Do you really know?

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...

What is the insider-outsider theory? Thanks for asking! The insider-outsider theory is a New Keynesian economic model which developed in the 1980s, explaining certain disparities in the job market. Insiders are those who already have a job in a company, most of the time a permanent contract and having undergone expensive training. Meanwhile, outsiders are those with unstable jobs or unemployed. Th...

What is stalkerware? Thanks for asking! We’ve probably all jokingly referred to social media stalking when looking at an ex’s profile or checking out what a future colleague looks like. But online stalking can reach serious levels, particularly through the use of monitoring stalkerware. These apps are installed on smartphones, making use of functions like key logging, automated screenshots and GPS...

Who is Alexei Navalny? Thanks for asking! In late March 2021, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny began a hunger strike in his prison cell. A few weeks later he was transferred to a prison hospital, with his allies declaring he was “close to dying”.  Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Moscow, St Petersburg and over 40 other cities. Police arrested over 1700 people. At the same tim...

What is chemsex? Thanks for asking! Chemsex is the practice of taking synthetic drugs or psychoactive products to spice up sexual activity. Participants are predominantly gay men, who claim these illegal drugs remove inhibitions, while also boosting performance and pleasure. Chemsex often involves unprotected and anonymous sex between multiple partners. Parties can last for several consecutive day...

What are Covid toes? Thanks for asking! So-called Covid toes are a symptom observed by doctors since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, consisting of swollen, purplish toes. For a while we suspected it to be a symptom of virus infection, but as it turns out, it may be quite the opposite. As early as April 2020, dermatologists noticed a curious trend. Numerous patients were coming for appointments...

What is Helium-3? Thanks for asking! Helium-3 is a helium isotope which contains two protons and a neutron. It dates back to the earliest days of the universe and formed in the mantle of planet Earth. However, humans only discovered it in 1934.  It is a pretty unique gas, with rare and valuable properties. For example, it can reduce temperatures to nearly absolute zero, which could be useful in cr...

What were the Troubles? Thanks for asking! It’s been 23 years since the Good Friday peace agreement put an end to The Troubles, a decades-long period of violence which saw 3,500 people die. Nevertheless, in recent weeks riots broke out in loyalist areas of Northern Ireland’s major cities, including Derry and Belfast. Gangs of youths attacked police, injuring scores of officers in the worst violenc...

What is Operation London Bridge? Thanks for asking!  The recent passing of Prince Philip at the age of 99 has served as a reminder that even Her Majesty the Queen won’t be around forever. Queen Elizabeth II has reigned over the United Kingdom and Commonwealth since February 6th 1952, longer than any other British monarch.  Believe it or not, extensive protocol is already in place for the day when...

What is a lateral flow test? Thanks for asking! The number of new Covid-19 cases in the UK continues to drop as its vaccination campaign advances. The economy is beginning to reopen with lockdown measures gradually easing. But it’s not all roses unfortunately. The South African variant of concern, which may be vaccine-resistant to some extent, has arrived in the country. The government is now expa...

What is vegetarianism? Thanks for asking! We’ve probably all eaten a meat-free dish at some point over the last few months, but that on its own doesn’t necessarily make a person veggie. Nevertheless, vegetarianism is becoming more and more popular among young people. It’s often about much more than simply taking meat out of your diet. A lot of vegetarians see it as a form of activism which can hel...