All Questions
260
votes
3answers
17k views
Does torture work well as an interrogation technique?
I have friends who say that torture is a useful means of getting information out of people, and friends who don't, and both stands seem supported by some authorities. I am also aware that there are ...
150
votes
2answers
19k views
Do bigger or more monitors increase productivity?
There is a ton of anecdotal evidence that adding more screen estate (more or larger monitors) leads to an increase in productivity, especially for programmers.
For example, where I work, all ...
139
votes
3answers
11k views
Does hot water freeze faster than cold water?
Is it true that hot water freezes faster than cold water and if so, what practical applications have there been found for this phenomenon?
137
votes
9answers
8k views
Is there any verifiable historical and/or scientific evidence that Jesus lived?
Regardless of whether you believe or not...
Are there any extra-biblical validations of his existence around the time he is commonly thought to have lived? That is, are there other historically ...
125
votes
2answers
11k views
Do cats always land on their feet?
Assuming a fall from a survivable height, will a cat always land on its feet?
Has this been studied? Is there real data to back it up?
121
votes
1answer
6k views
Is popping your knuckles bad for you?
I pop my knuckles fairly frequently, and I have been told on several occasions that doing so is bad for your joints. Is this true? Have there been any medical studies on this?
115
votes
3answers
15k views
Do victims of rape have biological defenses that prevent pregnancy?
Pro life Rep. Todd Akin, who is running for Senate in Missouri, recently said:
“If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”
Needless to say, this ...
113
votes
2answers
38k views
Was the experiment with five monkeys, a ladder, a banana and a water spray conducted?
I've found the following picture online. It is about the moral/paradigm behind consistent behavior.
Click to enlarge.
The image text says
A group of scientists placed 5 monkeys in a cage ...
108
votes
3answers
11k views
Does a webpage with a black background save energy?
Blackle is a search engine that claims to save energy because it uses a black background. Is there any evidence to back up their claim that a website using a black background will save energy, and if ...
103
votes
2answers
9k views
Has man walked on the Moon?
Is there any concrete, solid proof of this space odyssey?
Is there a way that I personally have a look a it? Let's say, with a nice telescope ?
100
votes
10answers
5k views
Is closed-source code more secure than open-source?
My computing teacher told us that closed source software is more secure than open source software, because with open source "anyone can modify it and put stuff in." This is why they do not want to use ...
99
votes
5answers
19k views
Was Einstein a poor student?
I've heard this repeatedly over the years, that Einstein was bad at math, that he was bad at history, that he was dyslexic. I also read somewhere in my youth that some of the " bad at math" stuff was ...
99
votes
1answer
51k views
Is it true that you can't tweet “Get Better.” because it's something Dorsey's father used to say?
I've tried to tweet "Get Better." (without the quotes) a dozen times now, and it keeps not showing. A friend of mine told me that, while in high school, Jack Dorsey's (the creator of Twitter) father ...
95
votes
3answers
16k views
Will a mother bird abandon her young if touched by a human?
Welcome to installment #2 of my "the science of animals falling" series of questions....
I've heard it said many times since childhood that if you are to find a baby bird on the ground which ...
86
votes
1answer
9k views
Did NASA invest a million dollars in the research of a space pen, when the USSR simply used a pencil?
I encountered this picture of the "Russian space pen" from the MIT Museum gift shop
When NASA first started sending astronauts into space, they realized that the ball-point pen would not work ...
81
votes
6answers
9k views
Can you only trace a phone call if they don't hang up?
In movies and television shows, you often see law enforcement (or hacker types) attempting to trace a phone call that they have received. The typical scene plays out with one party trying to keep the ...
77
votes
4answers
10k views
Is it possible to fly 4 helicopters anywhere in a country without official knowledge?
According to reports, there were 4 helicopters used in the raid on Osama Bin Laden. They apparently left from Ghazi.
Is it conceivable that even one helicopter could be flown so close to the capital ...
75
votes
6answers
8k views
Did people think the Earth was flat?
I've heard it numerous times, that in the old days people thought that the world was flat. Most commonly I heard this in connection with the voyage of Columbus, that he believed the earth to be a ...
74
votes
4answers
8k views
Do elevator manufacturers purposefully provide a door close button that doesn't actually work?
I've read the above factoid many times, but sources are conflicting as to whether or not its true; that is,
some say there's a set timer on door openings and closings that can't be budged by ...
73
votes
2answers
5k views
If you shave or wax, will the hair grow back stronger or thicker?
Many people believe that if you shave or - especially - wax your legs, arms, chest, pubic hair or armpits then the hair will grow back stronger, or thicker, or more black, or more rapidly, or any ...
72
votes
3answers
10k views
Do atoms exist?
There are plenty of examples of people doubting ([1],
[2],
[3],
[4],
[5]) or denying ([6],
[7],
[8]) the existence of atoms.
Is there any compelling evidence for the existence of atoms? Has anyone ...
70
votes
5answers
3k views
Do human activities contribute to climate change?
There is lots of evidence that I have seen showing correlation between human activities and climate change but what evidence is there to support causation?
69
votes
11answers
6k views
Has one vote ever made a difference?
My friend told me that he doesn't bother voting any more in elections, because "it's not like one vote ever made a difference." I will vote when I can and I think it is important, and although I share ...
69
votes
2answers
12k views
Is a woman who dresses sexually suggestively more likely to get raped?
There was a recent controversy about a police officer who is reported to have suggested:
Women can avoid sexual assault by not dressing like a “slut.”
If we leave out the derogatory word and ...
67
votes
2answers
12k views
Do expensive, “premium” speaker cables actually make a difference?
I was tempted to go drop $8500 on these awesome speaker cables so I could be like Whiplash (see customer pictures), but I'm curious, if I use them for my audio system, will they actually make a ...
66
votes
4answers
15k views
Can bullets fired into the air kill a person when they fall?
Lately, I've been watching the Libyan civil war in the media, and both sides in the conflict often celebrate success by firing their AK-47s into the air. Not to say that firing guns into the air is ...
65
votes
5answers
3k views
Is Wikipedia reliable?
I ask this question because in school, students are always told "do not quote wikipedia" or that "Do not believe everything you see on Wikipedia, we are teachers and we know when something is wrong ...
65
votes
3answers
7k views
Does being cold increase your chances of catching the common cold?
"Everyone knows" - a scary statement - that you get "a cold" from being cold. Now it seems to be a fact that you don't, because you get a cold from a (rhino)virus, not from the temperature.
But is ...
64
votes
4answers
2k views
Are personal electronics a risk to commercial aviation?
Are personal electronics (of present or recent past; e.g. cell phones, mp3 players, iPads) a risk to commercial air travel? Is the typical request to "turn off all personal electronic devices" based ...
63
votes
4answers
28k views
Does every species get around a billion heartbeats on average?
I read this web comic today:
(from http://www.abominable.cc/)
I have no idea where the author got his factoid about the billion heartbeats. But it sounds interesting. The examples I can think of ...
62
votes
3answers
7k views
Are there any perceptible differences between the sound quality of 192 versus 320 kbps MP3 files?
I have friends that are very picky when it comes to MP3 bitrate, and will always look for the 320 kbps version of a file. However, I have never noticed any differences, they sound the same to me. I ...
61
votes
3answers
6k views
Does camera flash destroy art?
This is a question which is highly discussed on the internet but I've been researching for a long time and I've never found any scientific proof backing this up.
It's known (or at least spoken of) ...
61
votes
1answer
3k views
Do Ostriches bury their heads in the sand
I have always believed that Ostriches when frightened bury their heads in the sand.
Upon closer re-examination of this belief, I came to the following conclusions:
Ostriches typically live in arid ...
60
votes
5answers
6k views
Is the Earth 6000 years old?
Dr Kent Hovind, a noted American Young Earth creationist, claims that the Earth is only 6000 years old.
When I was growing up, I was taught in school that dinosaurs come from at least millions of ...
60
votes
3answers
13k views
Is it illegal to refuse US currency for a purchase?
I hear this claim every now and then. That US currency is legal tender and that it is illegal to not accept it.
The most recent example of this was on an old episode of 30 Rock: The head and the ...
60
votes
3answers
3k views
Does a car with a hybrid engine and Lithium batteries pollute more than a car with conventional technology?
You hear a lot of claims that, once you include manufacturing and battery replacement, hybrids pollute more than an efficient, more conventional engine. Are there any end-to-end studies measuring any ...
59
votes
3answers
5k views
Is food still safe to eat within 5 seconds after being dropped on the floor (5 second rule)?
Today in the cafeteria my friend dropped a chicken wing on the floor and immediately picked it up and ate it. Afterward he claimed that the chicken wing was still safe to eat if it was consumed within ...
59
votes
3answers
4k views
Is alcohol beneficial in small amounts?
It's widely believed that consuming small amounts of alcohol has many health benefits.
As a matter of fact, a lot of alcohol might be good for you, as Wired Magazine reports:
It’s one of those ...
58
votes
3answers
3k views
Can every grain of sand be addressed in IPv6?
I was once watching a slideshow about the new IPv6, and it mentioned that it is large enough for every grain of sand on earth to be IP addressable.
Is there any grain of truth behind this? (no pun ...
58
votes
5answers
6k views
Is smoking weed bad for your health?
Some people believe that smoking marijuana (without any tobacco) is harmful to your health and may cause problems. Examples of things I've heard weed supposedly causes:
All the health problems of ...
57
votes
3answers
4k views
Is Earth as smooth as a billiard ball?
I've heard it said (on the YouTube channel vsauce) that the earth is smoother than a billiards ball if it's scaled down.
Is this true?
Of course the earth is relatively smooth:
Mt. Everest: ~10km+
...
57
votes
4answers
3k views
Have several hundreds of thousands of people died because of the Chernobyl disaster?
The Wikipedia article on this is littered with [citation needed] and a commenter on hacker news linked to it while stating:
Chernobyl cost several hundred thousand lives. Let's hope and pray ...
57
votes
3answers
5k views
Were people shorter in the middle ages?
In many castles or museums you'll find medieval armor, belonging to a knight. Those are often very small compared to the average human nowadays. I've heard this explained multiple times as being due ...
56
votes
3answers
24k views
Do coal plants release more radiation than nuclear power plants?
As a response to the desaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant I've heard the claim that fossil-fuel power plants using coal release more radiation than a nuclear power plant. I searched for some ...
54
votes
2answers
5k views
Is deoxygenated blood blue?
I have encountered many people in my life that believe that your blood is blue until it hits the air and only then it turns red. The blue color of our veins is also explained the same way, as the ...
54
votes
1answer
4k views
Do we only use 10% of our brain?
I've heard claims that the average person uses only 10% of their "brain power," whatever that means. The implication, though, is that there the majority of our brain's potential is untapped. However, ...
54
votes
1answer
10k views
Is masturbation bad for one's health?
This question has probably been asked by almost everyone at some point in their lives. But the answers we receive vary from "it is very good" to "it is very bad".
I can understand that becoming ...
53
votes
1answer
6k views
Do bras prevent you from getting saggy boobs?
I've heard this one repeated by women I know a few times, but it sounds like a product of confirmation bias to me. Is there supporting evidence for the claim that if you don't wear a bra you should ...
53
votes
3answers
3k views
Did most sex workers experience abuse as a child?
Dr. Drew Pinsky, a medical doctor who hosts several television and radio programs, claims quite frequently that most people who engage in sex-related industries, such as prostitution or pornography, ...
52
votes
5answers
7k views
How were the pyramids built?
It is claimed in many different pseudoscience publications and sites that it was impossible for the ancient Egyptian civilization to build the pyramids, because:
too much labour was needed
it was ...
