Skeptics Stack Exchange
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1500 questions
140
votes
4 answers

Is the USA murder rate at a high? Specifically is it at a 45 year high?

Current US President Donald Trump is on record as repeatedly saying that "The murder rate is the highest it's been in I guess 45-47 years." Is that true?
ReasonablySkeptical
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Is one not able to 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 used to spur him to work harder with that exact…
Thecafremo
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Is the Amazon rainforest the "world's lungs"?

The 72 million Google results for "Amazon world lungs" (unquoted) is evidence enough that there's a common perception that the Amazon rainforest is the "world's lungs". God knows I grew up believing that. At one point I read that this was incorrect,…
Wasabi
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Is the Ballmer Peak real?

There is a myth saying that having a BAC in the 0.129% - 0.138% range can improve your cognitive abilities. This effect is called the Ballmer Peak (a reference to Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft) and is pictured nicely in this xkcd. Is there any…
Alexandru
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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 combination of those. Is it actually true?
smzs
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Do the Finnish have a word for getting drunk alone in your underwear?

Urban dictionary (and many other articles on the internet) claim that the Finnish word "kalsarikännit" means: to drink by yourself at your house in your underwear with no intention of going out I couldn't find any Finnish source supporting this…
Common Guy
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Was Opportunity's last message to Earth "My battery is low and it's getting dark"?

On February 13 2019, NASA announced that Opportunity - a Mars rover launched in 2003 with an intended longevity of three months - was likely to be dead. In the wake of this event, and the outpouring of emotion it triggered, I've seen the following…
Prometheus
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Have mathematicians concluded that an Indian mathematical physicist has solved the Riemann Hypothesis?

The Riemann Hypothesis is a mathematical hypothesis that describes the distribution of prime numbers. It is one of the seven Millennium Problems put forth by the Clay Mathematics Institute, notorious for its difficulty and has a $1,000,000 prize for…
justauser
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Do consumer computers include components that can connect to the internet when the computer is apparently turned off?

I have seen many claims that devices such as laptop computers contain components that can "connect to the internet" even when the main device is powered off. The implication is that such devices could be backdoored by the NSA or others in order to…
Caesar
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Did US flags on the moon turn white?

This image is circulating on Facebook. All American flags placed on the moon are now white due to radiation from the sun Great, now it looks like the French went there... Did the US flags on the moon turn white?
Greg Mike
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Was ISIS created by the USA?

I hear many folks talking about the founders of ISIS and they say that USA created it to make chaos in the Arabic countries. Mark Danner in an episode of Talking Heads by Vice News "In effect the United States created ISIS, nothing like it…
MedK
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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 ever actually seen one? Are there any pictures of…
nima
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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 his sentiment about politicians... it got me…
Thomas O
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Did Germany produce so much renewable electricity on May 8th 2016 that their power prices went negative?

This picture has been floating around the internet On May 8th, 2016, Germany's solar, wind, hydro and biomass plants generated so much energy, power prices actually went negative. Is this true? I was under the impression that while renewable…
David says Reinstate Monica
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Did the Nazis kill Jews with gas chambers?

I just heard Holocaust denier and former academic, Robert Faurisson, explaining a few things about gas chambers. What he claims : The dilapidated chambers, thought to be gas chambers in the Nazi death camps are not secure enough to send Zyklon B in…
Spoutnik16
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