Do you really know?

When it comes to expressions about skin, the English language is not lacking. For example, we can be thick or thin skinned, or have someone under our skin. To show indifference, we say “it’s no skin off” our noses, and when we get excited we “jump out of” our skin.  The sheer number of different idioms reflects the deep links the skin has with our brains. Sometimes these links are visible and give...

Winter is coming and this year in particular people are wondering how to strike the right balance between comfort at home and continually rising energy bills. The World Health Organisation suggests that 18° C is the perfect temperature to set your heating to, but in reality that is just an average. There are a number of variables to take into account.  For example, certain rooms might need to be h...

This small butterfly-shaped gland is situated at the bottom of the neck, wrapped around the windpipe. It plays an important role in a number of bodily functions, but isn’t as well known as it should be.  According to The American Thyroid Association, over 12% of the country’s population will develop a thyroid disorder at some point in their life. Many people are actually unaware of the fact that t...

This Saturday sees the 2022 Nobel Prize award ceremony take place in Stockholm. Like every year, it’s held on 10th December, to coincide with the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death. Tradition also dictates that the Prize laureates are announced in October. This year’s laureates include Alain Aspect, John F. Clauser and Anton Zeilinger in Physics, Carolyn R. Bertozzi, Morton Meldal and K. Barry Sh...

In recent weeks, one of the world’s most famous singers has been generating even more headlines than usual, but for all the wrong reasons. It all started on 3rd October at Paris Fashion week. Kanye West, now known as Ye, wore a T-shirt with the words “White Lives Matter” on it. The slogan has been linked to white supremacists in the US. Following that incident, fellow rapper P Diddy defended Ye in...

The cost of living crisis has seen food prices increase by as much as 65% according to the Office for National Statistics meaning that the average British household spends an extra £600 pounds a year on food. But considering that there is also about 4.5 million tonnes of food waste annually the possibility of reducing wasted food as well as bills has never been more needed. Reducing your bill at t...

In social sciences, a generation refers to a group of the population whose members are around the same age and have hence lived through the same era. Think the baby boomers, Generation X, Millennials… and now Generation Covid! While they may be significantly less at risk of serious illness from Covid-19, young people are bearing the brunt of the pandemic’s economic consequences. Their development...

Every year, 1st December is World AIDS day. To mark the occasion, let’s look back at the story of the Act Up group. Act Up started causing a buzz in New York in 1987, four years after the AIDS virus had been discovered. The highly organised group met several times a week to discuss their action plan. They demanded more prevention and communication campaigns from the state, better access to care, t...

In late November 2022, fighting killed at least 18 in a rural area of the Putumayu province in South west Colombia, near to the borders with Ecuador and Peru. It involved two dissident groups of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC for short. It has reignited tensions in an internal armed conflict which has spanned six decades, despite the government and FARC signing a pea...

This portmanteau word describes the feeling of “living through a period of war, inflation, and political instability,” Collins said it chose the word as it “sums up how truly awful 2022 has been for so many people”. The Collins team consulted their  8 billion-word database as well as a range of media sources, including social media, to create an annual list of new and notable words and how they ar...

There are tiny fragments of plastic pretty much everywhere in the ocean, in the ground and inside animals, including humans! These are known as microplastics, and their potential impact on human health and the environment is a cause for concern.  Microplastics aren’t a specific type of plastic per se. The term is used to refer to any fragments which are under 5 mm in length. Some examples are poly...

Have you ever noticed that you tend to have your best ideas in the shower? If so, you’re not alone! A 2014 study conducted by cognitive psychologist Scott Barry Kaufman found that 72% of people get creative ideas while showering. So it’s really not a coincidence. Science has shown that taking a shower is actually a perfect combination of a few factors which allow for optimal creativity. Struggling...

Ardent fans and onlookers alike have probably noticed the diva’s disappearance from major social media platforms, including Instagram. Before deactivating her accounts, Britney assured her followers on Twitter she was just taking a break to celebrate her engagement and promised to be back soon.  However, there seems to be more to the story. According to the Guardian, the star’s account has been a...

Have you ever looked at a piece of toast, a cloud or a nearby house and had the impression there’s a face in it, looking right back at you? If you’re like most people, it happens to you on a regular basis, and once you’ve seen the face, you just can’t un-see it! It’s down to a human tendency known as pareidolia. The psychological phenomenon comes from the Greek words para, meaning “beside” or “bey...

Ever since social media came along, dating trends have evolved constantly. They tend to reflect changes in society too. In previous episodes of Do You Really Know, we’ve talked about dawn dating, sneating and ghosting for example. There are so many different terms out there, and not all of them are positive. Here’s another one you may have heard of recently, in particular if you’re single and use...

John Lewis has released its annual Christmas advert; entitled ‘The Beginner.’ It follows the progress of a middle aged man as he slowly, painfully and determinedly learns how to skateboard. The montage ends by revealing that he is doing all this to make his foster daughter feel welcome when she comes to stay with them for Christmas. It's touching and, for all but the most cold hearted, brings a te...

Reaching carbon net zero by 2050 is one of the main objectives in the struggle against global warming. It’s also part of the Green New Deal the EU agreed upon in 2019. Since the start of 2022, many figures in agriculture have been pushing for a carbon farming policy which would see farmers rewarded for their efforts in sequestering carbon. It’s about using agricultural fields to store CO2 in the g...

As we discussed recently on Do You Really Know, Elon Musk’s Twitter buyout has been causing concern not just among company employees, but also” the platform’s users. Around a month has passed since the Tesla and Space X boss expanded his portfolio with the acquisition of Twitter. But he’s already fired over half of all employees and made a host of other unpopular changes. Some users have already d...

On 29th October 2022, 20,000 people were celebrating Halloween in the Itaewon neighbourhood of Seoul in South Korea. One particularly narrow street became very overcrowded, and a huge crush ensued, leading to the deaths of 153 people, with many more injured. A month later, we still don’t know exactly what caused the crush.  One of the theories out there is that a rumour spread in the crowd, leadin...

When you think of wine, you probably think of France, Bordeaux, Burgundy or Beaujolais. But we could soon be looking to Kent, Dorset and Hampshire instead, especially when it comes to sparkling wine.  Since 2000 the total amount of land in England and Wales given over to vineyards has quadrupled in size and established wine makers, particularly from the Champagne region in France are taking notice...

On the 23rd of Novembre 2022, Iran announced it would be producing enriched uranium, expanding its nuclear program. Listen to our rerun episode which describes the Iranian nuclear program. It was launched in the 1950s by Shah Mohamed Reza Pahlavi, with the help of the United States. Ensuring the peaceful use of nuclear power was a critical global issue for some time, with the International Atomic...

The prostate is a male organ that's situated right above the bladder, in front of the rectum. It's a small gland the size of a chestnut that plays a fundamental role in the reproductive system. It produces the protastic fluids that ensure the maturation and survival of sperm. The prostate is also an incredibly erogenous zone, though it's not often explored amongst heterosexual men. Psychoanalyst a...

November is synonymous with Black Friday, great deals but what cost? Over consumption is endangering our already fragile planet. Is it time to change our ways? This week Do You Really Know is highlighting concepts and initiatives about reducing our consumption. Giving Tuesday is a worldwide initiative which encourages people to do good. The movement was created in the United States in 2012, and ha...

November is synonymous with Black Friday, great deals but what cost? Over consumption is endangering our already fragile planet. Is it time to change our ways? This week Do You Really Know is highlighting concepts and initiatives about reducing our consumption. According to the World Wildlife Foundation, roughly a third of all produced in the world goes to waste. What’s more the United Nations’ Fo...

November is synonymous with Black Friday, great deals but what cost? Over consumption is endangering our already fragile planet. Is it time to change our ways? This week Do You Really Know is highlighting concepts and initiatives about reducing our consumption. As you most likely know, today - the 25th of November 2022 - is Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year. It's an occasion which...