Do you really know?

The Danish toy brand Lego may be celebrating its 91th anniversary in 2023, but it’s showing no signs of slowing down! An average of 31 billion bricks are sold each year around the world, and the company appeals to a wide range of people.  Back in 1932, in the small Danish town of Billund, carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen decided to expand his business by building small wooden toys. A couple of year...

If you like to take a short nap during the day you might be doing your brain a favor. According to a study published in the journal Sleep Health in June of 2023, people who have a genetic predisposition to napping regularly have larger brain volumes than those who don’t. This suggests that napping may protect against brain shrinkage, which occurs faster in people with cognitive problems and neurod...

You’ve probably heard of a sweet tooth, the term for people who love sugary foods and desserts. But you might be less familiar with a salt tooth. In other words a  preference for salty foods, such as crisps, olives, cheese and other salty things.  According to a study presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions meeting in 2016, there is a genetic basis for your salt cravings....

If you’re the kind of person that plans ahead, you’ve probably already got your summer holidays booked months ahead of time. Nevertheless, holidays are always pricey, with Europeans spending an average budget of €1600 over the last 3 years according to Statista. For those of us who are lucky enough to be able to travel, let’s not take it for granted. It’s a privilege, which some people unfortunate...

With the warmer weather that summer brings, it’s especially important to be aware of the best techniques for freezing food before it goes bad. This ensures food safety and minimises waste. Furthermore, proper freezing techniques help preserve the taste, texture, and nutritional value of the food. You might think it’s as simple as bunging something in the freezer and leaving it there for as long as...

When our skin is cut or damaged, the body immediately starts its healing process to close the wound and limit any risk of infection. It’s a wonderful and fascinating process, but nevertheless scars still remain on the skin afterwards. They can be unsightly and visible too, depending on their location, leading to self-consciousness. There are several stages, with the first being hemostasis. Immedia...

Bloody hell, shit, bugger… there, I said it. You’ve probably been told that swearing reflects a poor vocabulary or bad manners. But that assumption doesn’t really hold up. Several studies suggest that people who use more profanity don’t just score higher on IQ tests, they also tend to have a broader vocabulary overall. So why would swearing be linked to intelligence? And can being rude actually be...

Perfectionism is the tendency to set excessively high and unrealistic standards for oneself and others, and to evaluate one’s worth based on the ability to meet those standards. Perfectionists are not satisfied with anything less than flawless results, and they often fear failure, criticism, or disappointment but constantly striving for perfection can have serious consequences.  How does perfectio...

Mother’s Day is celebrated in many countries around the world, but not always on the same date. For some it’s observed on the second Sunday of May, for others it  falls on the fourth Sunday of Lent but it can also be on the first Sunday of May; the last Sunday of May or even the first Sunday in June. Well, that’s because Mother’s Day has different origins and meanings in different cultures and reg...

The clitoris is the only organ in the human body that’s dedicated solely to pleasure. It doesn’t have any muscles or play any role in the body's other functions. And while our understanding of the clitoris has improved in recent years, there's still a lot to learn, as research in this area is relatively new. Until recently, researchers thought that the clitoris had 8,000 nerve endings. For compari...

Still to this day, this psychological condition is most often referred to by its previous name: multiple personality disorder. That’s in particular down to exaggerated representations in popular culture like books, TV or cinema. Some prominent examples are the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho or, more recently, Split. Experts have criticised the use of DID as a plot device...

Memory is the ability to store and retrieve information, and recall is the process of accessing that information when needed. Both are essential for learning, problem-solving, and decision-making, but they can also decline with age, stress, or illness. But there are ways to naturally boost your memory and recall skills. How can I focus my attention better? How can I structure and organise the info...

Nobody likes getting up in the morning and looking in the mirror to find dreary bags and circles under their eyes. It can make you look tired and lower your self-confidence as you head to work, feeling like a zombie. But it’s more than just an aesthetic issue. More often than not, it’s an indication of poor health habits, and sometimes a sign of underlying medical conditions.  So what actually cau...

There are different types of anti-anxiety patches, but one of the most popular ones is from a company called NuCalm, they say that its discs provide the neurochemistry to accelerate the onset of the relaxation response. You may have seen them on celebrities like Meghan Markle, who was recently spotted wearing a NuCalm biosignal processing disc on her wrist. It’s a small blue sticker which claims t...

In case you haven’t noticed, running is very much in vogue these days. We talked about the London Marathon on Do You Really Know last month, but you don’t have to out yourself through the ordeal of a 26-mile distance to enjoy running. It can just as easily be a 20 or 30 minute jog in the park, or in the streets of your local area. And of course as with any trend in society, the running boom has ga...

Most of us have our smartphones on our person more or less all day, every day. Our photos, payment methods and a lot of personal data are stored on them. So we’re all wary of the risk of having them stolen when out in public. But did you know there’s another way someone can take control of your phone line without you even losing the device? It’s called sim swapping and while it’s not new, it’s bee...

When it comes to getting clean, some people prefer chilling in the bath for a good half an hour or more, while others like how quick and practical it is having a shower. Let’s consider the two choices from a health perspective. It's pretty common knowledge that taking a bath isn't very eco-friendly, in terms of water consumption. Of course there are variables at play here when comparing the two. W...

You may have heard the term "seenager" being used lately. It's a new buzzword that describes a demographic group that's becoming increasingly important in our society. In simple terms, a seenager is a senior teenager. It refers to people aged 55 and over who are still young at heart and refuse to let their age define them. Seenagers are active, social, and engaged in their communities. They're not...

Ever checked the time on your phone or TV set and seen a quirky number like 13:13, 11:11 or 20:20? Well of course you have, but what you may not know is there’s actually a name for such numbers: mirror hours! Basically, when you’re looking at a digital time display, you see a mirror time if the minute number and the hour number are the same. It refers to the symmetry you see on either side of the...

It doesn’t matter which fancy moisturizers or expensive skincare routine you use, nothing quite matches how your skin looks and feels after an intense workout. Just take a look in the mirror after you’ve finished exercising and you’ll likely see smooth skin and a glowing complexion. That’s right, in addition to the positive impact on our physical and mental health, exercise can also improve our sk...

Ever met someone… and forgotten their name almost instantly? Awkward, right, especially after chatting for a few minutes. But if that happens to you a lot, you’re definitely not alone. One reason is that first names don’t really mean anything on their own. They don’t tell you what someone looks like, what they do, or what they’re like. And our brains are much better at remembering information when...

Think back to when you were a kid and there was a type of vegetable you simply wouldn’t go near, let alone eat. It might have been broccoli, Brussels sprouts or spinach for example. Or perhaps another type of food like seafood, which now as an adult you actually quite like, or can tolerate at least. It’s not a coincidence; there are scientific explanations for why our taste preferences evolve with...

If you’ve got heavy legs, nighttime cramps, varicose veins or swelling in the legs, you may have blood flow issues. When you consider that our bodies contain an incredible 60,000 miles worth of blood vessels, it’s really not uncommon. Something like a varicose vein is usually relatively harmless. Other conditions include hemorrhoids, and phlebitis, which is a blood clot in a deep vein. Worse still...

The olive theory actually started trending on Tiktok as of early 2023, leading younger generations to get familiar with How I Met Your Mother and one of its most popular relationship theories. At the time of recording, the #olivetheory hashtag has accrued over 130M views. Fans of 2000s sitcom How I Met Your Mother can no doubt remember how the main character Ted Mosby is a hopeless romantic, and s...

Salt is a common ingredient in many foods, and it’s essential for our health. Salt is made up of sodium and chloride, two minerals that help regulate fluid balance, blood pressure, nerve and muscle function.  According to the World Health Organization (WHO), adults should consume less than 5 grams of salt per day, which is equivalent to about one teaspoon. However, most people eat more than that....