s the point? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

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On November 27th, nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was shot dead a few miles away from Iranian capital city Tehran.

Iran has accused Israel of being behind the assassination, using a remote-controlled weapon with the help of an exiled opposition group. Taking out Fakhrizadeh is seen as a direct attack on the Iranian nuclear program, which has been a subject of controversy for many years.

So when did the Iranian nuclear program actually begin?

It was launched in the 1950s by Shah Mohamed Reza Pahlavi, with the help of the United States. Ensuring the peaceful use of nuclear power was a critical global issue for some time, with the International Atomic Energy Agency formed in 1957 and the UN’s Non-Proliferation Treaty signed in 1968.

Then in 1979, an Islamic revolution took place in Iran, with Ayatollah Khomeiny taking power. The country’s nuclear program was put on standby and things weren’t helped by a war with neighbouring Iraq in the 1980s, which saw a nuclear reactor bombarded and destroyed.

Fast forward to the 2000s and Iran began to advance in the development of its Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant. Many international powers suspected the country of using the program as a cover for developing nuclear weapons. It was revealed that a uranium-enrichment site was under construction to the south of Tehran.

Were the suspicions founded then? What’s gone wrong since the 2015 deal? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

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The world’s ever-growing human population is eating meat in greater quantities than ever before. Yet at the same time, we’re also increasingly conscious of the environmental impact, as well as ethical issues around animal slaughter.

So imagine if you could eat meat without any animals being harmed, and with 96% less greenhouse gas emissions! Well, that is actually possible with cultured meat, which is grown via cell culture in a lab rather than from an animal. It’s also been described as “clean meat”, due to its perceived benefits, but this term has been criticised for not being neutral enough.

So how is cultured meat actually made?

Firstly, you take tissue cells from an animal and isolate them so they can grow in-vitro in perfect lab conditions. To do this, they need warmth and oxygen, as well as to be fed with salt, sugar and protein. The cells are effectively tricked into thinking they are still inside the animal they have come from. This enables them to grow and become food.

With this alternative solution, there’s no need to raise and slaughter animals. Energy costs could be cut by up to 45%, with water consumption and greenhouse gas emissions dropping by a massive 96%. Considering that livestock farming accounts for a sixth of global emissions, that would make a huge difference.

The world’s first cultured hamburger was introduced in London in 2013, by Pr Mark Post. His team from Maastricht University spent 2 years and $300,000 creating the 5-oz Frankenburger.

Since then, famous names including Bill Gates and Leonardo Di Caprio have invested in cultured meat companies, which aim to bring the phenomenon to the mainstream. By next year, cultured meat could be available at the same price as traditionally farmed meat.

Great, what are we waiting for then? Why aren’t we all already eating cultured meat? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

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Impostor syndrome is a psychological phenomenon which causes many high achievers to feel like frauds who haven’t really earned their success. Those affected think their accomplishments are simply down to luck, or other factors out of their control.

Up to 70% of people are affected by impostor syndrome at some point in their life, according to the Journal of Behavioural Science. In the worst cases, it can be a crippling barrier which prevents us from achieving our potential.

How did we get to know about impostor syndrome?

The term was coined in 1978 by American psychologists Pauline Rose Clance and Suzanne Imes. They first looked at impostor syndrome in female college students, but further research has shown that men also experience such feelings. Clance later created a multiple choice survey, scored out of 100, which helps individuals evaluate the extent to which they have impostor phenomenon characteristics.

Another impostor syndrome expert is Dr. Valerie Young, author of The Secret Thoughts of Successful Women. Young categorised impostors into five subgroups: perfectionists, superwomen or men, natural geniuses, soloists and experts.

Even some of the human race’s highest achievers can experience feelings of fraudulence. Award-winning author Maya Angelou is one example, as is Albert Einstein, who described himself as an “involuntary swindler”.

It’s important to underline that impostor syndrome isn’t necessarily a permanent state, rather a reaction to several factors which cause us to doubt ourselves.

Where does this need to put ourselves down come from? How can we effectively deal with impostor syndrome? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

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After the pangolin, another kind of animal is getting increased attention due to Covid-19. That’s right, we’re talking about minks, which were recently culled in their millions in Denmark following an outbreak of the Cluster 5 coronavirus strain.

The fear is that this particular strain, hosted by minks, could prove resistant to vaccines being developed. French authorities have since taken similar action, albeit in far smaller numbers. Controversies around mink farms are actually nothing new.

That is the sound of the mink. If you’re having trouble picturing one, they belong to the weasel family, along with ferrets and otters. Minks are around 50cm long, have slender bodies and live in forests, alongside water. They’re semi aquatic predators and not afraid to hunt prey which are larger in size, like fish, rats or even swans.

There are two species of mink: European and American. European minks are in danger of extinction and this decline is likely due in no small part to competition with their American cousins.

What are American minks doing in Europe then?

Humans have been breeding American minks on fur farms for decades. Mink fur is soft, silky and warm, which explains its popularity in the fashion industry. During that time, some have escaped from captivity, or been released by animal rights activists, and provided fierce competition for European minks.

Does anyone actually still wear fur in this day and age? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

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Not as long as a studio album, but longer than an EP, a mixtape is a collection of music from one or more artists, which is usually released free of charge and with little notice. This format came from hip hop culture and is now being used more widely in pop music too, increasing creativity within the music industry.

The name mixtape refers to the cassettes on which such compilations were originally recorded. The humble cassette may seem like an alien concept to anyone under the age of 20, having been created back in 1962.

At the time, it was a revolutionary invention, its compact design allowing people to listen to music in the street with a walkman, or while driving a car. Even better, you could even record music onto a cassette.

That’s how mixtapes emerged in the US hip-hop world: DJs would compile their tracks and the tapes would be passed around within the community. Younger generations may think of a mixtape as the equivalent of a playlist in today’s terms.

But since then cassette tapes have disappeared, haven’t they?

They have indeed, but mixtapes are still alive and well. The term has evolved and it’s now used most often to talk about a rapper’s first project, like a rite of passage. Or it could be a light release in between two studio albums. Often distributed free, mixtapes allow artists to create a buzz without investing the same time and money that goes into a meticulously worked album.

A lot of modern-day rappers, like Kendrick Lamar, Young Thug or A$AP Rocky, have seen their career take off thanks to a mixtape. Just last weekend, Lil Wayne released the third edition of his No Ceilings mixtape series. No Ceilings 3 is hosted by DJ Khaled and features guest appearances by artists like Drake, Jay Jones and Cory Gunz.

That being said, albums are still more accomplished works right? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

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The circular economy is an economic system where all resources are continually used and nothing is wasted. Goods and services are produced in such a way that primary resources are preserved as far as possible. European policy aims to support the transition towards a circular economy, but it requires significant change.

The concept of a circular economy first appeared in the 1970s, as an alternative to the dominant linear economy model, which consists of a take-make-use-dispose approach. The increase in consumerism over the 20th century led to a tenfold increase in the extraction of natural resources, which aren’t always renewable.

So in concrete terms what is the difference with today’s system?

Think of the notion of a cycle, as the term circular economy suggests. Let’s take the example of an organic cotton T-shirt. Once used, rather than being thrown away and burned, it could be used to manufacture a couch. When the couch in turn becomes damaged, the cotton would then be recovered and reused to create glass wool. If years later the cotton fibres haven’t been exposed to chemicals, they could go back into nature, to grow more cotton.

Are we saying the circular economy is a kind of economic utopia? Is this transition likely to lead to job losses? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

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A unicorn is a privately-owned start up company valued at over $1bn when launched on the stock market. That’s right, we’re not talking about mythical animals, but economy and finance! The term was popularised in 2013 by venture capitalist Aileen Lee, with the choice of word reflecting the rarity of such success stories. Even more rare are decacorns and hectacorns, which have a value of over $10bn and $100bn respectively. Business analytics platform CB Insights reported that there were 450 unicorns in the world as of October 2020. That number has quadrupled since 2014. Some of the largest are well known, like Byte Dance, Snapchat or AirBNB for example, but most are unknown. Around a half of unicorns are American, and over a third are from Asia. Meanwhile, 16% are from Europe. According to GP Bullhound, the UK is Europe’s leading country by number of unicorns, with 30 in total and a combined value of $87bn. Five new UK companies have achieved that status since last year: Snyk, Checkout.com, Rapyd, HealthTech Babylon and MagicLab.

Are you saying all I need is a good idea to turn into my very own unicorn?

Well you need a strategy too and most importantly investors. Raising capital is where unicorns are particularly strong and to do that they go through external funding rounds. When a project appeals to investors, they take a chance on the future success of that startup. There’s no expectation of an immediate result, but in the long term investors will get back a return on their investment when the company is sold or launches on the stock market.

Well if a company gets to be worth over $1bn, its investors must become super rich! In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

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Tourette’s syndrome is a neurodevelopmental disorder which usually begins in childhood. It’s estimated that around 1% of all school-age children and teenagers have Tourette’s, with boys several times more likely to be affected than girls. The main symptoms are involuntary sounds and movements known as tics. Some examples of physical tics are blinking, grimacing and shoulder shrugging. Meanwhile, vocal tics can be as simple as coughing or sniffing, or more complex like saying random words. More rarely, people may repeat sounds or sentences which can include obscenities. While it is often associated with the syndrome in the eyes of the public, swearing only actually affects around one in ten people with Tourette’s. The syndrome was named by French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot, after his student Georges Gilles de la Tourette.

What causes people to have Tourette’s?

The causes and origins are still somewhat unknown. It’s suspected that a dysfunction in certain parts of the brain leads to abnormal activity of the neurotransmitter dopamine. Aside from being linked to reward and pleasure, dopamine is responsible for controlling body movements. Genetic factors also have a role to play; studies have shown that Tourette’s is highly heritable. Nevertheless, no single gene has been identified as the cause and it’s likely that many different ones are responsible.

If the tics aren’t permanent, how do they appear? Is there any treatment for Tourette’s? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

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At the start of November, the World Health Organisation announced that six countries had reported COVID-19 cases in mink farms. These include Denmark, which is the world’s biggest producer of mink fur, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Italy and the United States.This development led Denmark to take the radical decision of culling all 15 million minks in the country. The Prime Minister claimed a mutated strain of the virus, known as Cluster 5, had been transmitted back to humans, with 12 cases identified.

So where does this particular strain come from?

After spreading across the world, the coronavirus was transmitted from humans to minks. Its presence in these animals requires a mutation, which is how the Cluster 5 strain was created. And now the new strain has in turn been passed back to humans. According to the WHO, Cluster 5 has “moderately decreased sensitivity to neutralizing antibodies”, which could in theory threaten the effectiveness of a COVID-19 vaccine. Scientists believe the mutated strain of the virus was transmitted by farm workers to minks over the summer. During the mutation, it’s possible the spike protein of the virus changed, which is used to penetrate into human cells. Pharmaceutical companies seeking to develop a potential vaccine are mostly working on this particular protein. That includes the Pfizer vaccine, which the latest estimations have found to be effective in 90% of cases. There’s not yet any proof that this strain could scupper a vaccine, but the mutation identified means it’s theoretically possible.

If all those millions of minks have been culled, does that mean things are now under control? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

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There are tiny fragments of plastic pretty much everywhere in the ocean, in the ground and inside animals, including humans! These are known as microplastics, and their potential impact on human health and the environment is a cause for concern. Microplastics aren’t a specific type of plastic per se. The term is used to refer to any fragments which are under 5 mm in length. Some examples are polystyrene, polypropylene, polythene and a bunch of other poly-things. They come from large plastic objects, like cosmetics or synthetic fabrics in clothing.

Where are microplastics spreading the most?

The obvious example is on ocean floors, where scientists have estimated there are 14 million tonnes of microplastics. Every minute, we fill the oceans with the equivalent of a garbage truck full of plastic. And then you’ve got microplastic pollution in soils. That causes damage to creatures like mites and larvae which maintain land fertility.

There must be some protected locations out there, surely? What about in the mountains or at the North Pole? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

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Think of Katy Perry in her video for This Is How We Do, Madonna in a traditional Berber outfit at the 2018 VMA awards, or Adele with her hair in Bantu knots to mark Notting Hill Carnival. That’s right, we’re talking about cultural appropriation in today’s episode. It’s a practice which has caused regular controversy in the world of pop culture. Most often, white artists are accused of using ideas, symbols or other items which come from non-Western minority cultures. The definition of cultural appropriation itself is somewhat controversial, with many saying it is often misapplied by the general public. Its meaning has evolved over time to have negative connotations. It’s problematic when someone belonging to a dominant community uses cultural elements from an oppressed people, for their own artistic or commercial benefit. In 1976, art historian Kenneth Coutts-Smith wrote one of the first essays to discuss cultural appropriation. He didn’t actually use the term itself, but brought together the ideas of class appropriation and cultural colonialism.

I don’t understand the issue, what’s wrong with mixing cultures?

It can be OK to mix several cultures, as long as it is a true exchange and not a one-way street. In the case of cultural appropriation, the minority culture doesn’t have the choice of accepting or refusing. In some cases, the original meaning of cultural items isn’t respected, or the elements are used in a way that reinforces stereotypes.The concept applies to more or less the entire cultural landscape. In recent years, designers and fashion creators have also come under fire for supposed cultural appropriation. High-profile shows have seen white models sporting dreadlocks or wearing African wax prints. Meanwhile at the same time in the fashion world, black models are underpaid or struggle to find work at all. So it’s not an exchange on any level. Another case would be rock and roll, a style of music which …

At a time when the whole world is waiting for an effective COVID-19 vaccine, do citizens really trust the companies likely to be responsible for producing it? A few multinationals dominate the global pharmaceutical market and they are collectively known as Big Pharma. Common criticisms include a lack of transparency, lobbying and high prices.The term first appeared in the United States in the 1990s. Much along the same lines as Big Food or Big Oil, it describes an industry which is dominated by a small number of players. In the pharmaceutical industry, these are Novartis, Roche, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and Sanofi. The 10 largest companies currently generate $500bn in turnover each year, a figure which has doubled in the last decade.

So Big Pharma consists of a handful of companies who have huge power on a global level!

Some observers have commented that they have even more power than states. The Big Pharma label is often used by conspiracy theorists, who believe these companies are hiding cures for cancer or forcing dangerous vaccines upon us. Most recently, it’s alleged that Big Pharma companies have deliberately blocked effective drugs from being used to treat COVID-19. All to inflate their stock price, rather than helping people with their health problems.

I don’t get it - does Big Pharma actually exist, or is it a conspiracy theory? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

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The Grey Wolves are a Turkish ultranationalist organisation which has come under the spotlight in several European countries of late. In France, for example, the group has now been officially banned, while there have been calls for the same action to be taken in Germany.

Tell me more about the history of the Grey Wolves and their ideology.

The organisation was founded in the late 1960s as the militant wing of Turkey’s Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). Its aims include creating a pan-Turkish state, stretching from the Balkans to Central Asia. The Grey Wolves ideology focuses strongly on Turkish history and identity, blended with Islam. Also known as the Idealist Hearths, the group is hostile to virtually all non-Turkish peoples in the country, including Kurds, Armenians and Christians for example. It has a history of political violence against left-wing activists, journalists and intellectuals, dating back to the 1970s. On an international level, perhaps the most notorious Grey Wolf member is Mehmet Ali Agca, who attempted to assassinate Pope John Paul II in St Peter’s Square in 1981. The Pope was shot and wounded, suffering severe blood loss, but nevertheless survived. The Grey Wolves salute consists of joining together the middle finger, ring finger and thumb to look like the side of a wolf’s face, while raising the little and index fingers in the form of ears. It was banned in Austria early last year, while German politicians have also proposed making it illegal, suggesting it is reminiscent of the Nazi salute.

Why are the Grey Wolves currently being targeted by European governments? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

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In a sexual context, food play is a form of fetichism, where participants are aroused by the use of food in an erotic situation. Also known as sitophilia, it’s not necessarily a disorder or perversion as such. You could class it as a form of paraphilia, which is the experience of arousal relating to atypical objects or fantasies. For those who partake in food play, it’s mostly a bit of harmless fun which brings together two essential human pleasures: sex and eating!

OK, tell me more about what goes on in food play.

When solid foods are used, it’s most often for penetrative purposes. Their phallic shape makes them suitable for vaginal or anal insertion. Some examples include bananas, carrots, cucumbers and courgettes. Non-solid foods, such as whipped cream, honey or chocolate sauce can be spread over a partner’s body and then licked off.

I’ll never look at those foods in the same way again! Why would you want to bring food into your sex life anyway? Can this practice become problematic for individuals or couples? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

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On November 2nd, Baby Shark made internet history by becoming the most-viewed YouTube video of all time, with over 7 billion plays. This children’s song about a family of sharks is driving the whole world crazy, for good and for bad! No-one really knows where the song originally came from. It may have been sung in children’s summer camps in the 1970s, or invented following the release of Hollywood blockbuster Jaws in 1975. A German version called Kleiner Hai had some success in 2007. Whatever Baby Shark’s origins, Korean educational entertainment company Pinkfong was particularly taken by the song. It published its own version on Youtube in 2015, sung by 10-year-old Korean-American girl Hope Marie Segoine. The video features children dressed up as fish, making dance moves to represent various members of a shark family.

It instantly became a hit in Asia, largely thanks to K-pop groups singing it in concert. But only in 2018 did Baby Shark really go global. The Baby Shark Challenge hashtag went viral on TikTok and the song made it onto American TV, first on the X Factor and then on The Late Late Show where it was sung by Sophie Turner and Josh Groban. In 2019, the US Marine band even played Baby Shark at a White House ceremony for World Series winning baseball team the Washington Nationals. Baby Shark has been officially translated into eleven languages, including Spanish, Japanese and German. There’s also an almost endless number of remixes online, with various styles of music.

How can a simple children’s song become such a phenomenon? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

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All over the world, states are committing to reaching carbon neutrality in coming decades. That means achieving net zero CO2 emissions, by not emitting more than what planet Earth is able to absorb. If humanity doesn’t manage it, climate change could quickly become irreversible. We’re already feeling the effects of global warming through heatwaves, rising water levels, flooding, mudslides and loss of biodiversity. And it’s only just getting started, unless humanity manages to follow the IPCC’s recommendations to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. That’s what 195 countries signed up for with the 2016 Paris Agreement. One of the main ways of meeting that target is through carbon neutrality.

Does that mean we’ll totally stop emitting CO2?

No, it simply means we’ll limit our greenhouse gas emissions to a level that nature is capable of absorbing. Certain reservoirs, known as carbon sinks, are able to absorb more carbon than they release. These include oceans and forests for example.

How close are we to reaching that balance right now? That’s a lot of work to do, in not a lot of time! How on earth are we going to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050? Isn’t there a way of removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

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A spate of terrorist attacks have been carried out across Europe in recent weeks, most notably in France and Austria. Political leaders have attributed the violence to Islamists, calling for a united front in battling this form of radicalism. Nevertheless, use of the term “Islamism” is somewhat controversial.

So what’s the difference between Islam and Islamism?

It’s important to make the distinction between the religion Islam itself, which is practised by all Muslims, and the separate political concept of Islamism. Islamism is related to forms of activism which advocate that society should be guided by Islamic principles. So that includes social and political life, in addition to individuals” personal lives. In some cases, movements call for Sharia Law to be fully implemented in an Islamic state, where non-Muslim influences would be removed. Sharia is derived from the Quran and fatwas issued by Islamic scholars. Most Islamists believe in peaceful mobilisation to pursue political change. But some justify the use of extreme violence, such as terrorist attacks. Well-known extremist groups include Boko Haram, Al Qaeda, the Islamic State and the Taliban. For example, Al Qaeda recently released a statement saying it is the right of every Muslim to kill a person who insults the Prophet Mohammed.

What’s so controversial about the term Islamism then? Are there other better alternatives to talking about Islamism? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

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Many countries in Europe and other parts of the world are experiencing a second wave of the covid-19 pandemic. A new lockdown began in England last Thursday, due to last until at least December 2nd. The rules are seen as stricter than earlier in the year, coming at a time when trust in the government is low. Certain businesses have already been designated as non-essential and forced to close during the four-week period.

So how do we know which shops and products are essential or not?

Well this can vary between countries as the rules are different. Prior to the covid-19 pandemic, there was no real precedent for governments to refer to. According to a dictionary definition, “essential” refers to something which is “necessary, indispensable or unavoidable”. In theory, the decision is taken primarily based on what is genuinely needed to survive. So you’re talking food and healthcare products for example. But other businesses are also allowed to remain open, like petrol stations, banks and hardware stores.

By that logic, you could make an argument for all consumer products being essential! In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

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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!

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What is mental health?
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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!

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What is men…

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!

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What is antimicrobial resistance?
What is K-Pop?
What is the Electoral College?

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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!

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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!

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What is the Electoral College?
What is synthetic DNA?
What is tax evasion?

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