Skeptics Stack Exchange
Skeptics Stack Exchange

Most Popular

more tags
1500 questions
537
votes
3 answers

Does torture work well as an interrogation technique?

Wikipedia's Effectiveness of torture for interrogation says, Torture has been used throughout history for the purpose of obtaining information in interrogation. Some arguments say that it is an effective way of making someone divulge vital…
David Thornley
  • 7,906
  • 3
  • 23
  • 24
479
votes
2 answers

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 and in the middle, a ladder with bananas on the top. Every…
Tamara Wijsman
  • 5,126
  • 3
  • 16
  • 14
328
votes
7 answers

Did Jesus live?

Regardless of whether you believe or not... What is the non-Biblical evidence regarding his existence around the time he is commonly thought to have lived? That is, are there other historically accurate documents from the time period which…
Monkey Tuesday
  • 24,456
  • 19
  • 109
  • 136
264
votes
2 answers

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 programmers have either two 20" screens or a single 24"…
Sklivvz
  • 78,578
  • 29
  • 321
  • 428
257
votes
1 answer

Has Stack Overflow saved billions of dollars in programmer productivity?

John Carmack is a renowned developer and CTO. His Twitter account has over 100,000 followers. On the occasion of Stack Exchange's 5th anniversary, he quipped on Twitter: [... Stack Overflow] has probably added billions of dollars of value to the…
Sklivvz
  • 78,578
  • 29
  • 321
  • 428
236
votes
4 answers

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?
luvieere
  • 4,277
  • 3
  • 27
  • 35
230
votes
2 answers

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 ?
Rabskatran
  • 4,443
  • 6
  • 21
  • 22
212
votes
9 answers

When did people first know the Earth was a sphere?

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 sphere while most other people thought he must fail…
Mad Scientist
  • 43,643
  • 20
  • 173
  • 192
210
votes
1 answer

Is this news article from 1912, essentially explaining climate change, real?

I found this image on reddit, and I'm wondering if this is real? Was this actually published over 100 years ago? Transcription: Science Notes And News COAL CONSUMPTION AFFECTING CLIMATE The furnaces of the world are now burning about 2,000,000,000…
user50849
  • 1,874
  • 3
  • 15
  • 11
209
votes
1 answer

Are these claims about Japan’s health system true?

The series of claims in the image below has been getting shared around Facebook and are posted from the "Illuminati Exposed" page. The claims are in the image but I've listed them here 100% of Japanese people have health coverage, regardless of…
user1605665
  • 6,751
  • 6
  • 27
  • 48
209
votes
1 answer

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?
Peter Olson
  • 3,603
  • 2
  • 22
  • 23
199
votes
2 answers

Does the President of the United States have the ability to deploy nuclear weapons at will?

I heard this claim back during the Bush years, and recently I've been hearing it again. For example: Donald Trump’s Ghostwriter Tells All - The New Yorker I genuinely believe that if Trump wins and gets the nuclear codes there is an excellent…
Ten Bitcomb
  • 2,180
  • 3
  • 14
  • 16
195
votes
1 answer

Did the Twitter account Fifndhs predict the exact World Cup results ahead of time?

There was a feeling of exhilaration and excitement on Twitter, with the Twitter account @FifNdhs called “FIFA Corruption” seemingly having predicted the final result of the World Cup final hours ahead of time. The amazing German footballer Mario…
George Chalhoub
  • 30,246
  • 14
  • 129
  • 136
192
votes
4 answers

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 appears to have fallen from the nest you should not pick…
Monkey Tuesday
  • 24,456
  • 19
  • 109
  • 136
186
votes
1 answer

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?
Monkey Tuesday
  • 24,456
  • 19
  • 109
  • 136
1
2 3
…
99 100