As the results of the 2024 European elections came in, it became clear that voter support for the far right had risen — and strongly. In the days that followed, researchers sought to provide explanations to shocked EU citizens who had thought it impossible that a continent that was torn apart in the 20th century by war could see support for the far right surge.
There may also have been a connection to our current craving for immediacy, suggests the social and political movements historian Jesús Casquete. Democracy and lawmaking are slow processes. Populism, by contrast, promises quick fixes to problems that are achingly complex. Despite the fact that their ability to deliver on such solutions is questionable, support for far-right candidates can be tempting, even for those otherwise inclined.
Social media is regularly cast as the villain in this drama. But large-scale cross-cultural study based on conversations with more than 15,000 people came to some surprising conclusions: although social media platforms provide optimal conditions for polarisation of opinions – such as anonymity or the possibility of transmitting fake or inflammatory messages to millions of people at once – not everyone involved inevitably becomes an abusive Internet troll. Rather, radicalised and aggressive posters tend to already exhibit confrontational personalities in the real world.
Meanwhile, in Denmark they are facing their own kind of heat: chili peppers. Among all of the threats on the rise today, the government chose to ban the marketing of Buldak Ramen noodles for being “dangerously spicy”. Mark Lorch, a professor of chemistry, explains where “heat” comes from and whether spiciness can really carry health risks.
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