Something You Should Know
Sometimes all it takes is one little fact or one little piece of wisdom to change your life forever. That's the purpose and the hope of "Something You Should Know." In each episode, host Mike Carruthers interviews top experts in their field to bring you fascinating information and advice to help you save time and money, advance in your career, become wealthy, improve your relationships and help you simply get more out of life. In addition, Mike uncovers and shares short, engaging pieces of "intel" you can use to make your life better - today. Right now.
25 episodes
Episodes
Something You Should Know
Pets decode more than people realize—and brains work in gears
The episode connects animal behavior with a practical question about human performance: whether better timing and environments can improve how minds work.
Sep 26, 2026 · 53 min
Something You Should Know
Optimism can be practiced, while cereal’s health halo gets unpacked
The episode connects deliberate emotional habits with a close look at how breakfast marketing shaped beliefs about nutrition and necessity.
Sep 24, 2026 · 53 min
Something You Should Know
Why Bad News Outweighs Good—and How to Use It
Recognizing the negativity effect can improve judgment, relationships, teaching, and responses to alarming news without ignoring genuine problems.
Sep 22, 2026 · 27 min
Something You Should Know
Sleep anxiety and novelty quietly reshape daily life
The episode connects two common struggles—trying to control sleep and chasing constant upgrades—to the costs of anxiety, impulsive consumption, and diminished satisfaction.
Sep 21, 2026 · 53 min
Something You Should Know
Horses built civilization; strategic laziness may improve modern work
The episode connects an animal’s historical power with a modern argument that purposeful idleness can produce more meaningful, effective work.
Sep 19, 2026 · 51 min
Something You Should Know
Better complaints, stranger remotes, and the science of wrinkled fingers
The episode connects everyday frustrations to overlooked systems, showing how evidence, design choices, and biology shape ordinary experiences.
Sep 17, 2026 · 54 min
Something You Should Know
Art Markman explains why familiar minds misjudge everyday life
The episode shows how attention, familiarity, stress, and intentions quietly shape judgments, purchases, performance, and reactions to other people.
Sep 15, 2026 · 26 min
Something You Should Know
Design your surroundings, then watch cats domesticate themselves
The episode connects behavior change to situational design, then applies the same adaptation lens to cats’ long relationship with humans and even airline food.
Sep 14, 2026 · 54 min
Something You Should Know
Everyday gases and habits hide surprising risks
The episode connects household pollution, addictive behavior, and driving safety to choices that often seem harmless.
Sep 12, 2026 · 55 min
Something You Should Know
Safety engineers test products against the real world
The episode connects hidden safety systems with a practical case for treating emotional sensitivity as a capacity to manage, not a flaw to erase.
Sep 10, 2026 · 53 min
Something You Should Know
Perception often decides credibility before evidence gets a hearing
Understanding messenger bias reveals why accurate information can fail—and how awareness may improve both judgment and persuasion.
Sep 8, 2026 · 31 min
Something You Should Know
Negative expectations can create real symptoms
The episode connects the nocebo effect to medical decisions, behavior, language, cultural history, and the way embarrassment distorts social perception.
Sep 7, 2026 · 54 min
Something You Should Know
Secrets expose the mind while language preserves history
The episode connects the personal costs of secrecy with the historical accidents that still shape everyday English.
Sep 5, 2026 · 54 min
Something You Should Know
Swearing can ease pain while confidence grows through practice
The episode connects taboo language, emotional regulation, and confidence-building to everyday ways people handle pain, power, and self-doubt.
Sep 3, 2026 · 54 min
Something You Should Know
Food additives deserve evidence, not ingredient-list panic
The episode separates legitimate concerns about ultra-processed diets from the misleading idea that unfamiliar or artificial-sounding ingredients are inherently dangerous.
Sep 1, 2026 · 26 min
Something You Should Know
Better healthcare starts beyond prescriptions
The episode connects patient agency and whole-person care with the overlooked ways weather can shape health, behavior, and thought.
Aug 31, 2026 · 55 min
Something You Should Know
Music heals while technology erodes everyday human skills
The episode connects music’s measurable effects on health with a warning that convenience can weaken cognition, connection, solitude, and movement.
Aug 29, 2026 · 54 min
Something You Should Know
Small talk connects us while existential risks test humanity
The episode links everyday social choices with humanity’s larger challenge of recognizing and managing threats that could reshape or end civilization.
Aug 27, 2026 · 51 min
Something You Should Know
Johann Hari argues distraction is a social problem
The episode reframes poor concentration as the result of sleep loss, workplace demands, technology, and social conditions—not simply weak discipline.
Aug 25, 2026 · 27 min
Something You Should Know
Amazon turns scale into power—and social media turns life into spectacle
The episode connects Amazon’s business model and workplace culture with the quieter ways platforms shape identity, consumption, and everyday experience.
Aug 24, 2026 · 55 min
Something You Should Know
Disaster psychology meets the case for restorative solitude
The episode connects emergency behavior with everyday emotional health, showing how preparation and intentional alone time can shape resilience.
Aug 22, 2026 · 52 min
Something You Should Know
Infidelity damages trust while executive function shapes self-control
The episode connects relationship recovery after betrayal with the practical limits of attention, planning, impulse control, and emotional regulation.
Aug 20, 2026 · 54 min
Something You Should Know
Complex practice keeps physical intelligence alive
The episode argues that movement is a lifelong brain-body capacity, and that convenience can erode the varied challenges needed to preserve it.
Aug 18, 2026 · 26 min
Something You Should Know
Digital overload erodes meaning while modern food confuses healthy eating
The episode connects rising emptiness and anxiety with technology habits, then replaces contradictory diet advice with a practical framework for sustainable eating.
Aug 17, 2026 · 54 min
Something You Should Know
Small household choices shape food waste and insect survival
The episode connects everyday storage and planning decisions with broader ecological systems, then shows how brief naps can support memory and alertness.
Aug 15, 2026 · 57 min