Do you really know?

Sleepwalking is a disorder that comes on during the deep sleep phase, from one to three hours after falling asleep. Episodes can last from 5 to 30 minutes and despite the condition’s name, they don’t always involve walking. Often people just rub their eyes, sit up on their bed or talk in their sleep.  According to the NHS, one in five children will sleepwalk at least once in their life. Meanwhile,...

Scandi lifestyle trends have been all the rage for a number of years now. Regular listeners may remember we’ve talked about Hygge and lagom on the show in the past. Well here’s another one from Sweden, and it’s just perfect for winter time.  Fika is basically a short break with friends, family or colleagues sharing a moment together while enjoying a hot beverage. On the face of it, the concept mig...

When it comes to news about the environment, it can feel like everything is doom and gloom. But we recently discussed how some people’s climate anxiety has turned into climate optimism of late, and that’s a trend that could continue this year. One piece of good news relates to depletion of the ozone layer. You may well have heard of the so-called “hole” in the ozone layer. Well, the name is a litt...

Until recently when confronted with arranging a funeral there has been a choice between burial or cremation. However, in parts of the US, Canada and soon the UK a third choice can be possible.  Aquamation or as it is known technically  “alkaline hydrolysis”   is an alternative to traditional burials. The body of the deceased is placed in a pressurised stainless steel vessel and immersed in a mixtu...

There are artistic movements which we’ve all heard of at least once, whether it be at school, in a museum or watching a cultural show on TV. But at the same time, it can be difficult to define them, and that’s why we’re here to help. Today we’re going to shed light on a 1960s anti-art movement known as fluxus. French-American cubist painter Marcel Duchamp invented the term anti-art in the early 20...

The end is nigh! Well at least it’s getting closer according to experts at the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. They’re responsible for maintaining the symbolic Doomsday Clock, which represents how close we are to the end of the world. Midnight on the Doomsday Clock symbolises a potential global catastrophe to come. Each year, the Bulletin non-profit has its say on how close the world is getting...

The Troubles in Northern Ireland may have been over for 25 years now, but the painful memories are still there for many who lived through the period. One of the darkest days was Bloody Sunday, which refers to events that took place in Londonderry on 30th January 1972.  15,000 people, most of whom were Catholics, had taken to the streets of the city for a civil rights march. They were protesting pe...

Scented candles, air fresheners and even scented cleaning products  are all designed to make your home smell nice, clean and fresh.  But using them can reduce the air quality of your home and lead to a variety of potential problems.    For many people most of their  time is spent indoors and, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), levels of indoor air pollutants are typically m...

In today’s episode, let’s talk about a term which mixes sociology and lifestyle newspeak. Yuccies is an abbreviation for Young urban creatives.  The term started trending after American journalist David Infante introduced it in an article on Mashable in June 2015. Within weeks, the concept had been covered on many other websites, with the original article being shared over 75,000 times. How did In...

Whether it’s in the street, on public transport or at home, almost all of us use headphones or earphones to listen to music. Now music might bring us joy and a whole lot of other emotions, but when it’s too loud, it can also represent a risk for hearing health. And it’s not just the case with personal listening devices; the same is also true when going to entertainment venues like nightclubs, bars...

You’re no doubt familiar with IKEA as the king of flatpack furniture. But you may not be aware that the Swedish company’s name is also associated with a cognitive bias. It’s all to do with how we assign greater value to objects when we make or assemble them ourselves. Now that might seem counterintuitive but it’s become an established marketing tactic over the years. Studies by American researcher...

Social science research is becoming more and more fruitful. As a result, an almost endless list of terms are emerging, like 'white privilege' or 'ageism’, which we have already covered in past episodes of Do You Really Know? These studies often share the same objective and that is to shine a light on social phenomena we tend to dismiss, calling out persisting discrimination. The words 'ableism' an...

Antibiotics are critical to modern medicine, and have saved millions of lives since first being introduced in the mid-20th century. However, there are drawbacks to prescribing antibiotics when they’re not actually required. Of course there’s the issue of antibiotic resistance, which is seen as a major threat to human health. And there are also unwanted side effects of antibiotic use to take into a...

Have you ever walked into your living room, kitchen or bedroom and completely forgotten what you went there for? It can be pretty annoying, and a little unsettling too. You might start wondering if you’ve got memory problems. This mental block phenomenon actually has a name: the doorway effect. It happens to most people from time to time. Through a series of studies run by Gabriel Radvansky and hi...

One of the consequences of the pandemic has been the increased interest and possibility for people to work from home. For many it is a great option, but increasingly employers are worried about time theft. Time theft is a catch all term for employees being paid for being at work when they were not really working. It could be because of things like taking longer breaks than scheduled; logging off e...

The ChatGPT AI chatbot has grabbed a lot of attention since it was released in December 2022. GPT stands for generative Pre-trained transformer, and the chatbot is based on one of the most advanced AI language models currently available. Those who’ve tested it have been impressed at how it generates complex, human-like responses to many different kinds of questions. It’s also been used to write es...

Online influencer and self-confessed misogynist Andrew Tate has now been in prison for over a month, following his arrest in late December on human trafficking charges. The Romanian police force who arrested him released a statement saying Tate, along with his brother and two other suspects, used “physical violence and mental coercion” to force victims to perform pornography. The statement went in...

Electric cars feel like a great choice for the environment but are they a great choice for you? Here are some tips and advice to help you decide. Despite the cost of electricity going up recently electric cars are still less expensive to run than petrol or diesel equivalents. When it comes to charging your car you will get the best price by charging at home on off-peak hours. Using a public charge...

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...

Data published by YouGov in August 2022 showed that as of the previous month, Britons were using a whopping £3.5bn worth of overdrafted funds from their bank accounts. Each month, between 25% and 30% of people dip into their overdrafts, generally just for a few days leading up to payday. It’s hardly surprising with the ongoing cost of living crisis and energy bills rising rapidly. If you’re one of...

The COP26 summit, which took place earlier this month, revealed that concerns related to climate change are now more pressing than ever. In June 2021, Madagascar became the first country in the world officially affected by a climate change famine that swept over the south of the island as a result of global warming. What makes it a particularly affected area is that 9 out of 10 people there live b...

It’s been labelled a “marvel of engineering” and a “miracle of convenience” by Harvard Health Publishing. Data published by Statista in July 2022 showed that in 2018, 93% of UK households owned a microwave, a figure which had risen from 67% when the survey started back in 1994. But still some doubts persist about whether microwaving food is bad for your health. Some people even say they cause canc...

We’ve talked about eco-anxiety before on Do You Really Know, and it’s real. A survey published in the Lancet in December 2021 found that 75% of young people thought the future was frightening. But others are preaching a more positive outlook, with cautious climate optimism looking set to be a trend in 2023. While our fears around the climate crisis are justified and useful, if they paralyse us out...

Most of us are familiar with the idea that you need to take 10 thousand steps per day to stay healthy but getting to this magic number is not that easy. The 10,000-step target first became popular in Japan in the 1960s. A clockmaker capitalising on people's new interest in fitness following the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games made a  pedometer with a name that, when written in Japanese characters, resemb...

All week long, we’re looking into 10 new terms and concepts that are certain to be on everyone’s lips in 2023! Flying vehicles have long been imagined as part of the not-too-distant future, as well as a making regular appearances in TV and film works of fiction. Just think of the Jetsons or Harry Potter for example. And the attraction is understandable. Imagine you could avoid all road congestion...