Do you really know?

In early October 2022, Russia used its veto power to prevent the UN Security Council from collectively condemning its annexation of four Ukrainian regions. And it’s not the first time that the country has used its permanent member status to veto a motion this year. The UN Security Council is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations, and it’s responsible for ensuring international peac...

Just a month or so ago we were talking about quiet quitting on Do You Really Know?. In the episode, we are talking about another modern workplace reality: quiet firing. Whereas quiet quitting is all about employees sticking to doing the bare minimum, quiet firing is kind of the opposite. It’s when an employer nudges an employee towards the exit door, either subtly or not so subtly. It isn’t always...

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...

This week on Do You Really Know?, we're all about tech. In constant evolution, digital technologies are shaping the world we live in today and are revolutionising our daily lives. To learn more about this, listen to our rerun episodes about tech! Quantum technologies are tools which use the physical properties of tiny particles like ions or photons. It might seem abstract, but these technological...

Chronic pain is pain that lasts for an extended period of time, usually 12 weeks or more, despite medication or treatment. A study carried out by Ipsos on behalf of BBC news in March 2022 showed that 26% of adults living in the UK are suffering from chronic pain. Chronic pain is a condition in its own right, which often remains hidden and misunderstood. It can last for several years, and can impac...

The European Political Community was launched in 2022 to discuss the future of Europe, mainly in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. French President Emmanuel Macron first suggested the EPC’s creation in a speech to the European Parliament back in early May. Less than six months later, the first summit was held in Prague. Despite initially opposed to the creation of the EPC back in June as F...

This week on Do You Really Know?, we're all about tech. In constant evolution, digital technologies are shaping the world we live in today and are revolutionising our daily lives. To learn more about this, listen to our rerun episodes about tech! Fintech is an abbreviation of “financial technology.” It’s a new business sector which began developing during the 2010s. Fintech companies put technolog...

Barbie has quite the impressive CV. She has had over 150 careers including fashion editor, surgeon and astronaut - enough to inspire any young fan. But what she has career-wise, she lacks when it comes to inclusivity. Barbie is usually blond, perfect and impossibly proportioned - there is a reason Margo Robbie is playing her in the latest Barbie film. But this is finally going to change: Barbie is...

Singer Harry Styles is set for a starring role in upcoming romantic drama My Policeman, which is set for release in October 2022. He plays a gay police officer in 1950s England, which has revived months-old accusations of queerbaiting from some observers. Queerbaiting is a marketing strategy which consists of using LGBT community culture or aesthetics, without actually being queer, at least not pu...

Believe it or not, the history of popcorn stretches back as far as ancient times. The first traces go back to Peru over 7,000 years ago, according to a 2012 study. Initially, popcorn was cheap to produce and therefore sold for next to nothing. In the 1920s, popcorn was affordable for all and every cinema had a walking salesperson just in front of the entrance. To start with, it only really took of...

You’ve probably already walked by a stranger spreadeagled on the ground. Chances are that if you saw several people already offering assistance, you carried on walking by. That’s due to what is known as the bystander effect. The bystander effect is a psychosocial phenomenon which typically crops up in emergency situations. It shows that the more other people are already intervening to help, the le...

In any given week in England, 3 in 100 people are suffering from depression, according to a NatCen Social Research study published in 2014. Depression can affect anyone, regardless of age or social class. Everybody experiences different moods. You might find yourself feeling happy during the day, sad at times, or even just okay. Those with mood disorders experience these same emotions, but for lon...

The recent death of 22-year old Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini has led to uprisings in Iran and has caused outrage across the globe. Amini was visiting her brother in Tehran when she was arrested by members of the country’s Guidance Patrol, also known as the morality police. The protests throughout the country directly challenge the rules enforced by the morality police, with women taking off t...

A heart attack can be deadly but thankfully there are life saving treatments out there. However,  research from the British Heart foundation has found that women are not receiving the same standard of care as men. Although heart disease and heart attacks are more common in men it is more likely to be fatal for women. In fact heart attacks kill twice as many women in the UK than breast cancer does....

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...

Giorgia Meloni's far-right Brothers of Italy party won the most votes in the Italian general election of late September 2022. She is poised to become prime minister in October. Meloni will be Italy’s first ever female Prime Minister, which would usually be a cause for much celebration. But many observers are more concerned about what the future holds for the country, which will have its most right...

Yesterday, the 10th of October, was the World Mental Health Day. Since the start of the Covid crisis, mental health has become an increasingly important topic. Listen to our rerun episode. The World Health Organisation defines mental health as “a state of well-being in which an individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and is abl...

Leaving food out for the birds seems like a harmless and even generous idea, but research by the British Trust for Ornithology is showing that bird feeders might be doing more harm than good. Between 2008 and 2018, chaffinch numbers dropped by 29 per cent in the UK, while 67 per cent of the country's greenfinches were lost, the study reveals. How do bird feeders spread this disease? How can I keep...

Talk of energy has been storming the headlines recently. A long, cold winter is approaching and prices are soaring, due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict... Russia has long been Europe’s main energy supplier, but reducing dependence on Russian energy has now become critical, with many countries putting sanctions or boycotts in place. Meanwhile Russia stands accused of sabotaging gas pipelines...

In June it emerged that Greek police had acquired two long range acoustic devices, designed to discourage migrants from approaching the country's border with Turkey. At the size of a small TV, the cannons don’t look particularly threatening, but are capable of emitting powerful sound waves as loud as a jet plane. An LRAD is an example of a sonic weapon, which is an umbrella term used to cover the...

No matter how prepared you are going into your normal day at the office, spending hours at your desk can get mundane and boring. Before you know it, your mind is wandering and you’ve lost focus... According to a study published by Economist Intelligence Unit in October 2020, a third of working time is lost to distractions. That’s equivalent to a whopping 581 active hours per employee per year. But...

In June 2022, Canadian superstar singer Justin Bieber took to Instagram to reveal that he has a rare neurological disorder called Ramsay Hunt Syndrome. He took a break from his world tour, and would do the same just a few months later, again using social media to tell fans about suffering with exhaustion and needing to “make health the priority”. After trying to restart the tour, he would eventual...

If you’ve ever seen an episode of 1990s series The X-Files, you’ll likely remember Dana Scully as an FBI detective. The character, played by Gillian Anderson for all 11 seasons, was also a graduate in medicine and physics. The combination made for an unprecedented representation of women on TV at the time, with audiences far more accustomed to seeing scientists played by white men. The fields of S...

It was back in January 2002 that euro coins and banknotes were introduced, and the biggest cash changeover in history took place across 12 EU countries. the story of the Euro actually goes much further back than that. It’s intrinsically linked to the very essence of the European Project. In 1946, shortly after the end of World War II, Josef Müller, resistance member, concentration camp survivor an...

Binge drinking is defined as consuming 5 or more drinks for a man, or 4 or more drinks for a woman, in about 2 hours, and the UK has a rather notorious reputation for drinking to excess, especially when abroad. But according to a 2022 survey from Drinkaware, 26 % so nearly a third of 16 to 24-year-olds in the UK are now completely teetotal, meaning they do not drink at all. Add to this that 29% of...