Efforts to rid Twitter of false posts are to be the focus of a new UK-led study. During the 2011 riots in London, there were widespread and untrue claims that London Zoo animals had been set free. Social media has also been used in global conflicts to spread dangerous and damaging rumours about what is going on. Now, an international group of researchers led by the University of Sheffield aims to find a way to verify information quickly and source it so that journalists, governments, emergency services and others can know what is really happening – and whether they need to act. The EU-funded project is building a computer system that is aimed at dispelling urban myths before they have a chance to get significant attention, rather like a lie detector. The project is to be called Pheme, after the character of Greek mythology who is said to have pried into the affairs of mortals and gods, and repeated what she learned until everyone knew.