Do you really know?

We know that palm oil cultivation isn’t great for the environment, but it’s also not the best for our health. Despite this, palm oil production continues to soar, reaching a record 77.5 million tonnes in 2023, primarily from Indonesia and Malaysia. It’s the most consumed vegetable oil globally. The main reason is its cost-effectiveness. This vegetable fat is derived from  the fruit of oil palm tre...

“I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream” goes the popular tongue twister, based on a song written in the 1920s by American musicians Howard Johnson, Billy Moll, and Robert A. King. And ice cream is indeed the perfect cold treat for a hot summer’s day, isn’t it? Except when it gets too cold! Sometimes, with the very first mouthful, the sudden chill of brain freeze rushes to your head, ca...

Many men feel self-conscious about the size of their penis, and it’s often down to constant comparisons with other men, driven by pornography. Interestingly, some men have noticed that their penis appears bigger during warmer weather, and online discussions of this have led to the phenomenon becoming known as "summer penis." Is there any basis to those claims though? Just how much bigger can it ge...

Beauty standards evolve over time, often influenced by social media. While beauty is typically associated with femininity, men are also subject to these pressures. Enter looksmaxxing, a new trend on TikTok where men strive to meet certain beauty standards, often to dangerous extremes. This trend, which borders on the masculinist movement, involves men doing everything they can to enhance their phy...

Brits have just experienced the hottest June on record, according to the Met Office. The average mean temperature across the UK was 15.8°C, nearly a full degree higher than the previous record. July is also expected to be hotter than average, and a heatwave isn’t out of the question. So it’s important to be prepared for high temperatures, especially at home. What is the ideal temperature to have a...

Social media has been part of our daily digital lives for nearly two decades now, and while there are plenty of positives associated with it, there’s also an undeniably dark side. Recent years have brought to light the sometimes traumatic work experience of social media moderators who have to review content that’s flagged as potentially harmful or offensive. Back in 2018, German directors Hans Blo...

Have you ever found yourself laughing at a completely inappropriate moment? If so, you know just how embarrassing it can be. And it gets even worse when you make eye contact with someone else and they start laughing too. It then becomes twice as hard to stop. Much like a strong flu, a powerful and genuine laugh can quickly spread to an entire group! When someone starts laughing spontaneously, thei...

According to The Telegraph, Brits eat an average of 220g of meat per day, which is almost double the global average. And agriculture is responsible for 12% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions according to government figures from 2022.  So it’s clear that our food consumption can have a real impact on the environment. While red meat is often labelled as the worst offender environmentally, in reali...

Do you consider yourself a clumsy person? For some of us, accidents just seem to happen more often than for others, despite our best efforts to be more attentive and focused. We might drop and smash a glass in the kitchen or bump into things while walking along the street for example; and it can really get frustrating when that kind of thing happens over and over. And in actual fact, it’s not just...

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...

Have you ever been terrified of finding your dog munching on an Easter egg or chocolate treat during the holidays? It’s the kind of thing that can turn a wonderful occasion into a potential disaster. Of course chocolate is a delightful treat for us humans, but it can be extremely harmful to your furry friend, and even fatal in extreme cases. They don’t process the components of cocoa like we do, e...

The clitoris is the only organ in the human body that’s dedicated solely to pleasure. It doesn’t have any muscles or play any role in the body's other functions. And while our understanding of the clitoris has improved in recent years, there's still a lot to learn, as research in this area is relatively new. Until recently, researchers thought that the clitoris had 8,000 nerve endings. For compari...

It’s known that to beat the heat and avoid dehydration, we need to drink plenty of water. But while some reach for a hot cuppa, others swear by ice-cold beverages, and while this may give you an instant feeling of chill it's sadly just fleeting. The reason being is that our bodies work hard to keep our core temperature steady at around 37°C. So while a cold drink might feel refreshing, it actually...

It’s common knowledge that having plants in your home is incredibly beneficial. They reduce carbon dioxide levels, purify air, reduce dust, and can even dampen noise. Not to mention, how pleasant and soothing they are to look at. But alas, not everyone is blessed with a gardener’s green thumb! Do you feel like your indoor plants just can’t survive more than a few months, despite your best efforts...

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...

Society’s beauty standards constantly evolve, and sometimes in surprising ways. The terms "rodent man" and "hot rodent man" have gone viral on TikTok, racking up millions of views.  And the roots of those terms are pretty literal - they refer to men whose facial features are reminiscent of rodents like mice, rats or hamsters. I know, it might not seem like the most flattering of comparisons to sta...

In late March 2024, actor Pierre Niney took to TikTok to reveal his newest love affair—not with a co-star, but with an adorable miniature donkey he’s recently adopted. The tiny equine, fully grown yet no larger than a Labrador, has captured the hearts of his fans. Social media is full with clips of tiny cows, goats, and pigs lounging on couches, napping in laps, or trotting on leashes, especially...

According to data from Finder.com, the average Brit now spends 4 hours and 14 minutes using their smartphone each day. It’s hardly surprising; smartphone use has grown consistently over the last 15 years, to the extent that the devices have become almost like an extension of our arms and hands.  Given we tend to hold our phones out in front of us when using them, our heads bow down in quite an unn...

Overthinking can be a real cause of anxiety for some people. Have you ever struggled to get to sleep at night with all the thoughts running through your head? Does my new boss like me? Am I even cut out for this job? My kid just brought home a bad report card; are they going through a rough patch, or is it a sign of something more serious? Basically, your mind goes into overdrive and you feel like...

We’re surrounded by screens all day, right up until we go to bed. Our lives are intertwined with technology, from the smartphone alarms that wake us to the late-night emails we check. An Ifop study from April 2021 revealed a startling figure: 69% of those scrolling in bed battle with sleep disorders. And while we might think that a quick video or message thread could usher us into dreamland, the r...

It’s happened to most of us at least once. A condom breaks, it turns out the girl forgot to take her pill, or you got carried away and had sex even though you didn’t have any condoms. These things happen, but the aftermath can be anxiety-inducing for a number of reasons.  A World Health Organisation report from May 2024 said that sexually transmitted infections like chlamydia, gonorrhea, trichomon...

You may remember that we talked about the Great Resignation a little while back on Do You Really Know. The trend saw millions of workers across the US quit their jobs in 2021 and 2022 in particular, with a similar pattern being seen in other Western countries too. Well it might have seemed like a great idea at the time for a lot of those resignees, but it hasn’t been all rosy for some of them sinc...

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...

Pride Month 2024 is in full flow and this week, Do You Really Know brings you a week-long exploration of topics aimed at deepening your understanding of LGBTQI+ history and struggles. Initially dubbed as LGBT rights, they've undergone changes alongside the evolving language of identity.  The term "gay" alone became way too narrow to encompass the entire community, leading to the adoption of LGBTQI...

When choosing a holiday destination abroad, what factors do you take into account? Perhaps stunning landscapes, vibrant cultural scenes or enticing local cuisine. Well for some people it goes beyond that, and they have to think about to what extent they can be themselves without fear.  For many LGBTQI+ individuals, that’s an important consideration. As of 2024, homosexuality remains illegal in ove...