The Thought Show

A protest against “manspreading” went viral in Russia – but is it Russian propaganda? Activist Anna Dovgalyuk denies that she staged a stunt where a woman was filmed throwing diluted bleach at the crotches of men whose legs were sprawled out over multiple seats on the St Petersburg Metro. But media reports suggested one of the men was an actor, and a European Union website has described the film as “staged Kremlin propaganda”. So, is it real or just a hoax? And how does it fit into a larger pattern of Russian social media bots and trolls stoking culture wars online? How do you measure a country’s generosity when it comes to overseas aid? We crunch the numbers and talk to Brad Parks from research lab Aiddata about aid donations from some of the world’s more secretive countries. From yoga and mindfulness to so-called clean eating, women are increasingly turning to “wellness” to look after their minds, bodies and emotions. Nastaran Tavakoli-Far asks what is driving some women away from the medical establishment in an effort to improve their health. (Photo: Screenshot from the ‘manspreading’ video that went viral in Russia. Credit: Anna Dovgalyuk)

They decide what you can and cannot see on the world’s biggest social network. Who are Facebook’s content moderators? We speak to a woman who worked in a moderation centre in Germany, often watching violent and pornographic videos and deciding what posts should be deleted. New figures reveal that same-sex divorce rates are higher among women than among men. Tim Harford discusses why this may be with Marina Ashdade, economist at the Vancouver School of Economics and author of Dirty Money, a book about the economics of sex and love. In the age of non-stop tweets, news updates and digital distractions, Sandra Kanthal finds out why, in the age of the 280 character polemic, it could be useful to rediscover the ancient art of rhetoric. (Photo: Close up of an eye. Credit: Getty Images)

In July 2018, a disturbing video began to circulate on social media. In it two women and young children are shown being led at gunpoint by a group of soldiers. The captives are blindfolded, forced to the ground and shot 22 times. The government of Cameroon initially dismissed the video as ‘fake news’. But through open-source investigations – examining details such as buildings, shadows, and uniforms – BBC Africa found that the blame lay squarely on Cameroonian Forces. From the 10th July to the 31st of October 1940 the skies above Britain were a battle zone. The German Luftwaffe launched large scale attacks aiming to reach London, they were held back and ultimately defeated by the Royal Airforce which included many nationalities. The bravery of the pilots – known as ‘The Few’ - cannot be disputed but is it really true that the average life expectancy of a spitfire pilot during the Battle of Britain was just four weeks, as is often claimed. Tim Harford and Lizzy McNeill look into the statistics and consider which of the armed forces had the highest death rate. Thanks to our TVs and smartphones we are bombarded 24/7. Those whose job it is to care – doctors, nurses, mothers even – face even more relentless demands on their compassion. Until one day some feel they cannot go on anymore. We are all vulnerable to compassion fatigue – whether we are unable to deal with more bad news, or to care for our patients and children. But why do we get it? Why do we stop caring? And what is the impact on society when people just switch off and tune out? (Photo: A still from the video showing the murder of women and children by Cameroonian soldiers)

Do dieting influencers and online communities help or hurt when you’re trying to get in shape? Some find social media groups a useful source of support, but there are concerns that some of the advice might not be as healthy as it seems, and that social media celebrities are setting unhelpful and unrealistic body expectations. President Trump disputed the official figures for the death toll after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico a year ago, tweeting that the Democrats were inflating the death toll to "make me look as bad as possible". So, who is right, and how do you determine who died as a result of a natural disaster? How has feminism affected the relationship between mothers and their sons. Feminist mothers share with Nastaran Tavakoli-Far the complexities of bringing up boys. Photo Caption: A woman stands on a bathroom scale Photo Credit: Getty Images

Why are some Russians put on extremist watch lists for saving or posting memes online? Maria Motuznaya was investigated by police after saving edgy memes on her account on the social network VKontakte. Hundreds of Russians are being targeted for using memes declared to be racist, offensive or against the Russian Orthodox Church. People on the list have their bank account frozen and some face criminal charges. Will a blogger’s campaign make a difference? Are you more chimp or Neanderthal? We often hear scientists talking about how we are related but what’s the difference between 96% similarity and sharing 20% of our DNA, and do some of us literally have pieces of Neanderthal within us? Tim Harford talks to Peter Donnelly, Professor of Statistical Science at the University of Oxford. Why is the relationship between fathers and sons so important? Nastaran Tavakoli-Far investigates. (Photo: A pair of hands in handcuffs hold a mobile phone showing the VKontakte website. Credit: Anton Vaganov/Interpress/TASS)

Facebook’s dream of a more open and connected world has turned into a nightmare in Myanmar. The price of a smartphone SIM card dropped from around $200 to $2, and Facebook quickly became the app of choice, but it failed to control hate speech against Rohingyas and had very few employees who could read Burmese. What, following criticism in a UN report, is it doing now? Is one particular model of car really the safest on the road in the UK, and how can new technology reduce road accidents round the world? Have you ever been captivated by a book, full of stories you never knew, revelled in that new knowledge …and then forgotten it all? If the answer is yes, take heart; you are not alone. Sandra Kanthal asks why do we remember some facts easily, and but let others slip away, completely forgetting the things we’ve learned. Photo: Rohingya refugees pictured in August 2017. Credit: Getty Images

Earlier this year, a baker in Liverpool in north-west England vented her frustration on Twitter over constantly being asked by social media influencers for free cakes. Many other businesses publicly sided with Laura Worthington, but were they being fair? We investigate the impact of influencers – people with powerful social media followings. What are the rules and ethics around advertising and promotion? What proportion of your country are immigrants? What proportion of teenage girls give birth each year? Research suggests most people get the answers to these questions, and many others about their own countries, very wrong. Tim Harford interviews Bobby Duffy, Global Director of Ipsos Social Research Institute and author of the book, Perils of Perception: Why We’re Wong About Nearly Everything. Heartbreak after love lost has been written about for generations in literature and in songs. But what causes this physical feeling of pain? Is it a figment of our imagination, prompted by our society and culture, or can we fall sick or even die from a broken heart? Photo Caption: Influencer Lisa Linh promotes a number of brands – including hotels and credit card companies Photo Credit: Lisa Linh

Why are people spending real money to buy land that only exists in virtual reality? In the virtual world of Decentraland, users can build whatever they can imagine. Some hope to make a profit by trading goods and services using the social platform’s own cryptocurrency. Could this be the birth of a new virtual economy or a cryptocurrency bubble waiting to burst? Could computers do a better job than humans at exposing fake news? Tim Harford interviews Mevan Babakar of the fact-checking organisation Fullfact about the software tools she and her team are building to try to automatically verify statistical claims. Why would you go to the coldest place on Earth? A place mostly devoid of life, where there are rarely more than a few thousand other humans spread out across a landmass twice the size of Australia. Shabnam Grewal reports on Antarctica whose sublime beauty is matched by its capacity to kill you, very fast. (Photo Credit: Decentraland.org)

#QAnon is part of an online conspiracy theory firing up supporters of Donald Trump. We trace how it started on fringe message boards and has moved more mainstream, including to the floor of a President Trump rally. A Twitter debate erupted recently about the number of wildfires in the US and in southern Europe, so we take a look at the numbers to see whether they have increased or decreased. As usual, the story is more complicated than it appears. Psychologists describe the purpose of boredom as trying to get us to do something else: it can spur us on to more meaningful activity or tempt us into dangerous behaviours. Sandra Kanthal talks with researchers who think boredom is anything but boring.

An update on American conspiracy theorists who deny that twenty-six people, mostly young children, died at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012. False rumours that the attacks were staged were pushed by media mogul Alex Jones, and his online news site Infowars. Big social media companies have now shut down Infowars’ and Alex Jones’ accounts. This is an update of a story that was originally broadcast in March 2017. How do you get a hashtag to trend around the world? We look at the numbers behind the case of a politician who is little known outside the United Kingdom but became a hot topic online. Lesley Curwen has sailed thousands of miles around Europe on her yacht and knows the strange joy of being out of sight of land. Talking to fellow sea-lovers , she asks why we are drawn to go to sea and put ourselves at the mercy of wind and waves. Photo: Alex Jones, founder of Infowars Credit: Getty Images

What’s it like to be a young YouTube star? Siblings Jaadin and Arabella Daho's lives have significantly changed since they went viral on YouTube in 2015. At just 10 and 11 years old their videos racked up 17 million views. But along with the money and fame has come abuse, both online and off. How has YouTube stardom affected these teenagers and their family? Does a baked potato contain the equivalent of 19 cubes of sugar? We look into this claim to see whether the simple spud is hiding a sweet secret. Why do so many of us love boats? Lesley Curwen, a proud owner of a yacht, finds out how our love affair with the boat can be a deep, passionate attachment and how in some cultures boats are seen as living things and the best place to create memories far from the busy world of dry land. (Photo: Jaadin and Arabella Daho shooting one of their YouTube videos. BBC Copyright)

The hashtag MeToo swept across social media in 2017 as victims of sexual harassment spoke out to show how prevalent sexual harassment is within society. The trending team are joined by Washington Post columnist Megan McArdle, author Kirsty Allison, gender justice specialist Natalie Collins and from journalist and activist, Meghna Pant to discuss the movement and whether there is space for both men and women to come forward with their stories. More or Less: Getting Creative with Statistics How big are your testicles and what does that mean? Data journalist and self-confessed ‘Queen of too much information’ Mona Chalabi talks to Tim Harford about her unusual approach to representing statistics. The Why Factor: Female Friendships How does social media impact friendships and is this new technology both a blessing and a curse? Can being more connected also highlight vulnerabilities? Nastran Tavakoli-Far exams the female friendship in asks whether closeness can sometime cause rifts.

What’s the future of #MeToo? In October 2017, the hashtag became a worldwide movement in the wake of allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein – who denies the charges against him. In the first of a two-part series, we host a panel discussion on the fightback against sexual harassment and assault with writer Kirsty Allison, gender justice expert Natalie Collins and Washington Post columnist Megan McCardle. How do you cycle really fast? Former British Time trial champion Michael Hutchinson calculates how much better the pros are than the rest of us, and aerodynamics expert Bert Blocken explains the numbers behind slipstreaming. The importance of male friendships: from the Obama – Biden bromance to the transformative experience of the men’s group, we explore what men can get from their friendships with other men that is unique, and do long held notions of masculinity prevent men from getting close to other men? (Picture Caption: A #MeToo sign at a rally in South Korea. Picture Credit: Getty Images)

A recap of the social media trends of the 2018 World Cup: how did the “beautiful game” dominate online chatter across the globe. Should we have smaller families to save the planet? We examine the claim that having children is the worst thing you can do for the environment . Caz Graham asks why people go to their school reunion, finding for some it’s the importance of being able to recount what has happened in their lives to those who were their first friends. (Image: A French fan celebrates.Credit: Getty Images)

How can memes be engineered to carry political messages? A team at University College, London, has found that some far-right websites and message boards have a disproportionate impact on the memes that spread on mainstream social networks. The astronomer Carl Sagan famously said that there were more stars in our Universe than grains of sand on the Earth’s beaches. But was it actually true? We try to count the nearly uncountable. Dividing people into groups is part of our social experience: we build our identities through groups we belong to, and these identities can be numerous and elastic, but what makes us decide who is like us and who is the other? Sandra Kanthal reports. (Photo: One example of the “Distracted Boyfriend” meme. Credit: Getty/iStock/BBC)

Five Swedish pensioners, who call themselves the “Silver Snipers”, test their aim at a professional eSports tournament, and try to prove that gaming is for everyone. Not only is gaming a hobby that connects them with their grandchildren’s generation, but it’s also helped them through some tough times in life. Is it strange that Russian football players ran such big distances during their first two games of the FIFA World Cup? We look at how they compare to other teams and what it might signify. Also –is it just bad luck that Germany has crashed out of the competition? How do we view our status in society: is it something we can define ourselves or is it always dependent on the opinion of others? In many parts of the world status is something we can change through education, occupation and wealth but what if you come from a culture where the status you are born with is inescapable? Priscilla Ngethe reports. (Image caption: A team photo of the Silver Snipers / Credit: BBC)

One short message led to a Twitter ban for a controversial activist – and highlighted the complicated world of transgender politics and how philosophical battles within transgender communities are playing out on social media. How many words do you need to speak a language and how many words do native speakers actually use? Reporter Beth Sagar-Fenton finds out with help from Professor Stuart Webb, and puts Tim Harford through his paces to find out how big his own English vocabulary is. People have been fishing for thousands of years – it is one of the last hunter gatherer activities. But increasingly it is becoming more difficult, as fish stocks dwindle or regulation limits the number of fish that can be caught. Caz Graham asks why do people continue to fish despite these challenges. (Photo: Illustration of people going from woman to man Credit: Getty Images)

Philip Cross has made hundreds of thousands of Wikipedia edits. But in the process he's angered anti-war activists and critics of Western foreign policy, who claim he's biased. So who is “Philip Cross”, the name on the account? We try to track him down. The data behind all the football World Cups since 1966: Ben Carter talks to author and Opta Sports football statistician Duncan Alexander about how the ‘beautiful game’ has changed…through numbers. Which World Cups have seen the most shots, fouls, dribbles and, most importantly, goals? And why has football becomes the world’s favourite team sport? Aasmah Mir asks why “soccer” has developed such a huge following, talking to players and fans across the world about the game’s accessibility, simplicity and unpredictability. (Picture Caption: Screenshot of the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia, one of the world’s most popular websites. Picture Credit: Getty)

Anna Scanlon, a vegan vlogger, has filed a lawsuit for defamation after she found herself the target of abuse online . She complained to the social media companies but got little response. The forthcoming trial could have major implications for defamation online. From penguins to nematodes - is it possible to count how many animals are born in the world every day? Reporter Kate Lamble takes a trip to the zoo to find out the answer to a ten year old listener’s question. What is it about beautiful landscapes that people like so much? Caz Graham explores the appeal of wide open natural spaces, starting with a visit to the English Lake District. (Photo: Anna Scanlon)

It is almost a year since Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, Bahrain and their allies cut off diplomatic ties with Qatar. BBC Arabic journalist Owen Pinnell reveals how allegations of hacked websites, bot armies and other online dirty tricks have fuelled the ongoing tensions between the two sides. Fans of Harry Potter have been asking - just how many wizards live among us? We follow a trail of clues in J K Rowling's best-selling books to provide the definitive estimate of the wizarding population. And why do we believe complete strangers can guide us in improving every aspect of our lives? Mary-Ann Ochota explores whether the self-help industry really makes a difference. Photo Credit: Reuters