Do you really know?

What is an Advent calendar? If you’re anything like us, you’ll have been eagerly waiting for the clock to go past midnight on December 1st to have the first chocolate from this year’s Advent Calendar! These special festive calendars are used to count down to Christmas, all through the month of December. They traditionally offer simple treats like chocolate, but in recent years, holiday shoppers ha...

"Do you really know?" is Bababam's daily podcast, which helps you understand the words, acronyms, and concepts that are making the news every day. From December 6th to 20th, discover the words that have left their mark on the year, with our 2021 Retrospective. From the "Pandora Papers" affair to the "#QuitMyJob" hashtag and of course the "Long Covid" condition, (re)discover these words that sum up...

What is reality shifting? This trend took off among teenagers on both sides of the Atlantic during the first round of lockdowns last year. It found its home on TikTok, all starting out with the #ShiftingRealities hashtag, which went from 170 million views to over a billion in just a few months. Shifting implies moving one’s own consciousness to another alternative reality. It could be very similar...

What is a virus variant region? Another variant of the coronavirus has appeared: the omicron variant. An opportunity to talk about variant viruses again. 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,...

What are fine particles?   According to a European Environment Agency report in November 2021, 307,000 people in the EU died prematurely in 2019 due to fine particle pollution. That number represented a 10% decrease compared to the year before, but that’s not exactly cause for celebration; the figures are still alarming. Fine particle pollution is everywhere, especially in urban areas, and conside...

What is Albedo? The Albedo scale is studied and used in multiple fields like astrology and geology. It actually refers to the reflective power of any surface. The term comes from the Latin word for whiteness, and came into use in the field of optics in 1760. The notion is also significant in climate studies, and the idea of global warming. So how is it calculated? Can you give me any other real li...

What is woofing?   The world is still in the middle of a health crisis. And while travel has resumed with the reopening of borders, more sustainable tourism practices have come to the fore in the past two years. One such example is wwoofing, which started growing in popularity prior to the Covid pandemic. And no, it’s got nothing to do with dogs despite the name! The name is derived from the acron...

What are Yuccies? Thanks for asking! In today’s episode, let’s talk about a term which mixes sociology and lifestyle newspeak. Yuccies is an abbreviation for Young urban creatives.  The term started trending after American journalist David Infante introduced it in an article on Mashable in June 2015. Within weeks, the concept had been covered on many other websites, with the original article being...

What is Fast Fashion? Thanks for asking! Friday, November 19th, 2021, it was Black Friday. The opportunity to come back on the concept of fast fashion. Fast fashion is to fashion what fast food is to dining. That is to say a poor-quality imitation, which everybody criticises but still nevertheless consumes! Adopted by many clothing brands, this strategy consists of regularly bringing out new colle...

Who is Peng Shuai? Thanks for asking! If you’re not a tennis follower, the chances are you may never have heard of Chinese player Peng Shuai. But in her discipline, she is kind of a big deal. A two-time doubles Grand Slam winner, she has also been ranked as high as 14th in the world during her singles career. But rather than asking “who is Peng Shuai?”, the question on everyone’s lips over the las...

What is climate change famine? Thanks for asking!   The COP26 summit, which took place earlier this month, revealed that concerns related to climate change are now more pressing than ever. In June 2021, Madagascar became the first country in the world officially affected by a climate change famine that swept over the south of the island as a result of global warming. What makes it a particularly a...

What is an unvaccinated lockdown? Thanks for asking! Just when we thought Covid lockdowns were a thing of the past, the pandemic has once again taken a turn for the worse in Europe. Despite a full vaccination rate at 65.5% on average across the EU, a new wave is hitting hard in the build-up to winter. Some countries are now taking a more targeted approach by imposing restrictive measures specifica...

What is the four-day week? Thanks for asking! It might be an unlikely dream for most of us, but many Spanish workers will be trying out a four-day week from the start of 2022. 200 companies have put themselves forward for a three-year pilot project. The best part? There won’t be any pay cuts to worry about, thanks to a 50M€ support fund released by the country’s government. Spanish fashion company...

What is the Covid vaccine pill? Thanks for asking! The United Kingdom has announced the approval of the molnupiravir-based Covid-19 tablet treatment developed by the American laboratory Merck. 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 co...

What are primitive reflexes? Thanks for asking!  According to the UK Office for National Statistics, September 26 was the most popular day to be born over the last two decades, which falls 39 weeks and two days after Christmas day. Babies are born with certain reflexes that result in involuntary movements. These are called primitive reflexes, and the movements happen automatically without the baby...

What is Demon Slayer? Thanks for asking! Forget Squid Game. Kimestsu no Yaiba is the latest big hit. Doesn’t ring a bell? How about Demon Slayer, the new Shōnen Jump bestseller? Shōnen Jump is the iconic Japanese manga anthology that brought to us such gems as One Piece, Naruto, Dragon Ball, and My Hero Academia. But unlike these extended series, the manga by Koyoharu Gotōge ended in 2020, after 2...

What is PMS? Thanks for asking!   Headaches, bloating, painful swelling in the breasts and lower abdomen, stress, extreme fatigue, anxiety, and depression; the list is almost endless. These are some common symptoms of premenstrual syndrome, known as PMS for short.  They usually appear two to seven days before a woman gets her period. In rare cases, they can occur as early as two weeks prior. Gener...

What is Ikigai? Thanks for asking! The Japanese concept of Ikigai roughly translates as “reason for being”, like . The “Iki” part means life, while “gai” refers to value or worth. So it effectively means finding a purpose to life and the things we spend our time doing. This philosophy dates back to the 12th century, but has been gaining in popularity among Westerners in recent years.  That’s in pa...

What are NFTs? Thanks for asking! NFTs are the talk of the town in early November 2021. Quentin Tarantino is auctioning off NFTs of unedited scenes from "Pulp Fiction". It’s one of the latest crazes in the world of blockchain. Non-fungible tokens are digital certificates of ownership, which state who owns a piece of virtual crypto-art. That’s right, you can now buy collectible digital art, like me...

What is PTSD? Thanks for asking! This mental health condition may be invisible, but it ruins the lives of those who suffer from it.  Post-traumatic stress disorder can come on following a number of events. These can include witnessing or being a victim of violence. It could also be a natural disaster or act of terrorism for example. We all experience traumatic events at some point in our lives, wh...

Who are Abba? Thanks for asking!   A full forty years after their last LP “The Visitors”, Abba have only gone and released a new album! That’s right, with Voyage now available for download, let’s take the opportunity to talk about one of Euro-disco's most legendary bands! Why are they called Abba again? What are their most popular classics? Why did the band end up splitting? In under 3 minutes, we...

What is healthwashing? Thanks for asking! We’ve already talked about greenwashing, pinkwashing and sportswashing in past episodes. Well even the world of health doesn’t escape from cynical marketing practices. Let’s talk about healthwashing. The term covers a pretty wide range of practices, but it’s most commonly associated with the food industry. Manufacturers often overplay the addition of certa...

What is the Big Quit? Thanks for asking! Remember our episode on #QuitMyJob, about thousands of Americans publicly quitting their jobs on TikTok? Since then, the phenomenon has continued gaining momentum in the United States under a new name: the Great Resignation, or the Big Quit. According to a report published by the US Department of Labour on October 13, 2021, this August alone saw 4.3 million...

What is collapsology? Thanks for asking! At COP26, leaders from more than 100 countries, including Brazil, will commit to halting deforestation, restoring forests and ending land degradation by the end of the decade. Collapsology is the transdisciplinary study of how our industrial civilisation could collapse, and indeed what may come afterwards. Its ideas are gaining in visibility and popularity....

What is Jackass? Thanks for asking!    On October 27, 2021, "Jackass Forever", the American squad’s fifth and last feature film, was released in cinemas. It’s the perfect opportunity to look back at an MTV show which achieved huge popularity in the early 2000s.   The Jackass Squad is a group of somewhat provocative and downright daredevil friends, who take on crazy challenges, often with reckless...