Do you really know?

Some people believe they simply can’t function in the morning until they’ve had a cup of coffee. Others seem to be grumpy every morning, as if they’ve got out of the wrong side of the bed.  Of course, a poor night’s sleep can be the cause, whether it be down to stress, not getting to bed early enough, drinking or other physical conditions like sleep apnea. Psychological factors can also come into...

Today is World Cleanup Day! World Cleanup Day is held annually on the third Saturday of September all over the world. This year it falls today, on September 18th. The global initiative was launched by the Let’s Do It Foundation, a nonprofit association, and the aim is to combat pollution through community clean-ups. Created in 2008 in Estonia, the association is a certified member of the UN Enviro...

The three Lord of the Rings stories quickly became huge hits when first released as novels in the 1940s. They quickly built a cult fan base due to the fantastical universe created by author JRR Tolkien.  But his works reached a whole other dimension with the epic Hollywood adaptations of the 2000s. These blockbusters brought the stories to life, wowing audiences with stunning visual effects and an...

We’ve already talked about flygskam and the no-fly movement in the past. Today, let’s discuss the shift towards train travel which has come about as a result, and the pride which people take in it! In Sweden, they even came up with a name for it, which is tagskryt, and translates as “triain bragging”! The train has always been the preferred mode of transport for some people. Let’s face it; it’s ea...

Prof Kehinde Andrews, the UK’s first professor of Black studies and one of the UK’s leading experts on race, has called for a public holiday to remember the horrors of slavery.  According to Andrews there was ‘really nothing more important to Britain’s development than slavery.’ He feels that an official public holiday is needed to keep its memory alive and preserve a conscience of the horrors of...

Brand activism is when companies seek to have an impact on a social, economic, environmental, or political problem. It’s increasingly common, especially at the moment, but it can have negative consequences. In many cases, companies are called out for being hypocritical when engaging in brand activism. Cynics often see it as opportunistic marketing. Even worse, the company may in fact have a poor t...

For 30 years, male sperm counts have been declining all around the world, particularly in Western countries. It’s been demonstrated over and over again by scientific studies.  Indeed, research published by Oxford Academic in the Human Reproduction Update journal in 2017 looked at nearly 200 studies on the matter. It found that sperm counts in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand had pl...

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...

In the last few months alone more than 3,000 people in the UK have caught the monkeypox virus and around 20 cases are being confirmed a day. As of  July the World Health Organisation declared monkeypox a public health emergency of international concern. British scientists from the University of Oxford, in fact the same team who led the ‘Recovery trial’ which looked into a cure for acute covid, hav...

On September 16th 2021, Australia announced it had signed a strategic pact with the United States and United Kingdom. The aim is to ensure stability in the Indo-Pacific, which consists of several important seaways between India, Japan and Australia. The recent pact was named AUKUS, to include the initials of the three signatory countries. It will see the United States provide Australia with at lea...

Digital nomads earn a living working online, while moving freely around the world.  Since the first COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020, remote work has become commonplace in companies around the world. Working from home offers many advantages, and “work from anywhere” policies take this freedom one step further. Many employees have said “yes, please” and packed their bags to become digital nomads. Has the...

Mouth taping involves putting tape over your mouth. It's supposed to improve your sleep by forcing you to breathe through your nose rather than your mouth. Regular listeners will be aware that we’ve discussed a number of Tiktok trends on this podcast. Not long ago, we covered the Blackout challenge after it led to the tragic deaths of a number of young children. As of yet the mouth taping trend we...

It’s been twenty-one years since the 9/11 attacks which shocked the entire world, killing 2977 people. As part of the commemorations, President Biden is due to visit the three plane crash sites in New York City, Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon.  Part of the memorial at Ground Zero in New York includes the 9/11 Museum, which was inaugurated in May 2014 by then President Barack Obama. Its construct...

There are an increasing number of trends and products out there to rid your body of toxins, such as infrared saunas, liver-purifying supplements and detox diets. But what exactly are toxins? According to the Cambridge Dictionary, a toxin is “a poisonous substance, especially one produced by bacteria, that causes disease.” However, today we tend to use the word toxin to refer to all the harmful sub...

Queen Elizabeth II died on 8 September 2022 at the age of 96. The operation that accompanies her death is called London Bridge. A major procedure that will punctuate the next ten days. We explain what London Bridge is in this episode. Who will be the first to hear the news? How quickly will the rest of us find out? What are the practical arrangements for Operation London Bridge? In under 3 minutes...

FN Meka is the world’s first AI rapper. At the time of recording, he had accrued a whopping 10.3 million followers on TikTok. We’ve seen all sorts of social media trends in recent years, including the rise of influencers, and even virtual influencers. Some have accrued mind-boggling followings on social media, like Lil Miquela for example, a model and singer who has over 3 million fans on Instagra...

Former Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has been chosen as the new Prime minister, beating former Chancellor Rishi Sunak to replace Boris Johnson.  Although this has been a mediatised campaign that everyone in the UK  was aware of, less than 1% of the British public actually got a say in who would be the next PM as voting was only open Conservative party members.  How was Liz Truss Chosen? What will ha...

Feet carry our body weight and bear the impact of every step we take. Furthermore, they play an active role in balance control, thanks to sensors located along our tendons.  Whether you’re on the bus, relaxing at home, or taking a walk while listening to your favourite podcast, take a moment to look at your feet. Believe it or not, they account for a quarter of the bones in your body. Each foot ha...

Ever checked the time on your phone or TV set and seen a quirky number like 13:13, 11:11 or 20:20? Well of course you have, but what you may not know is there’s actually a name for such numbers: mirror hours! Basically, when you’re looking at a digital time display, you see a mirror time if the minute number and the hour number are the same. It refers to the symmetry you see on either side of the...

Not getting a good night’s sleep can certainly leave you feeling grumpy and groggy, but can it also make you selfish? Sleep experts at the University of California, Berkeley certainly seem to think so, and  apparently even losing just one hour of sleep is enough to make you less generous towards others and that includes friends and family.    How did they discover this? What impact could this have...

With the summer holiday season drawing to a close, many university students are preparing to leave home for the first time and head to campus accommodation. While they’re enjoying freshers week, chances are their parents may be finding it unsettling that their child is no longer present at home. That’s even more likely when it’s their last child who’s just left home. This form of grief is known as...

"Quiet quitting" has been getting a lot of attention of late. So many young people have been rejecting “hustle culture”, which puts work at the centre of a person’s life and can lead to burnout. On this podcast, we’ve talked about a lot of factors affecting young workers and their mental health in recent times. It’s pretty well established that the Covid pandemic was a game changer, in that flexib...

Woofing consists of working on a farm while travelling to reduce costs. These volunteers help out their hosts for five half-days per week during their stay. The world is still in the middle of a health crisis. And while travel has resumed with the reopening of borders, more sustainable tourism practices have come to the fore in the past two years. One such example is wwoofing, which started growin...

To understand where white spots come from, we must first explain how nail growth works. If you’ve ever had white spots on your nails before, you may have been dismissively told that it's down to a lack of calcium or zinc. Basically, some mineral-deficiency. But this popular belief doesn’t really have any basis in fact. According to Healthline, nails grow an average of 3 millimeters per month. Thei...

Periods can greatly impact sleep, which has led to what’s known as the period sleep gap. Periods are different for everyone. Some people might have painful cramps, feel fatigued, or in some cases have no symptoms at all. But periods don’t just happen during the daytime. Periodsomnia is referring to the effect that menstruation can have on sleep. During menstruation, insomnia is far more frequent,...