Do you really know?

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...

Let’s think back to January 6th 2021, when the U.S. Capitol was invaded by radical pro-Trump activists. Of course since then, Donald Trump has left the White House. But, with hindsight, how should we remember his mandate and this event in particular?  Political scientist Baraba F. Walter recently looked into the US's current instability and went as far as describing it as an anocracy. That’s a ter...

For a number of years now, we’ve been hearing that the future of transport is electric, in particular due to the impact of fossil fuels on global warming. But there are a number of drawbacks, including cost, battery life, battery recycling, charging time which mean some people are reluctant to get on board. There are also fears that the switch to electric vehicles won’t be quick enough to meet env...

In January 2024, the renowned French perfumery Guerlain is set to unveil a groundbreaking range of products inspired by quantum physics. Their marketing promises a revolutionary approach to skincare, stating: "After 20 years’ research, Guerlain has created Orchidée Impériale Gold Nobile, revealing a new cosmetic rejuvenation pathway for skin, born of quantum science.". In layman’s terms, Guerlain...

Ending up in tears when preparing a dish with onions can be pretty darn inconvenient. No sooner have you started chopping them up, you find your eyes getting watery and stinging. Of course, those tears aren’t related to any feelings of sadness; rather they’re down to a series of chemical reactions. Like a lot of fruit and veg we buy at the supermarket, onions are still technically alive when harve...

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...

Today, we're going to talk about a condition that affects millions of people around the world, but is rarely discussed openly. It's called shy bladder syndrome, or paruresis, and it's a type of social anxiety disorder that makes it difficult or impossible to pee in public restrooms or with people nearby. This happens when people are psychologically blocked, which tightens the sphincters - muscles...

The types of attachment were theorized by British psychologist John Bowlby in the 1950s. They are widely used to help us understand how we react to situations in our relationships, whether it be with romantic partners, friends or family members.   Bowlby relied on research on the impact of early separations between infants and their mothers, and emphasized the importance of attachment relationship...

Heatstroke is a medical emergency that happens when your body temperature gets too high and you cannot cool down. This can harm your vital organs and even kill you if not treated quickly. Heatstroke can be caused by being exposed to high temperatures, such as during a heatwave, or by working out too hard, such as during a marathon. It is different from heat exhaustion, which is a less severe condi...

Sorry to end the week with bad news but tomorrow, January 16th, is Blue Monday, often cited as the most depressing day of the year. Blue Monday has existed since 2005, and is based on an equation which takes into account various factors. However, its detractors criticise the idea as pseudoscience and say it is driven by money.    Since the first Blue Monday equation was devised by psychologist Cli...

It's often said that colour preferences are simply a matter of personal taste, but actually some have been backed up by science, especially in the field of art history. For the last two centuries, it has been customary in art and design to come up with colour combinations based on what is known the colour wheel. It’s a visual representation of the spectrum of colors, organized in a circular format...

Smoothies can be seen pretty prominently in organic food stores and supermarkets during the summer. They’ve been a popular choice for years now and come with a reputation for being healthy too. Many people believe that they’re a convenient way of consuming fruit and vegetables, and that they’re also effective at preventing snacking between meals.  What’s the difference between a smoothie and fruit...

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. All week long we’ll be discussing anticonsumerist trends as an alternative to Black Friday. Zero waste is a good example of one that has b...

Does that ring a bell? How many of you spent hours in front of the Smurfs as children? We’re sure you remember the smiley little girl with blond hair, a white dress and high heels. In case your memory has faded, in the wonderful world of the Smurfs, Smurfette is created by the evil wizard Gargamel to sow discord! How curious that the role of agitator is reserved for a female character... Add to th...

More and more people across the world are struggling with burnout. According to a Future Forum survey of over 10,000 workers from February 2023, as many as 42% of workers experience it, an all-time high. When signs of exhaustion emerge, the ideal solution is, of course, total rest, but it's often a luxury that few can afford. An alternative for preventing burnout is what's known as the "42% rule."...

Olive oil, a cornerstone of the Mediterranean diet, boasts a rich composition of essential fatty acids, vitamins A, D, E, and K, along with polyphenols. These antioxidants are celebrated for their role in decelerating cellular ageing. Fatty acids, a pivotal component of lipids, include some that our bodies cannot produce, underscoring the necessity of sourcing them from our diets. Predominantly co...

Imagine being drunk, without having drunk a single drop of alcohol, it seems completely implausible, and yet for some is a reality. South-West media shared the story of a motorist who appeared in court in Bruges in 2022 after being found to have too much alcohol in his blood twice in the same year. The man, in his forties, was eventually acquitted, proving that the tests were not the result of a n...

The origins of Covid-19 still remain somewhat hazy, over three-and-a-half years since the virus began spreading across the world. That has led to a number of prominent conspiracy theories, with 25% of people in the UK believing that Covid was definitely or probably a hoax. That finding was part of an April 2023 survey by Savanta for King’s College London and the BBC. It also established that belie...

According to a Direct Line Group study from 2022, over 70% of UK adults don’t get the recommended 7-9 hours of sleep per night. Nighttime micro-awakenings are a common contributing problem. For many of us, they happen four to six times per night without us even noticing. And they usually just mark the end of a sleep cycle. But they’re more common in some people, and can be down to various factors...

We all know that getting over romantic relationships can take time, sometimes weeks, months or years. Many poems, songs and film scenes have been dedicated to expressing the pain of dealing with such situations. But friendship heartbreaks don’t tend to get so much attention, even though they can hurt as much, or even more! Well one of the main things is that there’s a template for ending a romanti...

Nearly one in three adults in the UK experiences symptoms of insomnia. On average, adults in the UK get about 7.6 hours of sleep per night. In recent years, the popularity of gadgets designed to track and improve sleep has surged. However, this growing focus on achieving perfect sleep has given rise to a new issue: orthosomnia. Smartwatches, fitness trackers, and more advanced gadgets like connect...

We talk about sleep needs a lot on Do You Really Know, so regular listeners will be well aware that we need 7-9 hours each day, and that not getting enough can lead to negative health impacts. Regardless of who you are, when you get less than seven hours of sleep, you start accumulating what’s known as sleep debt or sleep deficit. The Sleep Foundation defines it as: “the difference between the amo...

Throughout history people have been keen to find the answer to immortality. It's now commonly accepted that eternal life is not possible. Yet, somewhere deep in the ocean, a tiny fingernail-sized creature nicknamed the “immortal jellyfish” might be able to cast new light on the human aging process. A new study published in August 2022 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows th...

The feeling of hunger can be difficult to explain sometimes, especially if you feel like you've eaten as much as you usually do. As a result, we often end up either snacking or putting up with a rumbling tummy for hours on end. Even if we manage to resist snacking, the risk is that when it gets to meal time we end up eating twice as much as usual! Feelings of hunger can also lead to a drop in ener...

Although it is quite usual to find insects in markets in both Africa and Asia it is rather more unusual for people in the West to eat them. However, with increased awareness of animal welfare and environmental concerns around eating meat people are beginning to think more seriously about insects as food rather than something to be swatted. The problem is that a lot of people find eating bugs prett...