Do you really know?

You’d think a day spent lounging on the beach would be the ultimate recharge. No deadlines, no emails, just rest and relaxation. And yet, by the time you head home, you’re wiped out. Not just relaxed, completely drained. It's supposed to be restful, so why does it feel like you’ve just run a marathon in flip-flops? It’s not just the sun, it’s the heat, the humidity, and the work your body puts in to stay cool. Even when you're lying still, your internal systems are hustling to keep your core temperature around 37°C. The hott...

The online bullies have come up with a derogatory term for their targets; lolcows. Like cash cows, they are exploited, or milked, for entertainment purposes.  Longstanding American forum Kiwi Farms was shut down by Cloudflare in early September 2022. The reason: an “imminent and emergency threat to human life”, according to the internet infrastructure company. That’s because the forum is pretty much dedicated to online harassment. This includes practices like group trolling, doxxing and cyberstalking. It can spill over into real-life harassment too. At least two victims have committed suicide since the site was created. Who was...

There’s been a lot of discussion of Roe vs Wade this year, with the US Supreme Court controversially overturning the decision nearly half a century after it was made. Henceforth, each American state is free to decide whether abortion is legal or not, to the despair of many women’s rights supporters. But if we go back to 1960s America, abortion was illegal pretty much everywhere and treated as equivalent to homicide, from a legal perspective at least. In many places, birth control was prohibited for unmarried women. Things were gradually changing, with some states reforming thei...

June 2025 saw the hottest days of the year so far in the UK, and those records could be broken again as we head deeper into summer. You’ll hear people talking about the “glorious sunshine” and the “amazing weather.” And yes, sunlight can be a great mood booster. It also helps your body produce vitamin D, which is essential for healthy bones and a strong immune system. Plus, let’s be honest: getting a tan is still considered attractive by many. Whether you’re sunbathing on a beach, lounging by the pool or just walking through the park — most pe...

It may be a little taboo to talk about it, but there are a lot of people out there who, for a variety of reasons, don’t have as much sex as they would like, or arguably need. And there’s actually a form of therapy out there which is specifically designed to help people become more comfortable with sex and intimacy. The idea of sex surrogacy started catching on in Europe in the 2000s, and these days it’s actually regulated and even covered by social security in some countries, like Switzerland, Denmark and the Netherlands. Still...

It’s not news that museums all around the world contain works of art that have been looted or forcefully taken during colonial rule but is it time they gave them back?  It seems pretty straightforward for an increasing number of people that it is the moral thing to do and that art and artifacts belong in their country of origin. Museums often counteract this by saying, amongst other things, that if they returned these objects they would be left nearly empty, or that these countries or territories no longer exist so where would they go back to, or...

When a woman is heavily pregnant, holiday or travel plans don't typically top the priority list. After all, flying isn't generally recommended during the latter stages of pregnancy. But that hasn’t stopped the trend of birth tourism from developing. The basic idea is for a mother to give birth in a country different to where they live, essentially so that her child gets dual nationality. That may in turn lead to the parents also obtaining citizenship for the country.where their child is born. Over on Tiktok, the #birthtourism hashtag has already obtained over 19 million views.  ...

It's back to school! Do You Really Know is dedicating a special week to sport. Because moving and doing regular physical activity is important for our physical and mental health! Listen again to our episodes about sport! One of the biggest challenges that we have been facing and will be continuing to face in the coming years is protecting our planet. So it’s worth reflecting on how we can exercise in a more eco-friendly manner. We turn to exercise for leisure, entertainment and to stay fit and healthy, but not many people realize that the carbon fo...

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’ so who knows how long they wait! Women were shown to have higher standards of hygiene  with 62 percent of single women washing their sheets every 2 weeks...

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. You might have heard of ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ a motto with the aim of encouraging us to think about how we consume and consider the impact that buying lots of stuff has on the planet. But now the high end department store Selfridges has launched a new campaign, ‘Project Earth’ to try and change the way we shop: re...

It's back to school! Do You Really Know is dedicating a special week to sport. Because moving and doing regular physical activity is important for our physical and mental health! Listen again to our episodes about sport! With many types of personal goals, actually doing the task is only part of the battle. Being mentally prepared is also hugely important and can sometimes be overlooked. Sports and exercise are no exception. Consistently training and staying on top of your progress is crucial inimproving at a sport and as an athlete. But just training non-stop physically isn’t ac...

According to comparison website Finder.com, UK residents plan to spend an average of over £2100 on holidays abroad in the year 2023. Spending abroad has bounced back to pre-pandemic levels, having plummeted in 2020 and 2021, when travel restrictions were in place. Still, while many of us are making up for lost time when it comes to holidays, there’s also the small matter of a cost of living crisis to deal with. Thankfully there are some ways in which you can satisfy your holiday needs without breaking the bank. How can I avoid paying top dollar for tra...

Whether you’re going on a beach holiday, city break or camping trip, the chances are you’ll be soaking up the sun’s rays. Sunshine activates vitamin D production in the body, which has numerous benefits like protecting us from disease and improving mental health. But on the other hand, being exposed for too long can accelerate skin ageing. Excessive UV can even lead to skin cancer. According to the American Cancer Society, nearly 100,000 new melanoma cases will be diagnosed in the United States alone in 2022. How should I compare all the different products? Do suns...

It’s worth bearing in mind that overtourism has become a real nuisance. As tourists, it’s not exactly fun being in a highly overcrowded area, but it’s even worse for the natural environment. Could tourism quotas be one way of addressing the problems? In mid-June 2022, the island of Corsica brought in quotas for three iconic sites: the Bavella needles, the Restonica valley and the Lavezzi islands. 180,000 tourists visit these sites each year, a figure which is expected to rise to 200,000 by 2026. Tourists will now need to make advance reservations online in order to visit them, with p...

As you may well know, astrology involves looking at the position of planets and stars when we were born, and using that to interpret their influence on our lives. Mercury happens to be one of the planets which is supposed to have the most influence and that’s particularly true when it’s in retrograde, which happens several times a year. Planets in our solar system orbit around the sun. If you think about it, those that are closest to the Sun have to travel the distance to complete a full orbit. Of all the planets, Mercury is c...

Feta cheese is undoubtedly a star ingredient when it comes to summer salads. It goes without saying it plays a starring role in the Greek salad, but it can also add a savoury taste to other recipes like the watermelon salad for example. Feta is one of Kate Middleton’s favourites. But this summer feta isn’t only getting attention by featuring in salad recipes. It’s also made headlines in European political news, due to what was lightheartedly labelled the “feta battle” between Greece and Denmark. What are the characteristics of feta? So what’s the feta b...

Each year, International Beer Day is celebrated on the first Friday of August. As you may know, beer is produced using only four ingredients: water, hops, malt and yeast, through a process called fermentation. Of course beer is harmful in excessive quantities, but don’t let that give you any misconceptions about fermented foods. Generally speaking, they play an important role in boosting gut health. There are many other alcohol-free alternatives too, if you’re looking for a fermented beverage. These include kombucha, a fermented tea which contains B vitamins and vitamin C, and kefir, which is a ki...

What is trauma dumping, the toxic equivalent of oversharing? It’s common for good friends to tell each other about pretty much everything going on in their lives. Within healthy friendships, it’s a way of bonding and supporting one another, especially when one of the friends is struggling. But sometimes this goes drastically overboard, and someone shares something really personal and traumatic without prior warning or getting permission. That kind of unsolicited oversharing has been labelled trauma dumping. Bear in mind trauma dumping is not a clinical term. It caught on online, after a woman, apparently a th...

Some visitors can be so shocked by the reality of Paris compared to their expectations that they can experience psychiatric breakdowns or symptoms such as hallucinations, depersonalization, anxiety, dizziness and nausea. This is known as the Paris Syndrome. Romance, sophistication, croissants and sipping fine wine with the Eiffel Tower in the background spring to mind when thinking of a visit to Paris. With such a romanticized notion of the French capital, it’s no surprise that this remains one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world, with 33 million expected in 2022, according to Le Monde. But it...

Voluntourism is the practice of volunteering one’s labour to a charitable cause in a developing country, in return for a soul-cleansing, perspective-changing, CV-bolstering experience. Perhaps a bit cynical? But with good reason.  Whilst it could be a mutually beneficial redistribution of wealth from the developed world to the developing, voluntourism harbours a dark and exploitative underworld. In 2021, NPR.org reported that the industry was worth an estimated $3 billion per year, according to University of Strathclyde lecturer Konstantinos Tomazos. What is voluntourism? Can it really be that bad? Is voluntourism at all beneficial? In under 3 minu...