The far right threat to this year’s European Parliament election raised alarm bells again this week, as the European Council on Foreign Relations became the latest body to warn that extremist parties look set to top the polls in as many as nine member states.

Between now and June, the European mainstream urgently needs to come up with a counter offer for voters, That means, in part, doing a better job of understanding why people support extreme parties in the first place.

To address this conundrum, mathematician Dorje C. Brody believes in going back to basics. He argues we are drawn to facile answers to complex questions because of our tendency to reach for conclusions that leave us with the least uncertainty. And in a world drowning in noisy information, he says, maths can help explain why it feels like the populism problem is getting worse. For him, understanding these drivers is the key to mounting a workable challenge against the populists.

Similar problems with noise are potentially at play on a more personal level when people use dating apps. On the face of it, the ability to choose between thousands of profiles makes it seem like it facilitates good matches. The reality is often nights spent swiping and swiping until you feel exhausted by the choice. A group of marketing experts have put together a survival guide for anyone looking for love amid the clamour.

The far more enjoyable noise of reggaeton is in the air as Spanish language music takes over the world, thanks to stars like Bad Bunny and Karol G — who featured on the soundtrack for Barbie last year. The genre’s popularity is what happens when immigration meets music streaming services — and it’s even having an interesting effect on the type of Spanish being sung in the songs.

New research out of Sweden finds that people with obsessive compulsive disorder are more likely to die of both natural and unnatural causes than those who don’t suffer from the condition. We’ve long known that people with OCD are more at risk of suicide than the average population, but this study shows that they are also more likely to die of lung disease, diseases of the nervous system and multiple other illnesses.