Do you really know?

What is sea snot? Thanks for asking! In the last few weeks, a thick and foul-smelling foam known as mucilage has appeared in the Marmara Sea on Turkey’s northwestern coast. It’s been unofficially dubbed sea snot by observers, which might sound like a name invented on a school playground. But there’s nothing funny about the environmental impact of this outbreak, which is a result of global warming...

Who is Bo Burnham? Thanks for asking!    Five years after Bo Burnham’s last comedy special, he released Inside on Netflix on May 30th. To mark the occasion, let’s discuss one of American comedy’s brightest talents.   Many have put Burnham up there among the ranks of the world’s elite comedians. He’s multi-talented, with his shows mixing music, singing and clever jokes.   As a straight white man, h...

What is the Smurfette Principle? Thanks for asking! Does that ring a bell? How many of you spent hours in front of the Smurfs as children? We’re sure you remember the smiley little girl with blond hair, a white dress and high heels. In case your memory has faded, in the wonderful world of the Smurfs, Smurfette is created by the evil wizard Gargamel to sow discord! How curious that the role of agit...

What are sensitivity readers? Thanks for asking! The role of sensitivity reader first appeared in the United States. Authors and publishing houses recruit these $200 per hour beta readers to go over works with a fine-tooth comb before they are released. The purpose is to make sure there are no offensive stereotypes, relating to race, religion or gender for example, or instances of cultural appropr...

What is live shopping? Thanks for asking! Technological disruption and the Covid-19 pandemic have combined to bring on new trends, one of which is live shopping. If the shops are closed or you don’t have time to go there, another alternative exists, in addition to standard online shopping. It’s a new kind of shopping experience, where customers see items on video before deciding to buy them. What’...

What is Friends? Thanks for asking! On May 27th, all eyes were on HBO Max, who aired a Friends reunion special, 17 years after the sitcom’s 236th and final episode. It was the first time since then that the six main cast members had appeared together publicly to talk about the show. Friends was hugely popular throughout the ten years it aired, and is still consistently among the most watched shows...

What is BookTok? Thanks for asking!   You’ve no doubt already heard of TikTok, the short video app of choice for teens and young adults. Well in the last few weeks a new trend has really taken off, and it’s known as BookTok. The idea is simple: recommend books to your Tiktok followers using the hashtag #BookTok. It’s really catching on and has even led to the emergence of literature enthusiast com...

What is the Tiananmen Square Massacre? Thanks for asking! 32 years ago today, Tiananmen Square in the heart of Beijing, saw unprecedented student protests. As night fell on June 3rd 1989, the Chinese military entered the square with a number of tanks and opened fire on the unarmed crowd.  The number of deaths is estimated between 1,000 and 2,000, in what became known internationally as the Tiananm...

What is a virus variant region? Thanks for asking! The Indian variant known as B.1.617 is causing concern in Europe, particularly due to a steep rise in infections since early May. It recently spread into the United Kingdom, where it is currently taking over as the dominant variant. As a result, Germany reclassified the UK as a virus variant region on May 23rd. Travel between the UK and Germany is...

What are zombie fires? Thanks for asking! Believe it or not, some fires are able to smolder for months underneath snow, even when their flames have been extinguished above ground. Researchers and forest rangers have been aware of the existence of these zombie fires in the Arctic Circle for many years now. But a study published in Nature magazine on May 19th revealed the full extent of the issue. I...

What are sleep streams? Thanks for asking! How do you like the idea of going to sleep and waking up richer? Sounds pretty sweet, huh? Well believe it or not, sleep streams have actually become a big trend among influencers on streaming platform Twitch. They film themselves asleep, set challenges and go through sleep marathons in interactive formats. Meanwhile, viewers try to annoy the streamer or...

What are molecular scissors? Thanks for asking! When we think about genetically-edited plants, animals and even humans, we might wonder whether it’s the stuff of dreams or nightmares. But it’s close to reality, thanks to a gene editing technique, Crispr-Cas9, also known as molecular scissors. There are a number of potential health and environmental benefits. The concept made headlines for the firs...

What is the fertility cliff? Thanks for asking! The ability of a woman to get pregnant and give birth doesn’t last forever. 35 has traditionally been seen as a fertility cliff, a kind of cut-off point after which it becomes much more difficult to have a child. Women in their early 30s and even late 20s often feel under pressure from their families or society, like they are losing a race against th...

What is phantosmia? Thanks for asking! The symptoms and after-effects of Covid-19 vary hugely between people and can be very incapacitating. We’ve already discussed anosmia, the loss of the sense of smell, in a past episode. But some people also report strange and unpleasant odours, that no-one else around can smell. The medical term for these olfactory hallucinations is phantosmia, coming from th...

What is the urban exodus? Thanks for asking!  The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the lives of almost everyone around the globe. City dwellers have had to adapt their daily lives to a new organisation and work-life balance. Many have chosen to leave their urban homes behind in favour of a calmer life in the suburbs or countryside. This has been described as an urban exodus, although there is some de...

What is Bollywood? Thanks for asking!   If you’re a Westerner, you’ve almost certainly heard of Bollywood, but there’s also a decent chance you’ve never actually watched a Bollywood film! If Hollywood is the stronghold of American cinema, Bollywood is an even more generic term used to describe the Hindi-language film industry in India, in particular the city of Mumbai.   The label is a portmanteau...

What is the Doomsday Glacier? Thanks for asking! The Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica is melting rapidly and risks breaking up completely. For nearly a quarter of a century, climate scientists have been observing it closely and have nicknamed it the Doomsday Glacier due to its instability and potential impact on the future of the planet. Thwaites Glacier is more than 1km deep and has a surface...

What is Resident Evil? Thanks for asking! May 7th saw the release of Resident Evil: Village; the eighth instalment in one of video gaming’s most epic series. Originally released under the name Biohazard in Japan, Resident Evil was far from being the first horror video game in history, but it’s definitely become the most influential over the years. How did Resident Evil achieve such success? What w...

What is the andropause? Thanks for asking! We’ve all heard of the menopause which occurs in women in middle age. But there is much less awareness around changes in male sex hormones which are linked to ageing and have been described as the andropause. The word comes from the Greek “andros”, meaning man, and “pausis”, meaning end. It generally arrives very gradually and is characterised by low test...

What is parcopresis? Thanks for asking! Ever needed to go to the loo but held it in, due to a lack of privacy, or fear of noise and smells? The social taboo around pooping is known as parcopresis or shy bowel syndrome. It’s an anxiety disorder which can have significant health consequences as well as interfering with a person’s daily routine. Public toilets have been closed for much of the last ye...

What is captology? Thanks for asking!  Getting internet users’ attention and influencing their online behaviour is a massive priority for Big Tech companies in this day and age. Behind their practices is captology, a term invented in 1996 by American researcher BJ Fogg. It might make you think of the word “capture” at first, but it actually comes from the initials of “Computers As Persuasive Techn...

What is broken heart syndrome? Thanks for asking! The idea of a broken heart may make you think of a cartoon, an emoji or a bad break-up from your past. But broken heart syndrome is a real physical condition, which is also known as Tako-tsubo. Is the name Japanese because that’s where the first case was recorded? Is it like the heart having a burnout basically?! How can we recognise the symptoms?...

What are cookies? Thanks for asking! Most of us probably associate them with annoying pop-ups, but HTTP cookies actually do a lot of good for our web browsing experience too. Cookies are small pieces of data which are stored on our computers as soon as we visit a website. There are many kinds, and they are usually totally inoffensive, but some can end up being rather intrusive, causing privacy con...

What is the Chernobyl exclusion zone? Thanks for asking!   It’s just over 35 years since the worst nuclear disaster in history. On April 26th 1986, reactor number 4 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded. Following the accident, an exclusion zone of around 1,000m2 was established by the Soviet army.  It covers the areas most affected by radioactive contamination, including the city Prypiat...

What is the Escazu Agreement? Thanks for asking!   Ratified on April 22nd 2021, the Escazu Agreement is a historic treaty set to affect one of the world’s most biodiverse regions. It’s Latin America’s first ever environmental treaty, and the first in the world specifically designed to protect defenders of the environment. It was first signed by 24 countries, then ratified by 12 national government...