Newest Questions
11,414 questions
6
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Are high profile criminal trials more likely to end in an acquittal?
In this Law Stack Exchange question, the OP makes the following conjecture (based on anecdotal experience following a number of high profile cases):
media attention makes it more likely a trial will ...
- 989
11
votes
1
answer
307
views
Does Donald Trump have the original Club World Cup trophy?
Donald Trump claims to have the original Club World Cup trophy at the White House, while Chelsea were presented with a replica.
The Guardian
Donald Trump has claimed that the Club World Cup trophy ...
- 395
-8
votes
0
answers
161
views
Can we be skeptic about the rational foundations of the book 'Principia Mathematica' by Whitehead and Russell? [duplicate]
I pose a question about my skepticism on the logical rigorousness of the 1925 book 'Principia Mathematica' by Whitehead and Russell (W&R1925).
Among the cornerstone foundations of this books, ...
-8
votes
0
answers
292
views
Can we be skeptics, if not concerned, about the rational foundations of the book 'Principia Mathematica' by Whitehead and Russell? [closed]
I pose a question about my skepticism on the logical rigorousness of the 1925 book 'Principia Mathematica' by Whitehead and Russell (W&R1925).
Among the cornerstone foundations of this books, ...
9
votes
3
answers
8k
views
Did Camp Mystic's water level rise by 26 feet in an hour in July 2025?
This report by USA Today about recent flooding at a Christian girls' summer camp in Texas seems unbelievable to me:
There were about 700 children at the camp when relentless rain caused the nearby ...
- 31.8k
28
votes
4
answers
6k
views
Did budget cuts under Trump impact the fatality count in the Guadalupe River floods?
According to this National Public Radio News article, there are some allegations that cuts to the National Weather Service affected or led to the deaths in the recent Guadalupe River flood in Texas.
...
- 673
3
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Is it illegal to pee in the sea in Portugal and certain parts of Spain?
I first came across this claim in a map that was circulating online, originating from The World in Maps account on Instagram:
Naturally, I did some research of my own and found that it's Vigo, Spain (...
- 1,658
8
votes
3
answers
6k
views
Would proving P=NP allow you to break almost every encryption in the world?
This question concerns the consequences of a particular resolution to the P versus NP Problem (one of the seven Millennium Prize Problems in mathematics).
Refer to the following short clip (from a (...
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17
votes
1
answer
4k
views
Will my bladder burst if I hold my pee?
A Man Ruptured His Bladder After Holding in Pee for 18 Hours says a man drank 10 beers, fell asleep, and then woke up with a burst bladder.
I was told it's not possible to hold your pee until your ...
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24
votes
2
answers
5k
views
Was the "Your Brain on ChatGPT" paper "engineered to mislead AI"?
I encountered this on Reddit r/ChatGPT (current score 940), but undoubtedly it's been shared elsewhere:
What if I told you this research paper was engineered to mislead AI, trick you, and prove its ...
- 9,690
11
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Are there "tap to pay" sticker skimmers at gas stations?
Claims:
https://www.motor1.com/news/764010/tap-to-pay-gas-warning/
https://gator995.com/tap-pay-scam-warning/
According to the TikToker, scammers take “a little black strip” with a
symbol on it that ...
- 213
35
votes
3
answers
8k
views
Is "beer spiking" a traditional German practice?
There seems to be a recent trend in US brewing of using a hot spike or rod to "caramelize" a beer after pouring. Multiple sources claim this is a revival of a traditional German practice:
...
- 455
9
votes
1
answer
490
views
Did the LAPD destroy 2,500 photographs taken the night of RFK Sr's murder?
According to this recent interview of Robert F Kennedy Jr. by Tucker Carlson
The LAPD did a not only terrible job but a malevolent job. They destroyed 2,500 photographs that were taken that night ...
- 31.8k
1
vote
1
answer
811
views
Did the New York Times ever admit Lee Harvey Oswald was a CIA asset?
According to an interview with RFK Jr. with Tucker Carlson, which aired in full on June 30,,
The evidence that came out in the last tranche, they New York Times had to finally had to admit that Lee ...
- 31.8k
13
votes
0
answers
304
views
Did India lose a Rafale fighter jet during "Operation Sindoor" in May 2025?
A May 2025 article by Le Monde reported that India conducted an airstrike operation called "Operation Sindoor" against targets in Pakistan, in response to a terrorist attack in Kashmir. ...
- 131
28
votes
2
answers
8k
views
Are LLM AIs making people dumber?
Tech Startups makes the claim
MIT study finds that ChatGPT is making people dumber; 83% of ChatGPT users can’t recall what they just wrote
[...]
The numbers are hard to ignore:
Brain activity fell ...
- 10.9k
11
votes
2
answers
4k
views
Was a ceasefire declared between Israel and Iran on June 24, 2025?
I'm seeing a lot of reporting on the current state-of-play between Israel and Iran. The BBC is reporting that a ceasefire began some time this morning, then followed by accusations of both sides ...
- 235
1
vote
1
answer
652
views
Is this video of a Ukrainian man being press-ganged into the military?
In March 2025, a video went viral showing a young man in white being subdued by a group of masked men in uniform and being forced into a van.
It is claimed by several sources that this is an example ...
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12
votes
1
answer
910
views
Did ICE spend $8 billion deporting 200,000 immigrants?
ICE blew through $8 billion to deport 200,000 immigrants. At this rate it will cost taxpayers $500 billion to deport everyone.
This was posted to Reddit about 5 hours ago: score 6.5k. No source was ...
- 9,690
-1
votes
3
answers
487
views
Was the Israeli hospital the Iranians hit between two potential military targets?
This post on Substack by Deaglan O'Mulroony states,
Today, you will see Israel and MSM scrambling to tell the world about Iran’s war crime of ‘deliberately’ targeting Soraka hospital last night. I ...
- 31.8k
18
votes
3
answers
3k
views
Does the "bunker buster" GBU-28 bomb penetrate 20 feet of concrete, while the GBU-57 penetrates 200 feet?
In a June 2025 explainer article, Why Israel wants US bunker busters to hit Iran’s Fordow nuclear site, Al-Jazeera put up this infographic about US-built laser-guided "bunker buster" guided ...
14
votes
2
answers
3k
views
Do the European regulations on AI have a clause saying that they do not apply to military use?
Geoffrey Hinton says in the podcast Godfather of AI: I Tried to Warn Them, But We’ve Already Lost Control! Geoffrey Hinton that:
In particular the European regulations have a clause in them that say ...
- 1,917
2
votes
0
answers
254
views
Did Russia send 7 Su-57 Jets to escort Capt. Traore (Burkina Faso's junta leader)?
According to the "Make Afrika Great" YouTube channel, which has nearly a million subscribers,
Russia sent
7 Su-57 Jets to Escort Capt. Traore [.] Africa’s Dignity Restored
referring to ...
4
votes
0
answers
354
views
Do 80% of antibiotics used for food animals get used by pigs and cattle?
In the debates about veganism, you often hear the claim that most (the exact percentage varies) of antibiotics go to the egg industry, and that therefore vegetarianism is not really helping, and that ...
- 413
11
votes
1
answer
5k
views
Did a Chinese football fan die after voluntarily staying awake for 11 days straight?
Daily Mail, 22 June, 2012
A Chinese football fan died after going 11 nights without sleep as he
tried to watch every single kick of the ball of Euro 2012.
Jiang Xiaoshan, said to be supporting ...
- 119
4
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Do sex differences in hormone cycles make 9-5 workdays better suited to men?
Some people claim that men and women typically have different hormonal cycles, and that the 9-5 workday was designed for, and is better suited for, men.
For example:
Why the 9-5 workday was built for ...
- 387
9
votes
1
answer
528
views
Did Joseph P. Kennedy run a pump-and-dump scheme, before he was appointed SEC chairman?
An article by Eric Schwartzman in Fast Company claims:
Distorting public perception is hardly a new phenomenon. But in the old days, it was a highly manual process. Just months before the 1929 stock ...
3
votes
1
answer
480
views
Did the religious doctrine of Predestination trigger chronic nightmares in many New England children before the 19th century?
Author Susan Cain, in her 2022 pop psychology book Bittersweet, provides the following unsourced observation (p. 123-124):
Our tyranny of positivity, stems, in part from underappreciated historical ...
- 4,035
19
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Will 95% of adults over 30 never sprint again?
This claim is widely shared on Social Media:
jwlevitt on Instagram:
“95% of adults over 30 will never sprint again the rest of their lives.”
Heather Schulz on Facebook
Studies have shown that 95% ...
- 301
5
votes
1
answer
608
views
Did Allies confiscate 150 000 tonnes of secret files from Nazi Germany after WWII?
Recently I found an about an article about Germany's intellectual property theft during the National Socialist Government era. I checked many of the claims and they seem to be true, but there are few ...
- 121
7
votes
1
answer
558
views
Did the German Nazi government create rockets capable of speeds of 8,000 km/h?
Recently, I found an article about Germany's intellectual property theft during the National Socialist Government era. I checked many of the claims and they seem to be true, but there are few I didn't ...
- 121
22
votes
2
answers
7k
views
Was the Space Shuttle built to steal other nations' satellites from orbit?
Various locations on the internet claim that the Space Shuttle design was driven by a need to be able to conduct a mission that would steal another country's satellites from orbit, usually the USSR.
...
- 1,572
25
votes
2
answers
5k
views
Does it cost $100k per person per day to detain migrants at Guantanamo Bay?
I just came across this article from Reuters.
Senator Gary Peters stated that it costs $100,000 per person per day to detain migrants at Gauntanamo Bay.
"We're spending $100,000 a day to keep ...
- 351
4
votes
1
answer
646
views
Did chess champion Paul Morphy say "the ability to play chess well is the sign of a wasted life"?
There are a number of unofficial sources on the internet (see, for example, here, here, and here) saying that the 19th-century chess champion Paul Morphy said the following:
The ability to play chess ...
- 989
12
votes
2
answers
11k
views
Did Pope Leo XIV say this quote addressed to "those who no longer believe, no longer hope, no longer pray, because they think God has left"?
There is a quote that is being attributed to Pope Leo XIV. I'm unable to track down any more information. The postings are suspiciously similar, including the phrase "I like him already:" at ...
- 58.4k
11
votes
1
answer
3k
views
Is Stanisław Ulam's quote about nonlinear systems apocryphal?
A wonderful quote often attributed (e.g. on the Wikipedia page about nonlinear systems) to scientist Stanisław Ulam is the following:
Using a term like nonlinear science is like referring to the bulk ...
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20
votes
2
answers
10k
views
Does a cat have the same IQ as a two year old child?
The Wikipedia page on Cat Intelligence used to say the following:
According to several feline behaviorists and child psychologists, an adult cat's IQ is comparable to that of a two- to three-year-old ...
- 989
16
votes
2
answers
4k
views
Did Catholic bishops swear to "persecute and oppose" papal rebels as claimed by Josiah Strong?
In Josiah Strong's influential 1885 book Our Country: Its Possible Future and Its Present Crisis, he makes the following claim:
Every cardinal, archbishop and bishop in the Catholic church takes an
...
- 3,317
4
votes
1
answer
419
views
Does recycling plastic reduce microplastic emissions?
A recent Yahoo! news report, the reporter, Zachary Craley, ends with [emphasis mine]:
On an individual level, ensuring plastic products are properly recycled and reducing plastic use can prevent ...
- 477
6
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Did Harvard scientists fail to duplicate a pattern in the Bible?
At the end of the 19th century, Ivan Panin claimed to have discovered numerical patterns in the Bible, particularly involving the number seven. For instance, he noted that the first verse, Genesis 1:1,...
- 1,459
6
votes
1
answer
1k
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Are blackouts in civilian regions an effective strategy in deterring millitary airstrikes or reducing their accuracy?
To lay down some context:
From Wikipedia:
A blackout during war, or in preparation for an expected war, is the practice of collectively minimizing outdoor light, including upwardly directed (or ...
- 161
18
votes
1
answer
3k
views
Does Fridge Friend extend the life of produce in your fridge?
Fridge Friend is a vented box of chemicals that, when placed in the fridge, is supposed to filter the moisture in the air, removing ethylene gas, bacteria, impurities and "excess moisture".
...
- 146k
-4
votes
1
answer
257
views
Was the Ark of the Covenant taken to Ethiopia?
Some sources claim that the Ark of the Covenant was taken to Ethiopia (see Kebra Nagast a 14th century national epic from Ethiopia).
Britannica states:
One of the most well-known theories about the ...
- 949
2
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Did Azhar Masood, the head of Jaish-e-Mohammed, say that Operation Sindoor killed ten members of his family?
Various Indian media carries this quote:
Masood said, “Ten members of my family including five children, my elder sister and her husband, my Islamic scholar nephew, his wife and my niece in addition ...
0
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Was there a gender reveal party by IDF soldiers in Gaza that involved demolition?
It seems both Mondoweiss, and Al Jazeera are reporting about a gender reveal party in Gaza by IDF soldiers,
From Al Jazeera,
‘It’s a boy!’ Israeli soldiers have filmed themselves blowing up a ...
- 31.8k
7
votes
1
answer
921
views
Did two million people attend the Lady Gaga concert in Rio?
Reports abound of two million people in Brazil gathering for a Lady Gaga concert on May the third this year.
A crowd of more than two million people gathered for the concert, which was free to attend....
- 2,107
-9
votes
1
answer
318
views
Were 10 members of the left-wing activist community murdered by people of color in 2023?
In Dec 2023, X user, National Conservative (@NatCon2022), posted
Were all these activists killed? Are people of color suspected of committing the crime?
- 99
5
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1
answer
753
views
Do Chinese AI companies like DeepSeek require 2-4x more power than US firms to achieve similar results to U.S. companies?
https://www.anthropic.com/news/securing-america-s-compute-advantage-anthropic-s-position-on-the-diffusion-rule:
DeepSeek Shows Controls Work: Chinese AI companies like DeepSeek openly acknowledge ...
- 8,038
11
votes
2
answers
686
views
Does morning exercise offset one to two hours of sleep deprivation?
On LinkedIn, the well-known associate professor of neurobiology, Andrew Huberman, posted the following claim:
The primary mechanism by which morning exercise offsets partial (one to two hours) sleep ...
- 989
23
votes
2
answers
6k
views
Are first-person view (FPV) drones responsible for 75% of casualties on Russian side in Russia-Ukraine war?
Youtuber Civ Div states on video
A year after it was learned that they [first-person view (FPV) drones] are the most effective weapon on the battlefield. The stats are insane. There was a Russian ...
- 10.9k