Do you really know?

The latest edition of the annual World Happiness Report has been released, offering a fascinating insight into global well-being. Compiled by the Gallup World Poll in collaboration with the University of Oxford and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, the report analyzes data from over 140 countries to determine where people are happiest. If you’re familiar with the World Happiness Re...

Humans have long been intrigued by the idea of achieving eternal life, and wondered whether it could ever become possible thanks to medical and technological advances. But in the case of some individuals it seems that it may even be randomly bestowed upon them. Let’s take South Korean man Shin Hyo Myung for example. Ever since he appeared on eNews24 in 2013, he’s been used to being the centre of a...

Millennials - how well, if at all, do you remember the Y2K bug hype? Back in the 1990s, everyone was freaking out about computers crashing when the clock struck midnight on January 1st, 2000.  That was because when computers were first built back in the mid-20th century, they stored years with only two digits instead of four, due to memory limitations. It was feared that when the clock ticked over...

Chewing gum first appeared in the United Kingdom in the year 1911, when AMerican manufacturer William Wrigley founded a British subsidiary. And it’s only become more and more popular as time with time. During World War II, American soldiers traded sticks of gum with European locals for rations. More recently, a widely-cited estimation from the early 2000s suggested there were 28 million regular ch...

After the emergence of ‘quiet quitting’, it's now the turn of quiet hiring. And although the term is relatively new, the practice is not. The term "quiet hiring" first appeared in the report "9 Future of Work Trends for 2023" published at the end of 2022 by Emily McRae, a philosophy professor in New Mexico, USA.  She explains that this phenomenon follows on from the quiet quitting craze that emerg...

Bed bugs are small, blood-sucking insects that can infest your luggage, clothing, bedding and furniture. They are not only a nuisance, but can also cause allergic reactions, skin infections and psychological distress. Bed bugs are not a sign of poor hygiene or low-quality accommodation; they can be found anywhere, from luxury hotels to budget hostels and since the arrival of airbnb most big cities...

Smart devices can be very handy, but increasingly people are worried about exactly how smart they are, what they know and what they are doing with our data especially after a rogue Roomba ended up sharing embarrassing photos of one young woman on the toilet. Smart devices are electronic devices or gadgets that have the ability to interact, connect and share information with other smart devices. It...

As the sun sets on this rainy Sunday evening, reality sinks in. You didn't quite muster the energy to venture out, and now it's back to the grindstone. Tomorrow's Monday, signalling the return to work, and with it, a familiar wave of anxiety known as Monday morning syndrome, or the Monday blues.  It's not officially recognised by the medical community, but many people identify with those feelings....

Have you ever had a holiday coming up, and rather than being excited about it, you just can’t get over the apprehension and anxiety you get when you think about flying? And it only gets worse when you get to the airport, and onto the plane, doesn’t it? We’re talking clammy hands, a racing heartbeat, and a feeling of being constantly on-edge. Aviophobia, or an intense fear of flying, is actually on...

Coffee purists tend to look down on the likes of the latte, cappuccino and mocha, suggesting that only black coffee is the real deal. They often double down by saying that drinking coffee with milk causes bloating and messes with digestion. But a recent study from the University of Copenhagen found that it might actually be beneficial for our health, after all. How so? Is the link proven then? It...

Anyone who uses Tiktok knows that you can stumble across some pretty random stuff on there. I mean, all of us have our own algorithm-tailored For You page, but still the latest wacky trends tend to get served to us whether we’ve viewed similar content or not. The Broccoli Freckles trend is a case in point. Iif you haven’t already heard of it, you could be forgiven for thinking it’s got something t...

Members of Gen Z, when you were kids, you might well have had grand plans for your twenties – owning a house, landing a job, getting hitched, and having kids. But where are you now?  Are you a keen saver eyeing up homeownership, perhaps abiding by some of the methods we've talked about in the past on Do You Really Know?, like loud budgeting, cash stuffing or the 50/30/20 method? Or do you feel pow...

A lot of people think that morning erections are triggered by erotic dreams, or a need to pee, but in fact they're a physiological reflex linked to sleep. That’s right - they’re not dependent on sexual arousal at all. And in a somewhat similar way, women actually also experience increased blood flow to the clitoris during the night. Now, the scientific term for a nighttime erection is nocturnal pe...

Following the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022, her son Prince Charles became King at the age of 73. He inherited the many titles that his mother carried throughout her 70-year reign, one of which is the “Defender of the Faith”. That refers to his role as the supreme governor of the Church of England. In 2009, the Church of England stated it had over 26 million baptised members accoun...

April 2024 saw a couple in the south of France handed a one-year suspended sentence, and a ban from having pets, after they were discovered keeping 159 cats and seven dogs in their 860 sq foot apartment. According to BBC News, the “animals were discovered last year living in filth, many dehydrated, suffering from malnutrition or infected with parasites.”That shocking animal hoarding case seems to...

According to the British Association of Urinological Surgeons, somewhere between 20 and 30% of men experience premature ejaculation. But of those men, less than a quarter actually seek medical advice. That’s despite it being an issue that often takes a toll psychologically on the man and the relationship they have with their partner. If it's always been an issue, it's termed primary premature ejac...

As of March 2024, the UK inflation rate stood at 3.2%, well below the record levels that had been seen a year prior. But still the cost of living crisis is biting and grocery shopping is one of the areas in which prices rose the most across 2022 and 2023. Thinking of ways to save on groceries has become really important and we’ve got a special tip for all of you listening today. The 6-1 method com...

You might have heard that working out before eating helps burn more fat. It’s a common claim. Some say a fasted workout,  like heading out for a morning run before breakfast, boosts fat burning or even improves performance. On paper, it sounds appealing. Exercising without eating first seems a bit strange so why do it? So does it actually help burn more fat? Could exercising on an empty stomach be...

Clowns are supposed to make you laugh, but often can make you shudder. What is supposed to be a figure of fun is for many the stuff of nightmares. Coulrophobia —the irrational fear of clowns that’s surprisingly common. This has been reinforced by popular culture, and many horror film-makers know that a scary clown is the perfect recipe for thrills, resulting in them becoming an icon of terror. A s...

What do Serena Williams, Beyoncé, Henry Cavill, Ryan Gosling and Nicole Kidman all have in common? Well apart from being famous, they’ve all been the targets of transvestigations in recent times.  As you may have guessed, the term is a combination of "transgender" and "investigation." It’s actually a bizarre type of conspiracy theory which sees web users attempt to prove that certain famous people...

Many of us feel completely disoriented at times, and are afraid of getting lost, whether in the middle of the city, in the forest, when travelling or in the car. In an age where GPS reigns supreme, many of us have become overly reliant on technology. Yet, there’s a growing desire to hone our natural navigational skills and understand the brain’s role in guiding us. What we call our "sense of direc...

Research by productivity software provider Asana showed that 70% of knowledge workers experienced burnout in 2021. Now we’ve talked about the symptoms of burnout before on Do you Really Know. It's typically characterised by physical and emotional exhaustion at work, and considered a psychiatric condition. But in recent years, the younger generation has been reshaping workplace norms. Many young wo...

It’s a common habit to toss our jeans into the laundry after a single wear, but is that really necessary? Turns out, giving your denim a break from frequent washes might be a smarter move. Well, according to Medisite, washing isn’t always kind to your beloved blues. The key to maintaining your denim’s durability is a cooler, gentler approach: wash them inside out, at a low temperature, and with a...

Everyone has their own expectations when it comes to summer holidays. Regardless, you don't necessarily have to travel far to have a good time. At least, that's what 31% of British people think, according to research from TripAdvisor. That’s the proportion of people who plan to holiday exclusively in the UK this year. But for others, going on holiday is all about turning dreams of exotic destinati...

When it comes to health, many people wonder which type of wine can most easily be enjoyed without needing to worry about negative health consequences. First things first, I hate to be a party pooper but let’s be clear: there’s no kind of alcohol that is actually “good” for your health.  So red wine does contain some antioxidants, which have reported health benefits. But senior dietitian and Britis...