How many translates of a small set are needed to cover the line? (Q2496986)

This is an abstract of the lecture given during the XXIXth Summer Symposium in Real Analysis, San Bernardino, 2005. The author considers the question of what subsets of the real line are thin. A set \(A\subset{\mathbb R}\) is thin if less than continuum many translates of \(A\) cannot cover \(\mathbb R\). A review of contemporary history of this question is presented. Some new results are annouced (without proofs and details). A few open problems are posed.