Do you really know?

In French, when someone is beautiful, you can say they’re  ‘canon’. The word itself means a general law, rule, princely or criteria by which something is judged, but when it comes to beauty it is simply means model that we elevate to the level of perfection. Except that this model has changed a lot over the centuries and across cultures. Those who are considered “canons” today would have been cons...

Vaping has become increasingly popular in recent years, especially among young people. A 2022 report from Action on Smoking and Health found that an estimated 4.3 million people vape in Great Britain, a figure that is massively up from 800,000 a decade ago. It’s often touted as a safer alternative to smoking, but have you ever wondered what it actually does to your body? Or whether it comes with i...

No one's proud of being unfaithful, but what if some people’s cheating was actually caused by genetics, rather than selfishness? That might sound like a convenient excuse, but actually there could be some scientific basis behind it. In 2022 researchers at the University of Queensland in Australia analysed the DNA of over 7,300 twins aged between 18 and 49, all of whom had been in relationships for...

The thought of taking a mammogram is often scary for women, but it’s a highly important medical exam, and one we should bear in mind in the context of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Like with any type of cancer, the earlier breast cancer is detected, the better the patient’s chances of recovery. And a mammogram can detect abnormalities that are too difficult to spot by only sight and touch. Why ar...

Vitamin D is known as the ‘sunshine vitamin’, and it’s not for nothing. Our bodies make it from cholesterol when exposed to sunlight. The sun’s ultraviolet B rays hit cholesterol in the skin cells, providing the energy needed for vitamin D synthesis to occur. Naturally, during autumn and winter, there’s less sunlight and government advice suggests that everyone should consider taking Vitamin D sup...

Whether you’re watching a horror film, or exposed to a sudden loud noise, all of us have jumped at some point when scared. The body’s response to getting startled is all too familiar: tense muscles, a racing heartbeat and a twitching neck, among others. But there’s still a lot of mystery behind the phenomenon.  Jolting is actually a natural and adaptive defensive response that helps our bodies avo...

Most people know buckwheat as the flour used for pancakes or blinis. But it’s actually so much more than that! Even though it’s often used as a wheat alternative, buckwheat isn’t a cereal at all. It’s a flowering plant, and its seeds can be prepared in a ton of different ways. Plus, it’s got a whole load of nutritional benefits. Why is it good for you then? Does buckwheat have any other advantages...

I don’t know about your love life, but let’s be honest; for most people having sex doesn’t work out as smoothly as what you see in the movies. Not only is the act itself idealised, but so is what comes after. On screen, you tend to see couples snuggling and drifting off in each other's arms, all cosy and serene.  But what movies tend to skip over is the part where you have to slip out of bed with...

Depersonalization, a dissociative psychological syndrome, can be incredibly destabilising. It often takes years for sufferers to identify it. Characterised by altered self-perception, individuals may feel dead, detached, or anaesthetised. They might not recognize themselves in the mirror and struggle to distinguish between reality and a dream. According to Stanford University School of Medicine, t...

We spend a lot of time in bed and there is nothing nicer than snuggling up in clean fresh sheets but apparently not everyone feels the same. According to a survey commissioned by Pizuna Linens of over 2 thousand people in the UK  it was discovered that 45 percent of single men are happy to wait up to four months to wash their sheets with a horrifying 12 percent only doing it ‘when they remembered’...

“The enemy of success”; “the thief of time”; “the grave in which opportunity is buried”. Those are just three ways in which procrastination has been described in the past. And according to IE University, “several studies have linked procrastination to depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, and overall poor mental health.” You may remember a while back we ran an episode on how to beat procrastinatio...

Beauty standards are always shifting. Back in the '60s through the '90s, especially in the West, the ideal body for women was all about being slim, think long, lean silhouettes and flat bottoms. But by the late '90s and especially in the 2010s, that completely flipped. Celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Nicki Minaj helped usher in a new trend, one that celebrates curves, especially a fuller derri...

Ever feel like a grey cloud is hanging over you? Life seems a bit gloomy, and your days are dull. You’re craving a change, but you’re stuck in a rut. Well,  there is good news and  the solution might be much closer than you think. Sometimes, all it takes is tweaking one or two elements of your day to transform your life. Enter the ‘Yes Man’ technique. Where does it come from? Should You Say Yes to...

LoFi, short for "Low Fidelity," it  blends elements of jazz with hip-hop rhythms, creating a relaxing soundscape. This genre has gained immense popularity, in part due to the YouTube channel *Lofi Girl*, which, as of October 2024, boasts over 14 million subscribers. The channel offers a 24/7 livestream of LoFi tracks designed to serve as ambient background music. Research on this topic offers mixe...

We’ve all become a lot more self-conscious about sneezing since COVID-19 came along. Whether you’re out in the street or worse in crowded public transport, sneezing gets you more concerned looks than it did before, and people tend to keep their distance. On top of that, we now all better understand how sneezing works. That’s right, by sneezing we propel micro-droplets of mucus potentially full of...

Figures from Cancer Research UK show that there are an average of nearly 57,000 new breast cancer cases detected each year in the country. It’s the most common form of cancer, accounting for 15% of all cases. While the vast majority of breast cancer cases are in women, there are actually around 370 diagnoses in men each year too. That’s right; men also have breast tissue around the nipples, so are...

When we talk about the Holocaust, most of us immediately think of death camps like Auschwitz or Dachau, chilling symbols of the Nazis’ “Final Solution”. But before they reached that level of industrialised brutality, the Nazis explored other ways to remove Jews from Europe. One plan, both absurd and terrifying, was to send all Jews to the distant island of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. How on ea...

Ever found yourself swearing off sports after a grueling session, plagued by aches and pains, or feeling like you’re always lagging behind? Whether you’re a novice or a seasoned athlete, jeffing might be the solution for you. Developed by American athlete Jeff Galloway in the 1970s, this method aims to keep athletes of all levels in shape without overexertion. How does it work? How can this method...

Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, in his work The Joyful Wisdom, explored this through a thought experiment he called the "eternal return." He asked us to imagine: What if you had to live this very life, exactly as it is—every joy, every sorrow, every thought—over and over, for eternity? How would you feel? Would you embrace it? Or, as Nietzsche suspected, would you recoil in horror? Nietzsche beli...

Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos… modern billionaires are in a league of their own. We’re often told that wealth comes from hustle, long hours, and smart decisions. But once you reach billionaire level we’re no longer talking about salaries, bonuses, or promotions. Take Jeff Bezos, for example. As of April 2025, Forbes estimated his fortune at around $236 billion. For comparison, the median...

We don’t know about you, but some nights we just can’t fall asleep without turning onto our stomach. And when we do, we seem to drift off more easily when not using a pillow. But we do sometimes wonder whether doing that could have any negative health impact. Just like your mattress and bed base, the pillow plays a key role in sleep quality, but it’s often the most overlooked part of our bedding....

A few months ago we ran an episode on how long people have sex for, and referenced an American study from the 2000s which found that the ideal length for most people is between 7 and 13 minutes. Now that’s probably less than what a lot of you might think, but it’s proof that quick sex can often be just as satisfying as a drawn out love-making session. And let’s be honest - often we don’t really ha...

In 2021, American multi-millionaire Bryan Johnson began his Project Blueprint. Then 43, his stated aim was to restore his body and organs to the state of an eighteen-year-old. To do this, he follows an extreme fitness program and a strict diet, and takes a whole host of medicines and supplements, not to mention undergoing an organ operation every year. All of this costs around $2M per year. His te...

Lucid dreams are dreams in which you become aware that you are dreaming while you are dreaming. This means that you can recognise that the events and characters in your dream are not real, and that you are actually asleep in your bed. Some people can even control their dreams to some extent, and shape them according to their wishes. Imagine being able to fly, visit exotic places, or meet your favo...

Regular listeners will remember how astrology has undergone somewhat of a revival in recent years. Knowledge of terms like “Saturn return” and “retrograde Mercury” is now actually pretty common, in particular among young people.  The topic of today’s episode actually blends astrology with the modern insights of psychology. The idea behind astropsychology is that the positions and movements of cele...