All Questions
11,116
questions
33
votes
3
answers
11k
views
Is there an increase in whale deaths due to windfarms?
During a recent speech in North Carolina, Donald Trump blamed offshore wind farms for the rise in whale deaths.
Trump made the remarks about offshore wind’s possible link to the surge in baleen whale ...
- 1,522
3
votes
0
answers
613
views
Did a Father save his son after digging for 38 hours after the Armenian earthquake?
There's an inspirational story that is very popular on God based websites. Here is the version I am familiar with that was forwarded to me on Whatsapp many times before Yom Kippur:
This story is true ...
- 3,624
5
votes
0
answers
806
views
Was the AI Of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl good enough to beat the game on its own?
I have heard the claim from various sources that the AI of S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chernobyl, a Ukrainian FPS RPG-ish thing from 2007, had beta AI that was so good that an AI character could be given ...
- 483
0
votes
0
answers
437
views
Is IIT consciousness theory a pseudo science?
Nature writes
It [a letter] argues that a prominent theory describing what makes someone or something conscious — called the integrated information theory (IIT) — should be labelled as pseudoscience.
...
- 6,552
2
votes
1
answer
529
views
Archaic admixture in Africans
I've been investigating the ideas circulating in some of the more classy white supremacist circles. Some of them have referenced studies like this one:
We provide complementary lines of evidence for ...
- 49
16
votes
1
answer
4k
views
Could world hunger be ended for 40 billion USD per year?
The World Food Program USA claims that 345 million people around the world:
are experiencing the most severe levels of hunger including starvation. These are the people the U.N. World Food Programme ...
- 489
10
votes
0
answers
358
views
Does removing split ends increase overall hair durability?
Does trimming your hair regularly make it grow faster? addresses the "trimming the hair makes it grow faster" myth, noting that the hair outside of your scalp is dead, and has no awareness ...
- 6,568
7
votes
1
answer
836
views
Are "Warranty voided if removed"-labels illegal?
NPR wrote in 2018
The Federal Trade Commission says they're [Warranty voided if removed labels] illegal.
Are "Warranty voided if removed"-labels illegal?
What, if any, is the practical ...
- 6,552
1
vote
0
answers
491
views
Was the Mexican Congress shown corpses of extra-terrestrials?
According to The Independent, journalist and Ufologist, Jaime Maussan testified to a Mexican congressional hearing that apparent mummified/fossilized corpses are extra-terrestrials: they are not part ...
- 1,867
2
votes
0
answers
196
views
Did a group of Algerians celebrate the earthquake in Morocco near the border?
In an Iranian website (and some other Iranian websites as well) they say a group of Algerians gathered at the border with Morocco and played music and celebrated the earthquake in Morocco (the two ...
- 347
10
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Do lost people tend to unintentionally walk in circles?
Is it fact/myth that when you get lost in the wilderness, you go round in circles?
Common belief has it that people who get lost in unfamiliar terrain often end up walking in circles. Although ...
- 223
15
votes
1
answer
638
views
Do trucks cause disproportionate pedestrian and cyclist fatalities for the distance travelled?
In an interview with Autonomy, Volta Trucks founder, Carl-Magnus Norden, said:
in London trucks constituted only 4% of road miles but 26% of pedestrian fatalities and 78% of cyclist fatalities.
I've ...
- 309
3
votes
2
answers
792
views
Were the Finns ever considered as the Negroes of the North?
The Finnish member of parliament Teemu Keskisarja recently made headlines by claiming in a parliament speech:
Suomen rasismihistorian lyhyt tiedonanto:
...Esivanhempamme eli Pohjolan neekerit olivat ...
- 1,149
9
votes
3
answers
4k
views
Do EU sanctions prevent Russian visitors from bringing their smartphones/toothpaste with them into the EU?
This morning a Russian media company RBC reported that (vaguely translated from Russian) "EU prohibited Russians to enter the EU with personal cars, smartphones and shampoo". A similar story ...
- 191
2
votes
0
answers
488
views
Did the body of Saint Bernadette remain intact after 50 years, despite the conditions it was in?
According to this 2019 article in the National Catholic Register, The Marvelous Preservation of St. Bernadette, the body of Saint Bernadette had limited decay, despite:
given the close examinations, ...
- 153
5
votes
0
answers
272
views
Did Mongolian president Ochirbat Punsalmaa make a funny remark about a snoring bodyguard to Queen Elizabeth II on a visit to the UK in 1996?
According to this widely shared Quora answer, the following interesting story took place when the Mongolian president visited the UK in 1996:
In 1996, Mongolia's first president, Ochirbat Punsalmaa, ...
- 159
4
votes
1
answer
623
views
Does weight loss from Ozempic come mainly from muscle and connectivity tissue loss?
A recent "The Joe Rogan Experience" episode with Bill Maher as the guest discussed weight loss drugs, especially type-2 diabetes GLP-1 agonists. The following interchange took place (J is ...
- 6,552
2
votes
0
answers
347
views
Does it take one tree to produce 20,000 paper hand towels?
I saw a poster near the hand dryer in the washroom at my office that said:
1 Tree = 20,000 paper hand towels.
Is that accurate?
- 21
5
votes
0
answers
396
views
Does Japan have 1.5 million people with severe social withdrawal?
Hikokomiri is a Japanese concept of severe social withdrawal:
The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare defines hikikomori as a condition in which the affected individuals refuse to leave ...
- 2,436
3
votes
1
answer
557
views
Did Richard Dawkins say Pope John Paul II was a hypocrite about Darwinism?
Multiple sources (including Richard Dawkin's own web-site) quote the following from an article by Michael Ruse, which he supposedly wrote for the Playboy magazine.
We who love science must realize ...
- 199
3
votes
1
answer
282
views
Is the fruit of Ficus Benjamina (Weeping Fig) poisonous? [closed]
Ficus Benjamina (Weeping Fig) is a popular house plant. The leaves and sap are generally considered toxic. However, I found conflicting information about the fruit.
Some sources claim the fruit is not ...
- 726
0
votes
2
answers
231
views
Is Leon Eisenberg the "inventor" (or the "scientific father") of ADHD?
Related to this Q it's pretty easy to confirm from the meme the part that claim that Leon Eisenberg said what he said about ADHD, using e.g. his Wikipedia page where Der Spiegel is given as source for ...
- 59.8k
37
votes
1
answer
10k
views
Did Einstein say "Do not worry about your difficulties in mathematics, I assure you that mine are greater"?
I've seen the quote below attributed to Einstein in several places
Do not worry about your difficulties in mathematics, I assure you that mine are greater.
Even on sites where several other Einstein ...
- 481
13
votes
1
answer
8k
views
Did "Joe the Plumber" perform plumbing work for money between when he left the Air Force and October 2008?
"Joe the Plumber" aka Joe Wurzelbacher gained attention in the 2008 US presidential campaign between Obama and McCain and passed away recently.
In the original discussion with Obama that ...
- 369
6
votes
1
answer
436
views
Did Bertrand Russell say, "Religion is something left over from the infancy of our intelligence, ..."?
Religion is something left over from the infancy of our intelligence,
it will fade away as we adopt reason and science as our guidelines.
—Bertrand Russell
Many books and websites attribute this ...
- 199
2
votes
1
answer
505
views
Were 90% of Mariupol's apartment buildings destroyed during 2022 battles?
So I've encountered links to this 2023 Meduza publication on Politics.SE, which states:
In 2022, when the city was the site of a months-long battle between invading Russian forces and the Ukrainian ...
- 121
8
votes
0
answers
1k
views
Can some people beat roulette wheels using "visual ballistics"?
In the past, people beat roulette wheels using machines that measure ball speed and predict where the ball will land. That is discussed in the question Is it possible to gain an edge in roulette ...
- 1,083
8
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Is ADHD a fictitious disease?
I found this meme:
Inventor of ADHD's Deathbed Confession: "ADHD is a fictitious disease"
US American psychiatrist Leon Eisenberg, born in 1922 as the son of Russian Jewish immigrants, who ...
- 161
18
votes
1
answer
7k
views
Did France ban wifi in schools and daycares in 2015 because of health concerns?
A variety of websites (along with many claims on social media sites like Instagram) claim a law that went into effect in January 2015 bans wifi in schools and nurseries for health reasons.
One links ...
- 996
13
votes
0
answers
612
views
Does mixing watermelons with alcohol cause liver damage?
Recently there's been an influx of articles in Polish media warning against consuming alcohol and watermelons (titles via Google Translate):
Never combine with alcohol. You can damage your liver
...
- 2,635
-2
votes
1
answer
532
views
Do people have visions of religious figures from other religions (outside of Jesus)?
New Testament scholars Bart Ehrman and Justin Bass had a debate about the historicity of Jesus. At the 1:09:02 mark Justin Bass makes a claim:
Justin Bass: People, of their own religions, do have ...
- 105
7
votes
1
answer
763
views
Has the absorption of menstrual hygiene products only now been compared using blood for the first time?
A number of articles such as this one or this one were published recently in reaction to this study.
The study is quoted as saying that "no study exists comparing the capacity of currently ...
- 181
3
votes
1
answer
727
views
Have 10-15% of the general population had at least one incestuous sexual contact when under the age of consent?
I found these numbers in the page Incest at Wikipedia:
Incest between an adult and a person under the age of consent is considered a form of child sexual abuse[70][71] that has been shown to be one ...
- 161
6
votes
1
answer
602
views
Did Voltaire say/write "Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."?
There is a popular saying:
Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be
said.
On the internet, many pages attribute this quote to Voltaire - however, I could not find any ...
- 726
3
votes
0
answers
293
views
Did Charles Schulz say, "All you need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt"?
The following saying is often attributed to Charles M. Schulz, or to one of the characters in his famous comic strip, Peanuts.
All you need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt.
...
- 417
7
votes
1
answer
713
views
Was the average prison sentence of men who kill their female partners 2 to 6 years in 1989?
According to this Jan 12, 2019 article from the Guardian:
The average prison sentence for men who kill their female partners is
two to six years.
Such short sentencing sounds unrealistically short ...
- 434
26
votes
1
answer
12k
views
Did Richard Feynman say that if all of mathematics disappeared, physics would be set back by exactly one week?
The following quip is often attributed to the physicist Richard Feynman:
If all of mathematics disappeared, physics would be set back by exactly one week.
See for example Quote Master, quotefancy, ...
- 417
29
votes
3
answers
14k
views
Is saying "du" to a police officer illegal in Germany?
A very popular YouTuber called Bharat in Germany recently made a video where it says that it is illegal in Germany to address a police officer informally, that is, using the informal pronoun du* ...
11
votes
0
answers
1k
views
Does Russia have around 3 million sex workers?
There are some links that mention this, for example:
Ukranian Euromaidan Press claimed in 2017:
There are now well over one million prostitutes in the Russian Federation, a figure that is higher than ...
- 2,436
25
votes
1
answer
8k
views
Is there a depiction of Lucifer in the Vatican Necropolis?
A YouTube video, Lucifer's Temple Chambers Beneath the Vatican (What's There Revealed) claims that there is a depiction representing Lucifer, the Light-Bringer, in the Vatican Necropolis, under Saint ...
- 369
3
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Do children of gay and lesbian couples have a lower high-school graduation rate?
I recently came across this 2013 study: High school graduation rates among children of same-sex households which looks at a large sample of Canadian families, and concludes:
Children living with gay ...
- 51
0
votes
0
answers
510
views
Is the intentional homicide rate in China extremely low?
I've found some sources that show China has a relatively low intentional homicide rate. For example:
Wikipedia's List of countries by intentional homicide rate cites the UN Office on Drugs and crime ...
- 2,436
2
votes
0
answers
584
views
Have crime rates climbed in US cities with "rogue" progressive District Attorneys?
In a 2020 article, the Heritage Foundation claims that "rogue prosecutors" (described in the article as prosecutors who are part of the "so-called progressive prosecutor movement") ...
16
votes
1
answer
8k
views
Did Emperor Norton ever kneel in defiance of racist mobs?
There is a rumour on the Chinese internet that during one of the anti-Chinese riots in the 1860s, Norton stood in front of the Chinese migrants, and, facing the rabid racist mobs, kneeled down and ...
- 391
6
votes
0
answers
512
views
Did Zhang Zongchang order each player in a basketball game be given their own ball?
There is a claim that Chinese warlord, Zhang Zongchang was confused by the sport of basketball:
iFunny
After seeing a basketball game for the first time, he allegedly asked "Why the hell are ...
- 479
4
votes
1
answer
4k
views
Is this infographic about Palestinian loss of land since 1947 accurate? [duplicate]
I've come across this infographic a few times on social media, most recently in this widely shared Facebook post:
Here is a larger version of the infographic:
Are the borders in it largely accurate?
- 1,389
5
votes
0
answers
424
views
Do antistatic car-straps reduce static shocks from cars?
There is a line of anti-static rubber straps sold for cars which attach to the chassis of the car and dangle down to the road. It is claimed that they allow static electricity to drain off, preventing ...
- 141k
5
votes
0
answers
316
views
Can you fix drooping eyelids with exercises?
I stumbled upon this YouTube video which gives exercises to fix drooping eyelids:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYBd6t1k-38
The medical term used to qualify drooping eyelids is ptosis (or ...
- 51
6
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Are half of transgender women inmates (in England and Wales) sex offenders or category A prisoners?
The group Fair Play for Women published a report in Oct 2017 claiming that
Half of all trans-identifying males (transwomen) in prison are convicted sex offenders or dangerous Category A prisoners.
...
- 187
2
votes
2
answers
661
views
As of 26 July 2023, will four million US citizens turn 18 before the US presidential election (5 November 2024)?
Goodbye Republicans. Your damn days are numbered.
4,000,000
17 year olds
turn 18
before the
November election
Twitter (5k+ retweets, 21k+ likes); screenshot on Reddit r/WhitePeopleTwitter (score 30k+)...
- 8,414