Do you really know?

In some online communities, men are told that attractiveness depends on achieving an extremely muscular body, a square jaw and other supposedly “masculine” features.

And there are impressionable young men out there who end up pursuing those ideals through a trend known as looksmaxxing. As you may have guessed from the name, it means trying to “maximise” your physical appearance. But more extreme communities promote unproven and downright dangerous ways of changing the body.

What’s the connection with the manosphere? When does looksmaxxing get dangerous? Does the manosphere encourage looksmaxxing any other bodily parts? In under 3...

Now if you’ve never heard the word fap before, let me spell it out to you. It’s basically an onomatopoeic slang term for male masturbation. According to Business Insider, the term first appeared in a web comic called Sexy Losers in 1999, to indicate the sound of a male character masturbating. An Urban Dictionary definition for the term was then added in 2002, and usage grew from the 2000s onwards.

So obviously now you know what that means, you’ll have realised that the no fap movement means quitting masturbation. And while masturbation is a pleasurable activity for ma...

According to the NHS, around 1 in 3 people in the UK are affected by insomnia, and it’s particularly common in older adults. Many people turn to medication like benzodiazepines in an attempt to address their insomnia.

Now these generally help, at least to begin with, but they tend to bring less restorative sleep. And if no other changes are made to daily habits, there’s a good chance the insomnia will return once the medication is stopped.

What other options are out there then? So how does one learn to sleep again? In under 3 minutes, we a...

Speculative science fiction really is a genre of its own. Some people love it, others find it pointless, but you can’t deny the mental gymnastics involved in imagining the future of our societies, especially when some of those predictions turn out to be right. 

In that field, there are a few writers who stand out above the rest: George Orwell, Aldous Huxley, and, perhaps most famously, Isaac Asimov.

Who exactly was Isaac Asimov? Did he predict a future full of robots then? What about space?To listen to the last episodes, you can click her...

Seventy-four percent of 18 to 24-year-olds use AI every day, according to a February 2025 Ipsos  study. No surprising really, chatbots now handle so much for us: emails, translations, studying, even creative projects. It almost makes you wonder how we ever managed before.

But as fast as these models improve, they still make mistakes. And some researchers warn they could face a bigger problem: AI inbreeding, also known as model collapse.

But do we have a specific example of this? So how can we combat AI inbreeding?In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

To l...

Have you ever really wanted to try something new, but avoided doing so because you were afraid of being judged?

Maybe pursuing a hobby that could be seen as uncool, wearing a flashy outfit or sharing your opinion on a controversial topic for example. Well if that sounds familiar, then you might just be a victim of FOPO!

What does that stand for? Is having FOPO actually a problem then?In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

To listen to the latest episodes, click here:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠How can I overcome my fear of speaking in public?⁠

⁠Wh...

For most 18-24 year olds, generative AI is already part of daily life. Research, emails, translations, summaries - AI is everywhere. Its possibilities feel endless, limited only by our imagination.

But with that comes a growing skepticism, especially in schools and workplaces: “Was this really written by a person?” “Did ChatGPT write that assignment?” The good news is, there are clues that can tip you off.

What are these clues? But are there tools to detect generated text? But how do these tools work?

In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

To liste...

No one's proud of being unfaithful, but what if some people’s cheating was actually caused by genetics, rather than selfishness? That might sound like a convenient excuse, but actually there could be some scientific basis behind it.

In 2022 researchers at the University of Queensland in Australia analysed the DNA of over 7,300 twins aged between 18 and 49, all of whom had been in relationships for several years.

What were the study’s results then? Are some people simply programmed to cheat then?

To listen to the last episodes, you can click here:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Is it a good i...

Sex can certainly make us work up a sweat; but is it enough to cancel out that burger and fries you got from McDonald’s at lunchtime? 

Well if you were thinking about quitting the gym in favour of sex-ercise, you may want to reconsider. Sex doesn’t actually burn as many calories as you might think. 

How many are we talking then? Does the position make a difference? If it’s not that intense, then why do we sweat so much? Are there any health risks to sex, like with other forms of exercise?To liste...

Since October 7, 2023, Israel has waged an unprecedented offensive on Gaza. What began as retaliation against Hamas attacks has escalated into relentless violence.

According to Statista, by July 30, 2025, more than 60,000 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli bombardments, including over 18,000 children. As early as November 2023, UN rapporteurs, NGOs, and lawyers warned that Israel’s actions amounted to genocide, an accusation Israel and its allies reject.

What does the term genocide mean? How does international law define genocide? Do these criteria apply to Gaza? Who can prosecute genocide? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

To li...

You thought they were the one. You could already see yourselves growing old together… and then it just fell apart. A few arguments, one or two mistakes, and that was that.

Except that between love, resentment, nostalgia and shared memories, sometimes the urge to ‘go back for seconds’ creeps in. 

Is it really that common? But why do people do it - what’s the point of sleeping with your ex? Is breakup sex really healthy though? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

To listen to the latest episodes, click here:

⁠How ma...

In the UK, owning a home is still seen as a key sign of financial stability. For many, it means security against life’s uncertainties - job loss, illness, or income drops and a way to build long-term wealth instead of paying rent.

Today, according to the comparison site Finder the average age of a first-time buyer is just under 34. In London, it’s closer to 35. That’s several years older than in the 1990s, when most first-time buyers were in their late twenties.

So why has it become so complicated to buy now? What about...

Private snow rooms, attempts to slow ageing, frozen bodies and luxury bunkers.

When money is no object, even the limits of life can become something to spend a fortune trying to overcome.

What’s a snow room? As well as climate what else do the ultra rich try to manage? And how far will they go to prepare for the end? Are there any more? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

To listen to the latest episodes, click here:

What is stealth wealth?

Who is the richest man in...

It’s not something we like to dwell on too often, but the chance for each of us getting some kind of cancer during our lifetime is significant. After all, it's the second leading cause of death worldwide according to the World Health Organisation, just behind heart disease. Cancer Research UK puts the estimated lifetime risk of a man or woman getting cancer at nearly one in two.

Research has shown the extent to which cancer cases have been growing in recent decades. And not just among the elderly. A study published in BMJ Oncology in September 2023 sh...

Have you ever been so fed up at work that you wanted to not only quit your job, but also make a statement while doing so?

Well, that’s a workplace trend that’s really been on the rise in 2025, so much so that it’s been given its own name: revenge quitting. Fortune magazine says that it’s taken over from quiet quitting.

Does revenge quitting mean storming out and slamming the door then? Why are more people choosing to do that then? So why is it Gen Z who are leading this trend? In under...

Have you ever picked up clothes or random items on a whim, because you were stressed, bored, or just felt like celebrating?

That’s what experts call impulse buying. It feels good in the moment, but it often leaves you with regret, and a lighter bank account. On top of that, it fuels overconsumption and harms the environment.

So how do you actually resist the urge? Are there any simple ways to stay in control? What about the bigger picture? So how do you deal with that? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

...

Picture this: your boss asks you to do something that feels unfair or pointless. You disagree… but you go along with it anyway.

It happens all the time. Most of us comply simply because we don’t want to risk conflict or consequences.

Why is saying no so difficult? But how far can that instinct go? So why don’t we push back more often? Is it just about avoiding trouble? So is disobedience impossible? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

To listen to the latest episodes, click here:

⁠⁠⁠⁠What is the Fermi p...

It’s more common than we tend to admit. Some children grow up with parents who are critical, emotionally distant, or unable to empathize. In that kind of environment, attachment bonds don’t always form smoothly.

Children may internalize the idea that they don’t deserve affection and that makes it harder to give it back. Add in repeated abandonment, breakups, violence, or addiction, and some children end up feeling no real attachment to the people who raised them.

So, can we choose to love less to protect ourselves? But does our love for them fluctu...

More and more of us are consuming digital content at increased speed. Whether it’s on social media, watching a Netflix series or listening to a podcast like Do You Really Know, speed watching and speed listening are becoming increasingly common.

It’s a habit you tend to see more among younger people, who are very active on social media and sometimes speed things up so that they can consume even more content than they can at regular speed!Are there any risks associated with accelerated content consumption then? Are there any situations in which speed watching is r...

£2.99 for biscuits, £6.99 for moisturiser, £49.99 for a mixer. In shops, one small detail stands out: price tags overwhelmingly end in 99.

It’s eye-catching, though not exactly convenient for anyone trying to track their spending.

Is it really so common? Is that a recent invention? Is that why prices still end in 99? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

To listen to the latest episodes, click here:

⁠What does the popcorn index teach us about the economy?⁠

⁠Why don't prices fall when inflation slows?⁠

⁠What is the gig economy?⁠

A Bababam O...

Whether it starts over a sock left on the floor or a political debate that erupts a little too early at the holiday table, conflict is part of life. It’s not that we argue all the time,  it’s that these moments stick with us.

Sometimes they clear the air and help us grow; sometimes they shut us down and leave resentment simmering for years. So it’s worth knowing how to argue well.

What actually makes something an argument? Do we really need to tell our loved ones everything? Can arguing be a sign of...

Seven minutes, a freight elevator, and an angle grinder, that’s all a small team of robbers needed to steal jewelry from the Louvre’s Apollo Gallery on October 19, 2025.

And this isn’t unprecedented: in 1911, the Mona Lisa was stolen by a museum employee and only resurfaced two years later. Faced with that kind of risk, some museums now quietly display reproductions instead of originals.

Is this common? When are copies used? But can copies deceive? Do we feel the same emotion facing a copy? So, should museums swap originals for copies? In under 3 minutes, we ans...

We’re becoming increasingly accustomed to being connected at all times. Thanks to our smartphones, we can even let selected people see exactly where we are.

Location sharing is now commonplace, and can be a practical safety tool for couples, friends and families. Still though, it can also be a source of problems, which we’re going to be talking about today.

Why have we got into the habit of sharing our location? What’s actually wrong with location sharing then? Are there privacy risks too? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

To lis...

When you reach a certain age, it often feels as though everything is in decline: your body, your memory, your energy. 

But what if getting older didn’t have to be a purely downward slope? Research has shown that that idea may in fact be a misconception. That’s right: your intellectual peak may end up coming much later than you expect.

Surly our most significant intellectual performances happen when we’re young, don’t they? What other markers did they take into consideration then? Why do older people tend to face discrimination in the world of...

In many families, some children grow up with the uncomfortable feeling of being less loved than others, or worse, sensing that their parents have a “favorite.”

Most parents insist they love their children equally. Yet multiple studies suggest that the majority do, in fact, favor one child.

What determines which child becomes the favorite? Is favoritism only about the child’s personality? Can this favoritism affect children? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

To listen to the latest episodes, click here:

⁠Could intentional lazy parenting foster your child's independence?⁠

⁠What is...

The X platform formerly known as Twitter has often been in the spotlight for the wrong reasons since Elon Musk acquired it in 2022. But recent months have perhaps seen it hit a concerning new low, in terms of seediness at least.

Users realised that Grok, X’s in-built AI, could be used to generate nude images of a person, based on an original image of them wearing clothes.

How long has this Grok tool been around then? Isn’t all of this completely illegal? So how can I protect myself and my friends and family from...

We’ve all heard that reading builds imagination and vocabulary and helps us learn, but there’s more. Research suggests it may even help us live longer.

In 2016, Yale University researchers followed more than 3,600 adults over 50 for 12 years, tracking their reading habits and life expectancy. Their finding was striking: people who regularly read books lived, on average, nearly two years longer than those who didn’t read at all.

How is that possible? What explains this link, in practical terms? Beyond social connection, what else does reading do for us? In under 3 minutes, we answer your q...

Ten-step skincare routines, anti-ageing serums and wrinkle creams are increasingly becoming part of children’s lives.

This growing obsession with skincare and appearance, sometimes affecting children as young as nine or ten, is known as ‘cosmeticorexia’  a combination of ‘cosmetics’ and ‘orexia’, meaning appetite or desire.

Why are we talking about this now? So, what exactly is the AGCM investigating? But can these products actually damage young skin? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

To listen to the latest episodes, click here:

What is limb lengthening, the cosmetic procedure going viral on social...

In 2024, a French government watchdog estimated that around 500,000 people were involved in cult-like groups, with tens of thousands of children growing up in these environments.

While these figures come from France, experts say the patterns are similar in many countries.

What is a cult? How can you tell if you’re dealing with a cult ? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

To listen to the latest episodes, click here:

⁠What are the dangers of hustle culture?⁠

⁠Why does the Catholic Church have a Moon Bishop?⁠

⁠What is Stan Cult...

Over the course of a woman’s life, their hormone levels change in ways that can have a real impact on mood and daily routine. For example, it’s pretty well known that libido tends to decline at the time a woman is premenopausal.

Now to address that loss of libido, an increasing number of women have turned to testosterone, or T for short, to rekindle their sexual desire. And if you believe accounts on social media, it does actually work, at least some of the time!

Isn’t that a male hormone? Is it really...

What are the latest advances in lung cancer treatment?

In April 2022, findings from the large scale CheckMate 816 clinical trial were presented to the American Association for Cancer Research. The trial looked into the effectiveness of immunotherapy drug Nivolumab, combined with chemotherapy to treat lung cancer patients. The findings were promising, showing that this particular treatment combination can delay the progression or return of cancer. 

How common is lung cancer and how does it start? What are the most prominent treatment options? Should we expect this treatment to become used widely?  ⁠⁠⁠In under 3 minutes, we answer your ques...

Lucid dreams are dreams in which you become aware that you are dreaming while you are dreaming. This means that you can recognise that the events and characters in your dream are not real, and that you are actually asleep in your bed.

Some people can even control their dreams to some extent, and shape them according to their wishes. Imagine being able to fly, visit exotic places, or meet your favourite celebrities in your dreams. 

But how do lucid dreams happen? And why would you want to have lucid dreams? In under 3 minutes, we a...

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 colon separating the two numbers. Most people are pretty indifferent to this, or see it as a vaguely amusing quirk at m...

Getting older frightens a lot of people and for some it even becomes an obsession. American multimillionaire and biohacker Bryan Johnson is perhaps the most prominent example from this day and age. 

Now of course some aspects of ageing, including our genes, are totally beyond our control. But still, our everyday behaviour can influence our healthspan, which is the number of years we remain in good health. Three habits in particular are associated with a greater risk of age-related illness and premature death.

What are these habits? Is lack of sleep a factor? In under 3 m...

Beauty standards are always shifting. Back in the '60s through the '90s, especially in the West, the ideal body for women was all about being slim, think long, lean silhouettes and flat bottoms.

But by the late '90s and especially in the 2010s, that completely flipped. Celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Nicki Minaj helped usher in a new trend, one that celebrates curves, especially a fuller derriere.

To achieve this look, some people turn to cosmetic surgery. And there’s one procedure in particular that’s become famous, and notorious: the BBL.

When we talk about the Holocaust, most of us immediately think of death camps like Auschwitz or Dachau, chilling symbols of the Nazis’ “Final Solution”. But before they reached that level of industrialised brutality, the Nazis explored other ways to remove Jews from Europe. One plan, both absurd and terrifying, was to send all Jews to the distant island of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean.

How on earth did the Germans come up with that idea? What happened for the plan to take off in 1940? Why didn’t it happen then? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions...

We've all experienced those gut feelings, hunches, or flashes of insight that seem to come from nowhere. But what exactly is intuition, and can it be explained?

Even though scientists haven't yet unraveled all of its secrets, intuition isn’t as mysterious as we might think. One expert definition of intuition says that it is: "the universal ability to grasp information in a non-conventional way, outside of a rational and reasoned process.” It’s the kind of intimate knowledge of reality that doesn't rely on knowledge, reflection, or logic.

Are there different types of intuition? Does e...

Microwork is paid work which usually involves short and repetitive tasks carried out on a smartphone or computer. It could be identifying objects shown in an image, watching videos, labelling data, translating short sentences or recording one’s voice for example.

It can also be charging electric scooters or taking photos of products for an app. It’s as simple as registering on a platform which acts as the middle man between workers and companies. Amazon Mechanical Turk is an example of one such platform.

That sounds simple enough; what is life like as a micr...

According to the World happiness report, of the 137 countries they include, the UK has fallen to 19th position. This follows a steady decline over the past few years although they are happier than Lithuania in 20th position and France in 21st position. As ever Finland has continued its winning streak and stays at number one just above New Zealand. 

The report combines both subjective well-being assessments and objective indicators. Respondents rate their own current lives on a scale from 0 to 10. They ask people to imagine a ladder with the best possible life for them being a 10 and t...

Figures from Cancer Research UK show that there are an average of nearly 57,000 new breast cancer cases detected each year in the country. It’s the most common form of cancer, accounting for 15% of all cases.

While the vast majority of breast cancer cases are in women, there are actually around 370 diagnoses in men each year too. That’s right; men also have breast tissue around the nipples, so are also potentially susceptible. As we near the end of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, let’s take a moment to discuss the phenomenon and raise awareness, to make sure a...