Do you really know?

What is Western Sahara? Thanks for asking! On December 10th, US President Donald Trump recognised Morocco’s sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara region. The announcement came as a surprise, and has significant consequences, such as the normalization of relations between Morocco and Israel. Following the UAE, Bahrain and Sudan, Morocco is the fourth Arab League country to recognise Israel in recent months.Situated in the North-west of Africa, the region of Western Sahara has a surface area of over 100,000m₂. It is one of the world’s most sparsely populated territories, consisting mainly of desert flatlands. It can be found to the south of Morocco, the north of Mauritania, and also shares a border with Algeria. The region has been contested for several decades now, and is one of the world’s last remaining major non-self-governing territories. So who does the Western Sahara region actually belong to then?Well, it was actually a Spanish colony from the late 19th century through to 1975. A self-determination referendum was due to take place that year, but Morocco expressed its opposition, having continually claimed the territory since the 1950s. Following the Spanish withdrawal, Morocco annexed two-thirds of Western Sahara. It would go on to gradually secure control of around 80% of the territory, including all major cities and natural resources, which it continues to administrate. The remaining 20%, the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, is controlled by the Polisario Front. This group is an indigenous independence movement which was founded in 1973, and has the support of Algeria.What has caused the situation to escalate in recent months? Could this fighting have any impact on the US-brokered deal? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!To listen the last episodes, you can click here: What is low tech?What is gender dysphoria?What is The Cartel Project?A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance.See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is Furoshiki? Thanks for asking!In case you haven’t noticed, it’s Christmas Eve today, which means it’s time for the annual custom of last-minute gift wrapping. If you’re feeling creative, here’s an eco-friendly technique which dates back to 8th century Japan: Furoshiki wrapping.Furoshiki is the art of wrapping objects in fabric, which was first used by Japanese nobles to protect valuable objects. The word literally translates as “bath spread”, as people carried their clothes in such fabrics when going to public baths. When sewing machines were invented, the practice became more and more common, for transporting shopping items or food. Until plastic bags came along in the 20th century, that is.Is Furoshiki another victim of those damn plastic bags then?That seemed to be the case, but increasing awareness of environmental issues has seen a furoshiki revival since the turn of the century. The Japanese Minister for the Environment has been promoting it officially for some time now, even publishing a guide on various wrapping techniques such as the Otsukai Tsutsumi, Katake futuro and Yotsu Musubi.Great, I just wish I understood Japanese! In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!To listen the last episodes, you can click here: What is low tech?What is gender dysphoria?What is The Cartel Project?A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance.See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What are the Christmas Blues? Thanks for asking!Ho, ho, ho, Christmas time is here! For many people, the holiday season brings to mind decorations, gifts, and happy moments spent in good company. But that’s not the case for everybody, and we would all do well to remember that. Some people find Christmas a difficult moment to live through, which causes sadness known as the Christmas blues.Who are these people who don’t love Christmas then?Well, there are actually several different types of Christmas blues that people experience. Firstly, you’ve got people who simply don’t like Christmas or find the period particularly joyful. Everyone has their own reasons, but it’s often linked to the apparent obligation of celebrating Christmas with false cheer. Some feel forced to see family members they don’t get on with, just because it’s a tradition that comes around once a year. And that can bring negative thoughts and feelings to the surface. Others feel excluded and lonely during the holiday season, especially if they don’t have family around. It can be difficult to come to terms with being on your own, when everyone else is gathering with several generations of family around the dinner table.Christmas Blues are also caused by the build up to the big day, which can be stressful for financial reasons. It’s no secret that Christmas goes hand-in-hand with gift giving. Many people are already struggling to make ends meet each month during the current economic downturn. So the pressure to spend extra money on presents can lead to feelings of shame about financial hardship.So how can we help those feeling the Christmas blues, and avoid suffering from it ourselves? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!To listen the last episodes, you can click here: What is low tech?What is gender dysphoria?What is The Cartel Project?A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance.See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is low tech? Thanks for asking!In the struggle against climate change, politicians are getting behind technological innovation. But some experts believe that, rather than high-tech, we should instead be banking on the simple, robust and reparable solutions offered by low tech. The all-powerful nature of high-tech has been called into question for decades, with regular controversies and debates on subjects like robots, satellites or artificial intelligence. As far back as the 1970s, author Ivan Illich published “Tools for Conviviality” about the proper use of technology, in which he argued that society should “give people tools that guarantee their right to work with independent efficiency”. In this day and age, tools are overwhelmingly controlled by specialists. For example, very few of us know how to build or repair a smartphone, car or washing machine. Isn’t the awesome thing about technology that it’s guaranteed to become more and more complex?Well not everyone agrees with that. Experts have warned that renewable energies, nanotechnologies and biotechnologies all use up scarce resources, which are complex and difficult to recycle. The idea behind low tech is effectively to do more, better, with less. From a technical point of view, a low tech object should be durable, robust and reparable or recyclable. It should also consume little in the way of raw materials and energy. So designers are coming up with low-tech houses, cars, agriculture and even computers. But remember that renewable materials don’t last forever. It would be foolish to think we can maintain current production levels with different techniques. So before figuring out how to optimise production techniques, we need to accept that producing less is a necessity. OK so we’re talking about people who want us to go back to the stone age basically! In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!To listen the last episodes, you can click here: What is The Cartel Project?What is an mRNA vaccine?What is Fast Fashion?A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance.See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is gender dysphoria? Thanks for asking!  Gender dysphoria describes the unease that people can feel when there is a mismatch between their biological sex and gender identity. So for example a person with male genitals and facial hair might not identify as a man. This unease can cause depression and anxiety in some cases, and have a real impact on a person’s daily life.How is this label different from more commonly used terms like transidentity?The term transsexualism, which appeared in the 1950s, was used for almost everything until recently. In medical jargon, it has gradually been replaced. In 1980, the American Psychiatric Association included it in its list of mental illnesses, as a psychosexual disorder. In 2013, it clarified that gender dysphoria itself wasn’t a mental disorder, but that its main characteristic was the resulting discomfort. It’s important to recognise that not all transgender people experience gender dysphoria, as they may feel perfectly at ease with their bodies. In recent years, there’s been a shift in terminology, with gender dysphoria increasingly being used instead of other long-standing terms like “identity disorder” or “transidentity”. And yet, the term itself isn’t new! The notion emerged in 1973, around the time when gender studies were developing. It was coined in the United States by psychiatrist Norman Fisk and plastic surgeon Donald Laub.What can people with gender dysphoria suffer from? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!To listen the last episodes, you can click here: What is The Cartel Project?What is an mRNA vaccine?What is Fast Fashion?A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance.See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is The Cartel Project? Thanks for asking! In early December, the Forbidden Stories consortium unveiled The Cartel Project, which continues and publishes the work of other journalists who are victims of threats, prison sentences or murder.It takes its name from the work of Mexican journalist Regina Martinez, who was killed in 2012 while investigating links between drug cartels and politicians. Martinez was working for a weekly investigative news magazine called Proceso when she was found dead in her home.For several months now, 60 journalists from 18 countries have been continuing her work as part of the project, and looking into the suspicious circumstances of her death. They come from 25 different media outlets, including the Washington Post, the Guardian, El Pais, La Prensa and Le Monde.That’s impressive! How have all these media outlets managed to work together?Everything has been coordinated by Forbidden Stories. It’s a global network of investigative journalists which was created in 2017. Forbidden Stories was also behind the Daphne project, named after Daphne Caruana Galizia, a journalist who was murdered in Malta that year.But let’s get back to The Cartel Project. 199 journalists have been killed in Mexico since the turn of the century, with eight victims this year. These figures make it the world’s most dangerous country for reporters. A large proportion of these crimes are committed in the Veracruz region, where drug cartels have a strong influence. Working on links between politicians and drug cartels in Mexico is certainly a dangerous business. Founder Laurent Richard has gone on record as saying the Cartel Project is the most dangerous investigation that Forbidden Stories has ever opened.After 10 months of work, a lot of information has come out, in particular evidence that Mexican drug cartels continue to prosper with impunity for crimes against journalists. It has emerged that 99% of such crimes against Mexican journalists are never solved. If it’s so dangerous, why is the project looking into Mexico in particular? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!To listen the last episodes, you can click here: What is Fast Fashion?What is microwork?What is retrospective contact tracing?A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance.See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is an mRNA vaccine? Thanks for asking!The first two COVID-19 vaccines to pass clinical trials have a significant point in common. They are both mRNA vaccines, and in fact, it will be the very first time vaccines of this kind have been made available to the public. Patients in the UK already started being vaccinated a week ago, but some observers are concerned by the unknown characteristics of this technology.RNA is an abbreviation of ribonucleic acid. Inside our bodies, this substance transports the information contained in DNA, and produces proteins. Scientists have been aware of RNA for decades, but are still far from unravelling all its mysteries. Many studies have sought to find medical uses, like treating cancers or genetic disorders for example. There had already been some unsuccessful mRNA vaccine tests in the past. But the Covid-19 pandemic really caused research in this area to accelerate. What’s the difference between a traditional vaccine and an mRNA vaccine? Conventional vaccine procedures see patients injected with either a weakened or destroyed virus. As a result, the organism learns to recognise it and produce its own defences. The difference with an mRNA vaccine is that the person receives genetic material that encodes the viral protein. After this is injected, the person’s own cells are able to produce antigens and generate an immune response.On average, conventional viruses take between 10 and 15 years to develop. On the other hand, mRNA vaccines can be produced far more quickly, and at less cost, as they are constructed using only the pathogen’s genetic code. Given the gravity of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was essential to come up with a new vaccine to deploy on a large scale as soon as possible.That all sounds great, but aren’t we at risk of becoming genetically modified humans? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!To listen the last episodes, you can click here: What is Fast Fashion?What is microwork?What is retrospective contact tracing?A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance.See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is Fast Fashion? Thanks for asking!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 collections and offering low-price items. Customers are therefore encouraged to buy new clothes almost constantly. These practices haven’t just come about by magic. They meet an increasing level of demand caused by expanding middle classes across the world, especially in developing countries. These consumers want more clothes and in particular cheaper clothes. The MacArthur Foundation estimates that by 2050, clothes sales will have at least tripled worldwide.The fashion industry has no reason to sell less, as explained by Ryan Gellert, managing director for brand PatagoniaThe apparel industry has become one of the most polluting in the world. As an industry we're creating product that people don't need by stimulating demand, and creating this sense that if you don't buy it now it's not gonna be available. There's this race to the bottom on price and quality that is an unsustainable model. This all seems rather bleak, so what can we do? Stop wearing clothes and turn to naturism? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!To listen the last episodes, you can click here: What is retrospective contact tracing?What is the Iranian nuclear program?What is cultured meat?A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance.See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is microwork? Thanks for asking!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 the workplace? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!To listen the last episodes, you can click here: What is retrospective contact tracing?What is the Iranian nuclear program?What is cultured meat?A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance.See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is retrospective contact tracing? Thanks for asking!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 mindMany 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!To listen the last episodes, you can click here: What is cultured meat?What is impostor syndrome?What are minks?A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance.See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices