Skeptics Stack Exchange
Skeptics Stack Exchange

Most Popular

more tags
1500 questions
64
votes
2 answers

Are Democrats more likely to believe Astrology is a science?

In an answer on politics.SE, a Northwestern University study was highlighted, whose main findings included: more Democrats than Republicans think astrology is scientific Using Fisher’s Exact Test, conservative Republicans are significantly more…
the gods from engineering
  • 61,574
  • 22
  • 195
  • 325
64
votes
1 answer

Did WWII Japanese soldiers engage in cannibalism of their enemies?

This Cracked article claims that Japanese soldiers in WWII would eat prisoners of war. The article claims that there were a number of documented cases of Japanese soldiers engaging in cannibalism: The document helped Tanaka uncover over 100…
dsollen
  • 9,820
  • 12
  • 44
  • 71
64
votes
3 answers

Is this popular optical illusion made of a grey-scale image with coloured lines?

A tweet from Lionel Page (@page_eco) showing an optical illusion recently went viral, with the image appearing in many aggregation web-sites: This is a black and white photograph. Only the lines have colour. What you “see” is what your predicts…
Oddthinking
  • 142,615
  • 46
  • 558
  • 646
64
votes
0 answers

Does one transaction on Bitcoin require 215 kWh?

This seems unbelievable: This averages out to a shocking 215 kilowatt-hours (KWh) [sic] of juice used by miners for each Bitcoin transaction (there are currently about 300,000 transactions per day). Source: One Bitcoin Transaction Now Uses as…
Dan Gravell
  • 531
  • 4
  • 8
64
votes
4 answers

Do airlines in North America make around $10 profit per customer?

A quick google search returns several articles such as this one claiming that airlines make less than $10 in profit from each customer. I feel there are a few reasons to doubt this premise: You can connect through some destinations more cheaply than…
Kevin Laity
  • 819
  • 1
  • 7
  • 9
64
votes
3 answers

Did Henry Ford say "If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses"?

Did Henry Ford say If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.
bessarabov
  • 751
  • 1
  • 5
  • 7
64
votes
4 answers

How accurate are these nine charts of the economy under the Obama Administration?

I've seen the image below around and would like to know the accuracy of the charts. The original image I was sent was fairly low quality and a reverse image search lead to a bunch of right-leaning articles, but I would prefer a less biased…
David Starkey
  • 869
  • 1
  • 9
  • 12
64
votes
1 answer

Did Donald Trump say republicans are the dumbest voters in the country?

I saw this image going around Twitter lately: If I were to run, I'd run as a republican. They're the dumbest group of voters in the country. They love anything on FOX News. I could lie and they'd still eat it up. I bet my numbers would be…
Seth
  • 833
  • 1
  • 6
  • 8
64
votes
2 answers

Are there any laws preventing the copying of keys containing a DO NOT DUPLICATE stamp?

While I worked at Walmart during college in the states, we would copy keys for customers, unless the key looked like this. We were told that it was illegal to copy such keys, however, customers would regularly tell us it was in fact legal. Are…
Himarm
  • 4,337
  • 5
  • 24
  • 44
64
votes
2 answers

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 deoxygenated blood in the veins is claimed to be…
JD Isaacks
  • 743
  • 1
  • 5
  • 9
64
votes
4 answers

Did planes crash into the WTC on 9-11?

I was looking through the questions tagged 9-11 and noticed the no-planes theory isn't on here. So: Were there planes that crashed into the WTC? Some examples of notable claims asserting otherwise are here , here, and here. Another article…
ike
  • 4,960
  • 1
  • 21
  • 53
64
votes
3 answers

Are women physically weaker?

I've always thought that "women are weaker1 than men in general" was a biological fact (supposedly stemming/evolving from the social structure of prehistoric humans) Is there any reputable research done which demonstrates (or disproves) that the…
Manishearth
  • 757
  • 1
  • 6
  • 16
63
votes
2 answers

Are old glass panes thicker on the bottom due to "flow"?

I ran into this common belief today, and was surprised that it has not been addressed here before. I think this belief is common enough that most anyone has heard it. Especially if they are touring a medieval villa in Europe, or other ancient…
Larian LeQuella
  • 45,007
  • 18
  • 188
  • 208
63
votes
2 answers

Is the COVID-19 vaccine 50 times more likely to kill young people than COVID-19 itself?

Michael Yeadon, a former vice president at Pfizer and lately known as, e.g., making unsubstantiated claims about COVID vaccinations, has made the claim in question in a video interview (archived version available here). Specifically, in the…
Kiro
  • 733
  • 1
  • 4
  • 10
63
votes
2 answers

Does swatting/killing a bee cause the hive to attack?

I used to hear this all the time when I was growing up. Just ignore bees, don't swat at or try to kill them, because if they die, they'll send a "signal" to the hive that will attract dozens more. After forgetting about it for many years, I…
Aaronaught
  • 740
  • 1
  • 5
  • 9
1 2 3
…
99 100