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- 15-minute cities are a control mechanismThe 15-minute city is an urban planning concept aimed at making daily necessities reachable within a short walk or bike ride, and claims that it is a covert mechanism to restrict residents' movement or confine them to neighborhoods are not supported by any city's actual planning documents.
- 2020 US election fraudClaims that the 2020 U.S. presidential election was stolen through widespread fraud have been rejected by more than 60 courts, election officials of both parties, the U.S. Department of Justice, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and independent audits including one commissioned by Republicans in Arizona.
- 5G and human healthNo adverse health effects have been causally linked to 5G radiofrequency exposure at levels within international safety guidelines. Extreme claims, such as that 5G causes cancer or spreads disease, are without scientific basis, though some researchers call for continued monitoring of long-term non-thermal effects.
- 5G is always faster than 4G5G encompasses three distinct frequency bands with radically different performance characteristics. High-band mmWave 5G achieves multi-gigabit speeds but has very limited coverage, while low-band 5G may offer only marginally better speeds than 4G LTE, and can even underperform a strong 4G connection indoors.
- 9/11 was an inside jobClaims that the U.S. government orchestrated or knowingly allowed the September 11, 2001 attacks are contradicted by the 9/11 Commission's extensive investigation and by independent structural engineering analyses of the building collapses. No physical, testimonial, or documentary evidence from any investigation supports controlled demolition or government orchestration.
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- A Beef-Only Diet Cures Autoimmune and Psychiatric ConditionsMikhaila Peterson claims that a diet consisting exclusively of beef, salt, and water cured her juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, severe depression, and a range of other conditions. These claims are anecdotal and unsupported by clinical trials. Doctors warn of serious nutritional deficiencies.
- A Comet Impact 12,900 Years Ago Destroyed an Advanced CivilisationRandall Carlson, a geologist and frequent collaborator of Graham Hancock, combines the legitimate Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis with the unsubstantiated claim of a destroyed advanced civilisation. The comet hypothesis is the subject of serious scientific debate; the extension of that hypothesis to a lost civilisation has no archaeological support whatsoever.
- A flat tax is obviously fairerWhether a flat tax is fairer than a progressive tax is a value judgment, not a factual question with a single correct answer. Economic modeling shows flat taxes tend to reduce the relative tax burden on high earners and increase it on lower and middle earners compared with progressive systems, but fairness itself depends on which principle of equity one prioritizes.
- A gluten-free diet is healthier for everyoneFor people without celiac disease or a diagnosed gluten sensitivity, research finds no general health benefit to eliminating gluten, and unnecessarily restrictive gluten-free diets can reduce intake of beneficial whole grain fiber and certain nutrients while typically costing significantly more than standard foods.
- A penny dropped from a skyscraper can killA penny dropped from a tall skyscraper cannot kill a person on the ground below. Its light weight and flat, irregular shape mean air resistance brings it to a low terminal velocity within roughly the first 15 meters of its fall, and at that speed it would cause at most a minor sting rather than any dangerous injury.
- A secret New World Order plans global takeoverThe New World Order conspiracy theory has no evidentiary basis. Research by the Middlebury Institute traces its origins to 19th century anti-Semitic propaganda and its modern form to 1990s anti-globalization literature. The phrase was used by George H.W. Bush in a 1990 speech to describe post-Cold War multilateral cooperation, not a secretive cabal.
- A VPN makes you completely anonymousVPNs encrypt internet traffic between a device and the VPN provider's server and mask the user's IP address from websites visited, but they do not make a user fully anonymous online, since the VPN provider itself can typically see the user's real traffic, and login-based tracking and browser fingerprinting still function normally.
- Aaron Rodgers Was 'Immunised' Against COVID Without a VaccineAaron Rodgers told the NFL and the media he was 'immunised', implying he was vaccinated, and then tested positive for COVID one week into the season. It emerged that he had been following an alternative protocol developed in consultation with Robert Malone. No alternative immunisation protocol is clinically equivalent to a vaccine.
- Absolute Pitch Can Always Be DevelopedThe claim that anyone can develop absolute pitch at any age is false. Research points to a critical period that likely closes around age 6, after which acquisition becomes far harder, though studies from 2019 to 2025 show a small number of adults can achieve genuine absolute pitch through intensive training.
- Adrenochrome harvesting from childrenAdrenochrome is a real chemical compound produced by the oxidation of adrenaline, but the claim that elites harvest it from terrified children as a drug or life-extension substance has no basis in chemistry, medicine, or any documented criminal case.
- AI voice cloning scamsAI-powered voice cloning is a real and rapidly growing fraud vector. Scammers use readily available tools to clone voices from short audio clips and impersonate family members or executives, causing significant financial losses documented by the FBI, FTC, and academic research.
- AI will replace all human jobs imminentlyEconomic research on AI's labor market impact finds substantial task-level automation potential concentrated in certain occupations, but most studies project transformation and augmentation of existing jobs alongside creation of new roles, rather than the wholesale elimination of employment across the economy, a pattern consistent with previous major technological transitions.
- AI-generated images spreading as real photosAI-generated images being mistaken for or deliberately passed off as authentic photographs have become a documented and growing source of viral misinformation, particularly around breaking news, natural disasters, and political events.
- Alkaline water cures disease and balances body pHAlkaline water, marketed as a cure or preventive treatment for cancer and other diseases by raising the body's pH, has no clinical evidence supporting these claims, and human physiology already tightly regulates blood pH regardless of what is consumed.
- Antarctica is gaining ice, so warming is fakeSatellite gravity and altimetry measurements show Antarctica has been losing land ice mass overall since the early 2000s, with West Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula losing ice rapidly even though East Antarctica's interior has shown modest and regionally variable gains that do not offset the continent-wide net loss.
- Antibiotics can treat viral infectionsAntibiotics are designed to target structures and processes specific to bacteria and have no effect on viruses, which replicate using entirely different mechanisms; taking antibiotics for viral infections such as colds or flu provides no benefit and contributes to antibiotic resistance.
- Antifascism Is The New FascismThe claim that antifascism is itself a form of fascism is a rhetorical reversal with no basis in political science or history. Fascism and antifascism are ideologically opposed by definition. The claim exploits surface-level similarities in confrontational tactics to erase a fundamental difference in goals, structure and ideology.
- Apple cider vinegar cures many illnessesApple cider vinegar has some limited, modest evidence for minor effects on blood sugar and appetite, but claims that it cures cancer, controls blood pressure, or works as a general health tonic are not supported by science. A widely cited 2024 weight-loss study on the topic was later retracted.
- Area 51 holds captured aliensDeclassified CIA documents from 2013 confirm Area 51 is a classified flight test facility used for the U-2 and A-12 Oxcart spy planes. UFO sightings in the region were explained by secret aircraft operating at altitudes above 60,000 feet. No declassified document references alien technology.
- Aspartame causes cancerIn 2023, IARC classified aspartame as "possibly carcinogenic to humans" (Group 2B) based on limited evidence, while WHO's JECFA committee simultaneously reaffirmed the existing acceptable daily intake, concluding no need for consumers to change consumption at typical levels.
- AstrologyAstrology claims that the positions of celestial bodies influence human personality and events, but controlled scientific tests have repeatedly found no effect beyond chance.
- Astronauts could not survive the Van Allen beltsRadiation exposure during the Apollo missions was measured by dosimeters worn by astronauts and fell within survivable, medically documented limits because the missions were timed to avoid major solar events and passed through the Van Allen belts quickly along a trajectory that minimized exposure, contrary to claims that radiation alone would have proven fatal.
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- Baking soda cures cancerThe claim that ingesting sodium bicarbonate can cure cancer by "alkalizing" the body has no support in clinical evidence. Human blood pH is tightly regulated within a narrow range regardless of diet, and no trial has shown baking soda cures or shrinks tumors in humans.
- Bats are blindAll bat species have functional eyes and the ability to see. Many insect-eating bats use echolocation to navigate and hunt in darkness, but this ability supplements vision rather than replacing it entirely. Fruit bats, in particular, have large, well-developed eyes and rely primarily on vision rather than echolocation.
- Biden was executed in 2020 and replaced by a robot cloneIn June 2025 Trump reshared a Truth Social post claiming Joe Biden was executed in 2020 and replaced by a robotic clone. The claim is baseless and physically impossible.
- Bill Gates depopulation claimClaims that Bill Gates plans to reduce the world's population through forced vaccination are false. They originate from a misquotation of his 2010 TED Talk, in which Gates argued that improving health and vaccination reduces child mortality, which leads to lower birth rates in developing countries, not to population reduction through harm.
- Bitcoin is completely untraceableBitcoin transactions are not untraceable; they are recorded permanently and publicly on a blockchain ledger visible to anyone. Law enforcement agencies have repeatedly traced and seized bitcoin used in criminal activity using blockchain analysis tools, and true anonymity requires additional techniques bitcoin's base protocol does not provide by default.
- Blockchain is completely unhackableBlockchain technology's core cryptographic ledger structure is highly resistant to certain kinds of tampering, but 'unhackable' overstates its real-world security. Numerous documented hacks and thefts totaling billions of dollars have occurred through smart contract bugs, exchange vulnerabilities, and consensus-level attacks on smaller networks, none of which the base blockchain design prevents.
- Bluetooth radiation is dangerous to healthBluetooth devices emit non-ionizing radiofrequency radiation at power levels far below international safety limits, and the large body of research on radiofrequency exposure has not established that Bluetooth use causes cancer or other significant health harm.
- Bottled water is purer than tapBottled water is not inherently purer or safer than tap water. In the United States, bottled water is regulated by the FDA while tap water is regulated by the EPA under generally more stringent testing and public reporting requirements, and multiple studies have found contaminants, including microplastics and, in some tested cases, bacteria, in bottled water products.
- Brain cells never regenerateThe old dogma holding that the adult brain cannot generate new neurons has been substantially revised. Neurogenesis, the formation of new neurons, does occur in specific brain regions, particularly the hippocampus, throughout adulthood, though the exact rate and functional significance in humans remain actively debated. Most other brain regions retain only extremely limited regenerative capacity.
- Breakfast is the most important meal of the dayThe claim that breakfast is uniquely essential for health and weight management is not well supported by rigorous controlled trials, which generally find no significant metabolic advantage to eating breakfast specifically, though breakfast can be a practical and beneficial meal for some individuals depending on personal schedule and health status.
- Brown sugar is much healthier than whiteBrown sugar and white sugar are nutritionally almost identical, since brown sugar is simply white sugar with a small amount of molasses added back. The trace minerals it contains are far too small in quantity to provide any meaningful health benefit, and both sugars affect blood glucose in the same way.
- Bulls are angered by the color redBulls do not respond specifically to the color red. Cattle have dichromatic vision and cannot perceive red as a distinct color from certain other colors. What actually provokes a bull's charge is movement, not the color of the object being waved, and the red cape used in bullfighting serves a purpose for human spectators, not the animal.
- Buying an NFT means you own the artwork copyrightOwning an NFT (non-fungible token) typically grants ownership of a blockchain record pointing to a digital file, not automatic copyright or exclusive control over the underlying artwork or content itself. In most standard NFT marketplace transactions, the creator retains copyright unless it is explicitly and separately transferred, a distinction widely misunderstood by buyers.
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- Carrots dramatically improve night visionCarrots support general eye health because of their vitamin A content, but eating them does not give people enhanced night vision beyond correcting an existing deficiency. The popularized version of this claim traces partly to British World War II propaganda that exaggerated pilots' carrot consumption to obscure radar technology.
- Celery has negative caloriesThe claim that celery and similar low-calorie vegetables burn more calories to digest than they contain, resulting in a net negative caloric effect, is not supported by metabolic research, though celery is genuinely very low in calories and can be a reasonable part of a weight management diet for other reasons.
- Cell phones cause brain cancerMost large epidemiological studies and national cancer registry data show no consistent increase in brain tumor rates corresponding to the rise in mobile phone use. IARC classifies RF radiation as "possibly carcinogenic" (Group 2B) based on limited evidence, prompting continued research and precautionary guidance.
- Certain foods significantly boost your metabolismFoods commonly marketed as metabolism boosters, including chili peppers, green tea, and coffee, produce only small, short-lived increases in calorie burning that are far too modest to meaningfully affect weight, contradicting marketing claims that specific foods can significantly accelerate metabolism.
- Charging overnight ruins your batteryModern lithium-ion batteries in phones and laptops include charge controller circuitry that stops delivering current once full and prevents dangerous overcharging, though research shows sustained time spent at 100 percent charge and elevated heat can contribute modestly to faster long-term capacity degradation compared to charging in a more moderate range.
- ChemtrailsThe persistent white trails left by aircraft at high altitude are condensation trails (contrails) made of ice crystals formed when hot exhaust meets cold, humid air. There is no scientific evidence of any covert large-scale atmospheric spraying program.
- Chemtrails are for population controlThe claim that aircraft condensation trails, or 'chemtrails,' are a covert government or corporate program to poison or control the population has no scientific support. Atmospheric scientists have studied contrails extensively and attribute them to well understood physics: water vapor condensing and freezing around aircraft engine exhaust particles at high altitude.
- China invented the concept of global warmingTrump has claimed that China created the concept of global warming to hurt US industry. This is false. Human-caused climate change is established by more than a century of independent international science.
- Chocolate causes acneThe relationship between chocolate and acne has been debated for over half a century. An influential 1969 study found no link and was long treated as definitive, but more recent, better-designed trials have found that chocolate consumption may increase acne lesions in some people, possibly through glycemic or inflammatory mechanisms rather than a unique property of chocolate itself.
- Christopher Langan is the smartest man in the worldChristopher Langan is often called the world's smartest man with an IQ near 200. This is mixed to false. His figure comes from an unstandardized mail-in test he retook under a pseudonym, no clinically validated test can certify an IQ that high, his CTMU is dismissed as pseudoscience, and critics such as Professor Dave call him a self-promoting grifter rather than a genius.
- Claims that prices can fall by more than 100%Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that drug prices could fall by 400% to 1500%. Those claims are mathematically impossible because the largest possible price reduction is 100%, which would reduce a price to zero.
- Climate Change Is Not Caused by Human ActivityCandace Owens consistently questions or denies the causal role of human activity in climate change. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concludes with greater than 95% confidence that human activity is the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-twentieth century.
- Climate has always changed, so humans aren't the causePast climate variability is well-documented and driven by orbital cycles, volcanic activity, and solar output. None of these natural drivers can explain the rapid warming observed since 1950; human CO2 emissions are the primary identified cause.
- Closing background apps saves batteryiOS and Android use app suspension and intelligent background management to minimize battery drain. Manually force-closing apps and reopening them consumes more CPU and RAM than leaving them in their suspended state.
- CO2 is not a greenhouse gasCO2's properties as a greenhouse gas, absorbing and re-emitting infrared radiation, were established experimentally by physicist John Tyndall in 1859 and have been confirmed by countless laboratory measurements and satellite observations since. This is foundational physics with no credible scientific dispute.
- Coffee stunts your growthNo scientific evidence supports the claim that coffee or caffeine stunts height growth in children or adolescents. The myth likely originated from early, overstated concerns about caffeine reducing calcium absorption, an effect that later research found to be minor and easily offset by normal dietary calcium intake.
- Cold weather itself makes you catch a coldColds are caused by viral infection, not by cold temperature exposure itself, though cold weather is associated with behavioral and biological factors that genuinely increase transmission, which explains the seasonal pattern without cold air itself being the direct cause.
- Collagen supplements firm your skinSome randomized controlled trials report modest improvements in skin elasticity, hydration, and wrinkle depth with hydrolyzed collagen supplements, but a 2025 meta-analysis found that when industry-funded studies are excluded and only high-quality independent trials are analyzed, the measured benefits disappear, leaving the overall evidence inconclusive.
- Colon cleanses remove toxic buildup from the intestinesColon cleansing products and procedures, marketed to remove accumulated toxic waste from the intestines, are based on an inaccurate model of digestive anatomy, and gastroenterologists find no evidence that healthy colons accumulate the toxic buildup these products claim to remove.
- Complex symbol passwords are always strongestModern security guidance from NIST has shifted away from requiring complex mixes of symbols, numbers, and mixed case toward emphasizing overall password length and uniqueness, since long random passphrases are often both more secure against modern cracking methods and easier for people to actually use.
- Coriolis effect determines which way drains swirlThe Coriolis effect genuinely influences large-scale atmospheric and oceanic rotation, including the rotation direction of hurricanes, but it is far too weak to determine which direction water drains in an ordinary sink, bathtub, or toilet. Residual motion from filling the basin and small asymmetries in its shape and drain overwhelm the Coriolis force at that small scale.
- Covering your webcam is pointlessCovering a laptop webcam is a low-cost precaution against a documented and real category of malware called remote access trojans that can activate a camera without the indicator light turning on in some cases, a practice endorsed publicly by figures including former FBI Director James Comey rather than being an irrational fear.
- COVID Vaccines Cause More Harm Than GoodCardiologist Peter McCullough claims mRNA COVID-19 vaccines cause widespread harm and should be withdrawn from use. Independent fact-checkers and the studies he cites both show he systematically misrepresents the underlying research, while population-level data from dozens of countries show vaccination reduced hospitalization and death.
- COVID-19 Is a Bioweapon Designed to Spare Jewish and Chinese PeopleRFK Jr. publicly claimed in 2023 that COVID-19 was an 'ethnically targeted' bioweapon that disproportionately affects White and Black people, while Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people have genetic protection. Epidemiologists described the claim as biologically impossible. RFK Jr. denies it, but fact-checkers confirmed the original statement.
- Cracking your knuckles causes arthritisThe common belief that habitually cracking knuckles causes arthritis has been tested in multiple studies, including a decades-long self-experiment by a physician, and none have found a meaningful association between knuckle cracking and arthritis development.
- Crypto investment scamsCryptocurrency investment fraud is one of the largest and fastest-growing categories of financial crime globally. The FBI's IC3 documented $9.3 billion in crypto-related fraud losses in 2024 alone, a 66% increase from the prior year, confirming this as a major and well-evidenced public threat.
- Cryptocurrency has no environmental impactCryptocurrency is not environmentally impact-free. Bitcoin mining specifically consumes an amount of electricity comparable to some mid-sized countries due to its proof-of-work consensus mechanism, though environmental impact varies enormously across different cryptocurrencies, with some using far less energy-intensive designs.
- Current AI is conscious / sentientCurrent large language models and AI systems generate fluent, sometimes convincingly human-like text by predicting statistically likely word sequences learned from training data, and there is no scientific consensus or empirical evidence that these systems possess subjective experience, self-awareness, or sentience in any sense comparable to conscious biological minds.
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- Daddy longlegs are the most venomous spidersThe claim that daddy longlegs are the most venomous spiders but cannot bite through human skin is false on both counts. The name refers to at least three different creatures, only one of which is a true spider, and neither harvestmen nor cellar spiders pose any medically significant venom risk to humans.
- Deepfakes are impossible to detectThe claim that deepfakes are completely impossible to detect is an overstatement: automated detection tools exist and continue to improve, but the gap between deepfake generation and detection remains significant, and humans alone are poorly equipped to identify modern deepfakes reliably.
- Deepfakes only affect videoDeepfake technology, using AI to generate or manipulate synthetic media, extends well beyond video to include highly convincing audio voice cloning and increasingly realistic still images, and documented fraud and disinformation cases have used all three formats, not video alone.
- Deleting a file removes it permanentlyDeleting a file normally only removes its reference from the file system's index while the underlying data remains on the storage medium and recoverable with common forensic software, and true data destruction requires overwriting, cryptographic erasure, or physical destruction rather than the standard delete or recycle bin emptying process.
- Denver Airport hides an elite bunkerDenver International Airport's unusual murals, underground tunnels used for standard baggage handling infrastructure, and public artwork have fueled decades of conspiracy theories about secret bunkers or New World Order symbolism, but the airport's own construction records, public tours, and independent journalism account for these features as ordinary architectural and artistic choices.
- Deodorant and antiperspirant cause breast cancerMajor cancer research organizations, including the American Cancer Society and National Cancer Institute, find no consistent scientific evidence that antiperspirants or deodorants, including those containing aluminum compounds, increase breast cancer risk.
- Deoxygenated blood is blueHuman blood is always red, never blue, regardless of its oxygen level. Deoxygenated blood in veins is a darker red or maroon color, not blue. Veins appear bluish or greenish through the skin because of how different wavelengths of light penetrate and reflect off subcutaneous tissue, not because the blood inside them is actually blue.
- Detox diets remove toxins from the bodyCommercial detox diets claiming to flush toxins from the body through juice cleanses, restrictive fasting, or special supplements have no clinical evidence supporting their claimed mechanism, since the liver and kidneys already continuously perform this function in healthy people.
- Detox foot pads remove toxins through the feetAdhesive detox foot pads, marketed to draw toxins out of the body overnight through the soles of the feet, have no clinical evidence supporting their claimed mechanism, and the dark residue they produce after use has been shown in testing to result from the pads' own ingredients reacting with moisture and heat, not from extracted toxins.
- Detox juice cleanses remove toxinsNo scientific evidence supports the claim that juice cleanses remove toxins from the body. The liver and kidneys already perform this function continuously and effectively in healthy people. Juice cleanses can cause nutrient deficiencies, blood sugar spikes, and in some cases kidney harm.
- Diamonds form from coalNearly all natural diamonds formed long before coal existed on Earth, in most cases more than a billion years earlier. Diamonds crystallize from inorganic carbon deep in Earth's mantle at depths of roughly 150 to 200 kilometers, under conditions entirely different from the compressed plant material near the surface that eventually becomes coal.
- Did Niemann Cheat Against Carlsen at the Sinquefield Cup?Magnus Carlsen accused Hans Niemann of cheating after losing to him at the 2022 Sinquefield Cup. Both Chess.com and FIDE subsequently found no evidence that Niemann cheated in that game or any other over-the-board tournament.
- Different tongue areas taste different flavorsThe classic tongue map showing sweet at the tip, bitter at the back, and salty and sour on the sides was based on a misinterpretation of a 19th-century German study. All five basic tastes can actually be detected across most areas of the tongue that contain taste buds.
- Dogs see only in black and whiteDogs are not colorblind in the sense of seeing only black, white, and shades of gray. They have dichromatic color vision, meaning they perceive blues and yellows, and see the world in a color range roughly comparable to a human with red-green color blindness rather than in true grayscale.
- Dominion voting machines changed votes in the 2020 electionTrump has long claimed that Dominion Voting Systems machines deleted or switched his votes in the 2020 election. Courts, the FBI, CISA and the DOJ all rejected these claims as baseless.
- Donald Trump Has A Very High IQThe claim that Donald Trump has a very high IQ is common in political debates, but there is no verified public IQ test result to support it. His own professor at Wharton reportedly called him the 'dumbest student' he ever had, classmates remembered him as unprepared and disengaged, and Trump himself confused a basic cognitive screening test with an IQ test.
- Double-dipping a chip into shared dip spreads significant amounts of bacteriaA controlled study measuring bacterial transfer from double-dipping found it does measurably increase the number of bacteria in shared dip compared to no double-dipping, though the studied increase was modest and the same research found dip consistency and acidity affect bacterial survival more than the double-dipping act itself.
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- E-numbers in food are toxicE-numbers are simply the standardized European coding system for approved food additives, and the coding itself carries no information about safety; each additive has undergone individual safety evaluation, and the presence of an E-number does not indicate a substance is toxic.
- Ear candling removes earwax and toxinsEar candling, which involves burning a hollow cone-shaped candle near the ear canal, does not remove earwax or toxins, and the residue left behind after the procedure has been shown to come from the candle itself; the practice also carries a documented risk of burns and injury.
- Eating fat makes you fatEating dietary fat does not directly and uniquely cause body fat gain; weight gain is driven by total calorie intake exceeding total calorie expenditure, regardless of whether those excess calories come from fat, carbohydrates, or protein. Dietary fat is more calorie-dense per gram than carbohydrate or protein, which is a real, relevant factor, but this is a different claim from fat itself having a special fat-storing mechanism.
- Eating gelatin strengthens nails and hairGelatin and collagen supplements are frequently marketed as boosting hair and nail growth, but clinical evidence supporting this specific claim is limited and largely comes from small, often industry-funded studies. Hair and nails are made primarily of keratin, a different protein than the collagen found in gelatin, and general protein adequacy, not gelatin specifically, is what nutrition science most reliably links to healthy hair and nail growth.
- Eating late at night causes weight gain regardless of total caloriesResearch on meal timing and weight gain finds that total daily calorie intake remains the primary driver of weight change, though some studies suggest late-night eating is associated with poorer food choices, disrupted metabolism, and reduced sleep quality that can indirectly contribute to weight gain over time.
- Eating sugar causes a rush of energy and hyperactivityBlood sugar does rise after eating sugary food, producing a real but modest and brief increase in available energy, but controlled studies have not found that sugar intake causes the dramatic hyperactivity or subsequent 'crash' commonly described as a sugar rush, particularly in children, an idea more strongly shaped by expectation than by direct causation.
- Egg yolks dangerously raise cholesterolThe relationship between dietary cholesterol from eggs and cardiovascular risk has been substantially revised in the past decade. Saturated fat, not dietary cholesterol itself, is now understood to be the primary dietary driver of LDL cholesterol, and most healthy adults can eat one to two eggs daily as part of a balanced diet, though individual responses vary.
- Einstein failed math in schoolAlbert Einstein did not fail mathematics in school. Historical records show he excelled at both mathematics and physics from an early age. The myth may have originated from a reversal of the Swiss grading scale used during part of his schooling, where the number '6' briefly went from representing the lowest possible score to the highest.
- Electric cars have zero emissionsElectric vehicles produce no tailpipe emissions while driving, but manufacturing their batteries and generating the electricity used to charge them both carry emissions, and most life cycle studies find EVs still produce substantially lower total lifetime greenhouse gas emissions than comparable gasoline vehicles.
- Electric cars pollute moreBattery electric vehicles (BEVs) have higher manufacturing emissions than comparable petrol cars, primarily due to battery production, but produce significantly lower lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions in almost all regions and grid mixes. The environmental advantage grows as electricity grids become cleaner.
- Evolution is 'just a theory'In science, 'theory' means a well-substantiated explanation supported by extensive evidence, not a guess. Evolution is supported by genetics, the fossil record, direct observation of speciation, and molecular biology, and is treated as fact-level science by every major scientific body.
- EVs will collapse the power gridStudies from grid operators and national laboratories project that widespread electric vehicle adoption can be accommodated with planned grid upgrades and managed or smart charging, and current EV charging demand remains a small share of total electricity load in most regions.
- Expensive HDMI cables give better pictureHDMI is a digital interface in which signal quality is binary: it works or it does not. Any cable that meets the required specification carries identical picture and sound information. Expensive cables do not transmit 'better' 1s and 0s.
- Expiration dates mean food is unsafe afterMost date labels on food packaging, including 'best by' and 'sell by' dates, indicate peak quality, not a firm safety cutoff, and are not federally standardized or required in the United States except for infant formula. Food can often remain safe to eat well past these dates, though this varies by food type and storage conditions, and does not apply universally.
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- Fake antivirus / scarewareFake antivirus software, sometimes called scareware, tricks users into installing malicious or useless programs by displaying alarming but fabricated warnings about nonexistent infections, then charges for a fake fix or installs actual malware, a scam that peaked in the late 2000s and continues in updated forms today.
- Fake charity donation scamsFraudulent charity appeals that impersonate real relief organizations or invent fictitious causes, especially following disasters and during crises, are a well-documented form of fraud tracked by regulators and consumer protection agencies, and are distinct from legitimate charitable giving.
- Fake delivery notification phishing scamsFraudulent text messages and emails impersonating postal services and courier companies, claiming a package delivery failed or requires a small fee, are a well-documented and widespread phishing technique used to steal payment details and personal information.
- Fake invoice / business email compromiseFake invoice scams send businesses or individuals fraudulent bills for goods or services never ordered, relying on routine payment processing to slip through without scrutiny, and business email compromise variants targeting companies have caused billions of dollars in reported losses.
- Fake job offer scamsJob offer scams use fake job postings or unsolicited recruiter messages to steal personal information, upfront fees, or trick victims into laundering stolen money, and reports to U.S. and UK fraud agencies have risen significantly alongside growth in remote work recruiting.
- Fake online giveawaysFake online giveaways, often using impersonated celebrity or brand accounts, are a well-documented and widespread internet scam. Regulatory agencies including the FTC have formally documented this fraud pattern and issued consumer guidance.
- Fake rental listing scamsRental scams involve fraudsters advertising properties they do not own or that do not exist as available, collecting deposits or application fees from multiple prospective tenants before disappearing, and the FTC and major rental platforms report this as a persistent and costly form of consumer fraud.
- Fake webshop discount scamsFraudulent online shops advertising unrealistically large discounts on brand-name goods, then taking payment without delivering genuine products, are a well-documented and widespread form of e-commerce fraud tracked by consumer protection agencies worldwide.
- Firehose of FalsehoodA propaganda strategy that spreads large volumes of fast, repetitive, and often contradictory information across many channels simultaneously to overwhelm and confuse audiences.
- Flat Earth theoryEarth's roughly spherical shape has been established since antiquity and is confirmed by satellite imagery, circumnavigation, gravity measurements, and direct observation of Earth's curvature and shadow during lunar eclipses.
- Fluoride is used for mind controlClaims that water fluoridation is a government mind-control program have no scientific or documentary support. Community water fluoridation was introduced to reduce tooth decay, and its safety and effectiveness at recommended levels are supported by decades of dental and public health research, though a genuine, separate scientific debate exists about neurodevelopmental effects at higher exposure levels.
- Food dropped on the floor is safe to eat if picked up within five secondsControlled laboratory testing finds that bacteria can transfer to food essentially immediately upon contact with a contaminated surface, meaning contact time within the range of a few seconds makes little meaningful difference to contamination risk, contradicting the popular five-second rule.
- Fresh produce is always better than frozenFrozen produce is nutritionally equivalent to, and in some cases superior to, fresh produce purchased from a supermarket, because it is typically frozen at peak ripeness within hours of harvest. Fresh produce, by contrast, often loses nutrients during the days or weeks it spends in transport, storage, and on store shelves.
- Full moon causes erratic human behaviorThe widespread belief that the full moon causes increased crime, hospital admissions, sleep disturbance, or psychiatric crises has been tested repeatedly in large statistical studies, which consistently find no meaningful correlation between lunar phase and these outcomes.
- Fully self-driving cars are already hereFully autonomous vehicles that can operate anywhere, in any condition, without human oversight are not yet commercially available at scale. Current deployed systems, including robotaxi services, generally operate within geofenced areas under specific conditions and regulatory classifications well short of full, unrestricted autonomy.
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- Gift card payment scamsGift card scams exploit the fact that gift card codes function like untraceable cash once shared, and scammers across many different fraud categories, from tech support scams to romance scams, commonly request payment specifically in gift cards because the transactions are difficult to reverse or trace.
- Glass is a slow-flowing liquidGlass is an amorphous solid, not a liquid. The frequently cited observation that old medieval windows are thicker at the bottom reflects manufacturing techniques of the era, not glass slowly flowing under gravity. Physical calculations confirm that room-temperature glass cannot flow on any meaningful timescale, including over centuries.
- Global warming paused / stoppedThe so-called global warming hiatus of the early 2000s to mid-2010s reflected a temporary slowdown in the rate of surface air temperature increase, driven largely by heat uptake in the deep ocean and natural variability, not a stop in warming, and updated temperature records show the slowdown was smaller than initially estimated.
- GMO food safetyMajor scientific and regulatory bodies worldwide, including WHO, EFSA, and the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, have concluded that currently approved genetically modified foods are as safe to eat as their conventional counterparts. More than 3,000 studies support this conclusion.
- GMOs cause new food allergiesEvery approved GMO crop undergoes rigorous allergenicity testing before entering the food supply. No novel allergies attributable to approved GMO foods have been documented. The rise in food allergy prevalence preceded GMO commercialization and occurs in countries with minimal GMO exposure.
- Goldfish have a three-second memoryGoldfish have memory spans measured in months, not seconds. Multiple controlled experiments have shown that goldfish can learn to navigate mazes, recognize handlers, respond to trained cues, and retain these learned behaviors for extended periods, directly contradicting the popular three-second memory myth.
- Goldfish only grow to the size of their tankGoldfish do not consciously regulate their body size to match the size of their tank. Small, cramped tank conditions cause stunted growth through biological stress, poor water quality, and restricted feeding, but when moved to larger environments with proper care, the fish generally resume more normal growth.
- Graham Hancock Discovered a Lost Ice Age CivilisationGraham Hancock claims that an advanced civilisation existed before the last Ice Age and was destroyed in a catastrophic comet impact. Professional archaeologists systematically reject his claims as pseudoarchaeology that ignores the full body of evidence, and the Society for American Archaeology demanded that Netflix classify Ancient Apocalypse as science fiction.
- Grass-fed beef is vastly healthierGrass-fed beef has a somewhat different, generally modestly more favorable fatty acid and antioxidant profile than grain-fed beef, but the differences are relatively small in absolute nutritional terms, and no strong clinical evidence shows grass-fed beef produces dramatically better health outcomes for consumers compared with conventional grain-fed beef.
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- HAARP controls the weatherHAARP (High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program) is a legitimate scientific facility in Alaska that studies the ionosphere using radio waves. Physicists and atmospheric scientists have consistently explained that HAARP cannot influence weather, as its radio waves do not interact with the troposphere where weather occurs.
- Hair and nails grow after deathHair and nails do not continue growing after death. The illusion of post-mortem growth is an optical effect caused by dehydration of the skin, which shrinks and retracts the surrounding soft tissue, making already-present hair and nails appear comparatively longer.
- Hair growth vitamins and supplements work for everyoneHair growth supplements, commonly containing biotin and other vitamins, can meaningfully help hair growth in people with an actual underlying nutrient deficiency, but there is limited evidence they provide any additional benefit for people who are already adequately nourished, despite broad marketing claims suggesting universal benefit.
- Higher screen refresh rate is always betterHigher display refresh rates provide real, measurable benefits for motion clarity and input responsiveness, particularly in fast-paced gaming, but the benefit diminishes and eventually becomes imperceptible or irrelevant beyond certain thresholds for many use cases, and other display factors, including resolution, color accuracy, and panel type, often matter more for typical viewing.
- Holocaust death tolls are exaggeratedClaims that deny or significantly minimize the number of Jews murdered in the Holocaust contradict overwhelming documentary, demographic, and physical evidence. Historians using independent methods, including Nazi administrative records, demographic census comparisons, and testimony, consistently arrive at a death toll of approximately six million Jewish victims.
- Homeopathy can treat cancerNo credible clinical evidence supports homeopathy as an effective cancer treatment. Homeopathic preparations are typically diluted to the point of containing no detectable active ingredient. Relying on homeopathy instead of conventional treatment has been associated with substantially worse survival outcomes.
- Honey never spoilsPure honey has genuinely exceptional shelf stability due to its low moisture content, high acidity, and natural hydrogen peroxide production, and well sealed honey thousands of years old has been found still edible in archaeological contexts. However, honey can still crystallize, absorb moisture, ferment, or spoil if improperly stored or contaminated, so 'never' is an overstatement of an otherwise well supported claim.
- HoroscopesDaily horoscopes use statements vague enough to feel personal to almost anyone, and studies show they have no ability to predict events or describe individuals accurately.
- Human attention span is shorter than a goldfishThe claim that goldfish have a nine-second memory or attention span, and the related claim that human attention spans have shrunk below that of a goldfish, are both unsupported. Research on goldfish cognition shows they can learn and retain associations for weeks or months, and the human attention span statistic traces to an unverified, uncited source.
- Human-caused climate changeThe IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (2021-2023) concludes it is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean, and land. More than 97% of actively publishing climate scientists and over 99% of peer-reviewed climate papers endorse anthropogenic climate change.
- Humans evolved from modern monkeysHumans did not evolve directly from any living species of monkey or ape. Humans and modern apes instead share common ancestors that no longer exist today. In the strict biological classification sense, however, humans are themselves apes, and more broadly, primates, a fact that often gets lost in casual debate over the claim.
- Humans have exactly five sensesHumans have far more than the traditional five senses. Beyond sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch, the body detects balance, body position, internal states, pain, and temperature through distinct sensory systems. Depending on how senses are defined and counted, estimates range from about 9 to more than 30.
- Humans only use 10 percent of their brainModern brain imaging shows that virtually all regions of the human brain are active at some point during normal daily functioning, and neuroscientists consider the widely repeated claim that people only use 10 percent of their brain capacity to be a myth with no basis in neuroscience.
- Hydrogen cars are the obvious futureHydrogen fuel cell vehicles face significant efficiency losses, high infrastructure costs, and a very limited refueling network compared to battery electric vehicles, and most major automakers have scaled back passenger hydrogen vehicle programs while battery electric adoption has grown rapidly.
- Hypnosis can force people to act against their willHypnosis is a real, measurable psychological state used therapeutically for pain management and anxiety, but it does not grant a hypnotist mind control over a subject. Research shows hypnotized individuals retain awareness, personal values, and the ability to refuse suggestions; claims of hypnotic mind control are not supported by controlled research.
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- Immigrants take jobs from native workersRigorous economic research finds that immigration has little to no negative effect on aggregate native employment or wages, and can boost economic growth, though effects on specific low-wage sectors or localities can be more mixed. The claim that immigrants broadly 'steal jobs' from native workers is not supported by the weight of labor economics evidence.
- Incognito mode makes you anonymousIncognito or private browsing mode prevents a browser from saving local history, cookies, and site data on the device used, but it does not hide browsing activity from internet service providers, employers, schools, or the websites visited themselves, making it far less anonymous than commonly assumed.
- Internet Research Agency (IRA)A Russian troll farm that ran large-scale online influence campaigns using fake social media accounts, paid operators, and coordinated messaging to manipulate political discourse abroad.
- Italy and the CIA stole the 2020 election using a satellite (Italygate)The Italygate theory claimed Italy and US officials switched 2020 votes via an Italian military satellite. It is baseless, and the Italians cited as arrested were detained for unrelated industrial espionage.
- Ivermectin Is a 'Near-Perfect' COVID ProphylacticBret Weinstein, an evolutionary biologist and podcaster, called ivermectin a 'near-perfect COVID prophylactic' and claimed that its suppression was the result of institutional corruption. BBC fact-checks and reviews of high-quality studies showed that ivermectin demonstrates no effectiveness against COVID-19 in rigorous trials.
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- Lactic acid buildup causes muscle soreness after exerciseLactic acid, more precisely lactate, is cleared from muscles within about an hour after exercise ends, and delayed onset muscle soreness that appears one to three days later is caused by microscopic muscle fiber damage and inflammation, not by lingering lactate.
- Lemmings commit mass suicideLemmings do not commit mass suicide. This myth was significantly amplified by a fraudulent 1958 Disney nature documentary in which filmmakers physically threw lemmings off a cliff to stage a dramatic migration scene. Actual lemming population dynamics involve well-documented boom-and-bust cycles, not intentional self-destruction.
- Lewis Hamilton Has 8 Formula 1 World TitlesOfficially, Lewis Hamilton is a seven-time Formula 1 world champion. The claim that he has eight titles comes from the rule-breaking finish of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, which many inside the sport regard as a major sporting injustice.
- Lightning never strikes the same place twiceLightning frequently strikes the same location multiple times, often repeatedly during a single storm. Tall structures such as the Empire State Building are struck roughly 25 times per year. The old saying is a figure of speech about rare fortune, not an accurate statement of atmospheric physics.
- Local food always has a lower carbon footprintTransportation typically accounts for only a small share, often under 10 percent, of the total greenhouse gas footprint of food, while what type of food is eaten, particularly meat versus plant-based options, and how it is produced generally matter far more than how far it traveled.
- Low-fat processed foods are healthierLow-fat diets are not universally healthier than diets with moderate or higher fat content. Large clinical trials, including the Women's Health Initiative, found low-fat diets did not significantly reduce heart disease, cancer, or overall mortality compared with usual diets, and the type of fat consumed, not just total fat quantity, is now understood as more important for health outcomes.
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- Macs cannot get virusesApple Mac computers can be infected with malware, and security researchers have documented a growing volume of Mac-targeting malware over the past decade, even though historically lower market share made Macs a less frequent target compared to Windows, a gap that has narrowed considerably.
- Magnets erase your phone or cards easilyModern smartphones use flash memory for data storage, which is not affected by ordinary consumer magnets the way older magnetic storage media like floppy disks and cassette tapes were, though very powerful specialized magnets can still interfere with certain phone hardware components like compasses or, in some models, disable magnetically triggered features.
- Magnets wipe SSDs like old hard drivesHard disk drives store data magnetically and can be wiped by degaussing. SSDs use electronic flash memory cells and have no magnetic media. A magnet, even a strong one, cannot erase or damage SSD storage.
- Mail-in voting is riggedThe claim that mail-in voting is systematically fraudulent or rigged is not supported by evidence. Decades of data from states that conduct elections primarily by mail show fraud rates that are infinitesimally small, and multiple independent studies find no systematic evidence of mail ballot fraud.
- Malicious QR code scamsQR code scams, sometimes called quishing, use fraudulent codes placed on parking meters, restaurant tables, or sent via email to redirect victims to malicious websites designed to steal payment details or login credentials, and reports of this scam type have risen substantially since 2021.
- Mammals are always warmer than reptilesReptiles are not perpetually cold-bodied. Ectothermic animals such as lizards can bask in the sun to raise their body temperature to between roughly 35 and 42 degrees Celsius, a range that overlaps substantially with typical mammalian body temperatures. The real distinction between the two groups is the source of the heat used to regulate body temperature, not the actual temperature ultimately achieved.
- Megadosing vitamins improves healthThe idea that taking vitamin doses far above established recommendations improves health is not supported by evidence and carries documented risks. Fat-soluble vitamins accumulate in body tissue and can reach toxic levels, and megadosing several water-soluble vitamins has also been linked to serious, sometimes irreversible, adverse effects.
- Meteorites are hot when they landContrary to popular belief, meteorites are typically cold or only mildly warm to the touch when they reach the ground. The intense frictional heating during atmospheric entry is brief and affects mainly the outer surface, while the interior, having spent ages in the cold of deep space, generally remains cold.
- Michelle Obama is a manThe claim that Michelle Obama is a man or transgender is false. It is a long-running conspiracy rumor repeatedly debunked by fact-checkers, with no credible evidence and only forged or miscontextualized material offered as proof.
- Michelle Obama secretly signed Biden's pardons with an autopenTrump amplified posts claiming Michelle Obama secretly entered the Oval Office and used Biden's autopen to sign pardons. The claim is fabricated with no supporting evidence.
- Microchips in vaccinesCOVID-19 vaccines do not contain microchips, RFID trackers, or any tracking technology. Independent elemental analysis of vaccine vials and public regulatory disclosure of all ingredients confirm no electronic components exist. The claim originated from a misinterpretation of Bill Gates' remarks about digital health records.
- Microwaving destroys most of the nutrients in foodNutrient loss during cooking is driven mainly by heat exposure time, temperature, and the amount of water used, and because microwaving typically cooks food faster and with less added water than boiling or other conventional methods, comparative studies frequently find microwaving preserves nutrients, particularly water-soluble vitamins, at least as well as, and sometimes better than, other common cooking methods.
- Microwaving food leaves harmful radiation in itMicrowave ovens use non-ionizing electromagnetic radiation that heats food by causing water molecules to vibrate, and this energy does not remain in the food or make it radioactive after cooking, a point confirmed by health agencies including the US FDA and the World Health Organization.
- Migrants receive more benefits than localsThe claim that immigrants receive more welfare and public benefits than native-born citizens is contradicted by the weight of evidence across multiple countries. In the United States, immigrants consume on average 24% less in welfare and entitlement benefits than native-born Americans on a per capita basis.
- Milo Yiannopoulos Is a Victim of Free Speech CensorshipMilo Yiannopoulos claims that technology platforms banned him because of his conservative views. The documented reasons for his bans include targeted harassment campaigns and hate speech directed at specific individuals - which is not the same as the suppression of a political viewpoint.
- Miracle Mineral Solution (MMS) cures diseaseMiracle Mineral Solution, an industrial bleach solution containing chlorine dioxide marketed as a cure for autism, cancer, HIV, and many other conditions, has no clinical evidence supporting its efficacy and has caused documented cases of severe injury and death, prompting explicit warnings from health regulators worldwide.
- Moderate drinking kills brain cellsAlcohol does not directly kill neurons at the doses associated with moderate or even heavy social drinking. It does disrupt neuronal function, inhibits dendrite growth, and at high chronic doses over years produces documented structural brain changes. The claim as commonly stated is false, but alcohol is not harmless to the brain either.
- Money cannot buy any happinessWhether money buys happiness depends heavily on how the question is framed. Research shows higher income is associated with greater life satisfaction and emotional well-being, generally without the sharp plateau once widely cited around 75,000 dollars, though the relationship's strength and shape vary across studies and populations.
- More CO2 is good because it is plant foodRising carbon dioxide levels can modestly enhance the growth of some plants in isolation under controlled conditions, but the IPCC's Sixth Assessment Report confirms that human-caused warming has already reduced global agricultural productivity growth overall. The net effect of rising CO2, once its accompanying climate impacts such as heat stress, drought, and extreme weather are included, is harmful to global food security rather than beneficial.
- More CPU cores always means a faster computerAdding more CPU cores does not automatically make a computer faster for all tasks. Performance gains from additional cores depend on whether software is specifically designed to run multiple operations in parallel; many everyday tasks remain limited by single-core performance, and some workloads see little to no benefit from extra cores.
- More megapixels always means a better cameraImage quality depends on multiple factors beyond megapixel count, including sensor size, individual pixel size, lens quality, and image processing software, and packing more megapixels onto a small sensor, as in many smartphones, can reduce per-pixel light capture and image quality in low light rather than improving it.
- More signal bars means better connectionSignal bars show signal strength between your phone and the nearest tower, but data speed and reliability also depend on network congestion, frequency band, and interference. Full bars on a congested tower can deliver slower speeds than fewer bars on a clear 5G connection.
- Morphic Resonance Is a Real Scientific PhenomenonRupert Sheldrake claims that organisms inherit the collective memory of previous generations through a non-physical 'morphic field'. No peer-reviewed experiment has confirmed this; independent replications of Sheldrake's experiments consistently fail; and the theory has no physical mechanism.
- Most plastic gets recycledOnly a small fraction of plastic types, primarily PET and HDPE, are commonly and effectively recycled in practice, while the majority of plastic produced globally is landfilled, incinerated, or leaked into the environment because most plastics cannot be economically or technically recycled at scale.
- Most welfare recipients abuse the systemThe 'welfare queen' stereotype, popularized in the 1970s and 1980s, depicts large-scale, systemic fraud among welfare recipients that government data does not support. Studies consistently find that fraud rates in major U.S. welfare programs are low, and that most recipients use benefits for short periods to bridge economic hardship rather than as a long-term lifestyle.
- MSG is harmful to healthMonosodium glutamate (MSG) is recognized as safe by the FDA, EFSA, and WHO's JECFA committee at typical dietary levels. "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome" originated from a single unverified 1968 letter and has not been substantiated in controlled clinical trials.
- Multitasking makes you more productiveCognitive science research consistently finds that multitasking, attempting two or more attention-demanding tasks simultaneously, reduces efficiency and increases errors compared with sequential focused work, contradicting the popular belief that multitasking makes people more productive.
- Muscle turns into fat when you stop exercisingMuscle and fat are biologically distinct tissue types that cannot convert into one another; when exercise stops, muscle tissue can shrink through atrophy while fat tissue can independently increase due to reduced calorie expenditure, but no biological process transforms one tissue type into the other.
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- Nancy Pelosi planned the January 6 attack two years in advanceTrump shared claims that Nancy Pelosi planned the January 6 Capitol attack two years ahead. The cited video does not support this and describes something different.
- Napoleon was unusually shortNapoleon Bonaparte was not unusually short for his era. His recorded height at autopsy was approximately 5 feet 6 or 7 inches by modern measurement, which was average or slightly above average for a 19th-century Frenchman. The exaggerated short-Napoleon myth was largely created and spread by British political caricaturists during the Napoleonic Wars.
- NASA hides that the Earth is flatClaims that NASA hides evidence of a flat Earth are contradicted by an enormous body of independently verifiable evidence, much of it not produced by NASA at all. Satellite imagery from multiple countries' space agencies, commercial aviation navigation, circumnavigation, and basic physics experiments reproducible by anyone all confirm a spherical Earth.
- National debt works like household debtComparing government debt to household debt is a common but economically misleading analogy. Governments, especially those that issue their own currency, differ from households in fundamental ways: they can raise revenue through taxation, they can be long-lived without a fixed repayment deadline, and their borrowing costs and macroeconomic effects operate under different constraints entirely.
- NATO caused the war in UkraineRussia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 was an act of military aggression that violated international law. NATO's eastward expansion is cited by Russia as justification, and some geopolitical scholars have argued it created security tensions; however, academic and legal consensus holds that expansion does not justify or legally excuse the invasion.
- Natural immunity is always better than vaccine immunityFor some diseases, infection-acquired immunity can be similar to or longer-lasting than vaccine immunity, but this comes at the cost of the disease itself, which carries real risks of severe illness, complications, and death that vaccines are specifically designed to avoid.
- Niemann's $100 Million Lawsuit Against Carlsen and Chess.comHans Niemann filed a $100 million defamation lawsuit against Magnus Carlsen, Chess.com, and Hikaru Nakamura in October 2022. A federal court dismissed the case in June 2023, and the parties settled in August 2023.
- Niemann's Confirmed Online CheatingHans Niemann admitted to cheating in online chess games as a youth. Chess.com and FIDE both confirmed instances of online cheating, though the scale was disputed between Chess.com's report and Niemann's own account.
- No pain, no gain, exercise must hurt to be effectiveEffective exercise does not require pain, and sports medicine research distinguishes between the normal, mild discomfort of muscular effort and delayed onset muscle soreness, both of which are unrelated to actual injury pain, which is a warning signal that should prompt reduced activity rather than being pushed through.
- Nuclear power is extremely dangerousNuclear power has one of the lowest death rates per unit of energy produced among all major energy sources, including fatalities from historical accidents, while fossil fuels cause substantially more deaths through air pollution and mining accidents each year.
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- Obama committed treason and faces a military tribunalIn December 2025 Trump shared QAnon-linked posts claiming Barack Obama committed treason and would face a military tribunal. There is no evidence, and US civilians cannot be tried by military tribunals.
- Offshore wind turbines kill whalesThere is no evidence that offshore wind turbines or survey work are causing recent whale deaths along the U.S. East Coast. Federal agencies and marine scientists instead point to known threats such as vessel strikes and fishing gear entanglement.
- One dog year equals seven human yearsThe rule that one dog year equals seven human years is false. Dogs age much faster early in life and then more slowly, and the rate varies by size and breed, so the simple times-seven formula does not hold.
- One-ring (Wangiri) call-back scamsWangiri, or one-ring, scams place a brief automated call that immediately hangs up, hoping the recipient calls back a premium-rate number and unknowingly incurs large per-minute charges, a fraud pattern originating in Japan that has since spread internationally through spoofed international numbers.
- Operation DoppelgangerA Russian influence campaign that cloned legitimate Western news websites to spread Kremlin-aligned narratives, making disinformation appear to come from trusted media outlets.
- Opposites attract in relationshipsThe popular belief that romantic partners with opposite personalities are especially compatible is not well supported by relationship science. Large studies of couples generally find that similarity in values, attitudes, and personality traits predicts relationship satisfaction better than being opposites, though some specific traits show more complex patterns.
- Organic food is always healthierOrganic food generally contains lower pesticide residue levels, but large systematic reviews find no consistent evidence that organic food is more nutritious than conventionally grown food or produces better measured health outcomes.
- Ostriches bury their heads in sandOstriches do not bury their heads in sand. This ancient myth most likely originates from observations of ostriches tending ground-level nests, during which the birds lower their heads to turn buried eggs, an action that can look like head-burying from a distance but involves no actual burial of the head.
- Overpopulation is the main cause of climate changeGlobal emissions are driven far more by per capita consumption differences between rich and poor countries than by population size alone, with the wealthiest 10 percent of the global population responsible for roughly half of consumption-based emissions while population growth is concentrated in low-emitting regions.
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- Paper bags are greener than plasticLife cycle assessments generally find that paper bags require more energy and water to produce than plastic bags and must be reused fewer times to break even, while both are outperformed environmentally by reusable bags made of durable material used many times.
- Paper Straws ExplodeThe claim that paper straws 'explode' is false in any literal sense. Paper straws can soften, collapse, or split apart when soaked, especially in hot or fizzy drinks, but they do not detonate, burst, or rupture violently. The 'explode' framing was popularised by Donald Trump when he signed an executive order in February 2025 reversing federal limits on plastic straws.
- People are either left-brained (logical) or right-brained (creative)Brain imaging research finds no evidence that individuals consistently rely more on one brain hemisphere overall or that personality traits like logic versus creativity map onto whole-hemisphere dominance, though some specific functions are genuinely lateralized to one side of the brain.
- People learn best when taught in their preferred learning styleAlthough most people have a preference for visual, auditory, or kinesthetic information, controlled studies find no evidence that matching teaching methods to a student's self-identified learning style improves learning outcomes, a conclusion reached by a major 2008 review commissioned specifically to test the theory.
- Phishing emailsPhishing remains one of the most common and effective cybercrime techniques, using fraudulent emails that impersonate trusted organizations to trick recipients into revealing credentials or installing malware, and it continues to be a leading cause of data breaches and financial fraud worldwide.
- Phone chargers waste lots of power when idleModern phone and laptop chargers draw negligible standby power once a device is fully charged, and contemporary lithium-ion battery management systems prevent overcharging, making the energy waste and battery damage from leaving a charger plugged in far smaller than commonly believed.
- Phones must be off or they crash planesStudies commissioned by aviation regulators found no verified cases of a commercial aircraft accident caused by a passenger's personal electronic device, and both the FAA and EASA relaxed rules in 2013 to allow most devices to remain on throughout flight, though cellular signals are still restricted to prevent ground network interference rather than flight safety risk.
- Pizzagate conspiracy theoryPizzagate, the claim that a Washington D.C. pizzeria was the hub of a child trafficking ring run by senior Democratic Party figures, was investigated by law enforcement and journalists and found to have no factual basis, though it led to a real armed incident in 2016.
- Planting trees alone can solve climate changeLarge-scale tree planting can meaningfully help absorb carbon dioxide over decades but cannot by itself offset current emission rates, and studies show forests take years to mature into effective carbon sinks while some proposed planting schemes have overstated realistic carbon capture potential.
- Polygraph lie detectors are accuratePolygraph machines do not reliably detect lies. They measure physiological arousal, heart rate, skin conductance, and breathing, which correlates imperfectly with anxiety in general, not specifically with deception, and can be manipulated with countermeasures; major U.S. federal scientific reviews have found their accuracy insufficient for high-stakes decisions.
- Princess Diana was assassinatedDiana, Princess of Wales died in a car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997. A French judicial investigation and a British inquest, Operation Paget, both concluded the crash was caused by the driver's excessive speed and intoxication combined with paparazzi pursuit, not an assassination plot, though a 2008 inquest jury cited both driving errors and following vehicles as contributing.
- Private browsing stops all trackingIncognito mode provides local privacy by not saving history to the device. It does not encrypt traffic, hide the user's IP address, or prevent external parties from seeing browsing activity. True anonymity requires additional tools such as a VPN or Tor.
- Public Wi-Fi is always safeOpen public Wi-Fi networks carry some real interception risk on unencrypted connections, but the widespread adoption of HTTPS encryption across most websites and apps has substantially reduced the practical danger compared to a decade ago, making the threat smaller than commonly assumed for typical browsing.
- Pyramid schemesPyramid schemes are illegal financial structures where returns for existing participants are paid using money from new recruits rather than from genuine business activity. They are well-documented by regulators, inevitably collapse, and cause significant financial harm to the vast majority of participants.
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- QAnon conspiracy movementQAnon is a wide-ranging conspiracy movement built around anonymous 2017 internet posts claiming a secret cabal of elites runs a global child trafficking network that Donald Trump is secretly fighting, and no credible investigation has substantiated the movement's core claims.
- Quantum computers will instantly break all encryptionQuantum computers do not yet break all current encryption, and claims that they render all cybersecurity obsolete overstate both the current state of quantum hardware and the scope of cryptographic vulnerability. Quantum computers pose a specific, well understood future threat to certain types of encryption, while other cryptographic methods are already believed resistant, and practical, large-scale quantum code-breaking has not yet been achieved.
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- Raising the minimum wage always kills jobsThe effect of minimum wage increases on employment is genuinely debated among economists, but the strong claim that minimum wage increases reliably 'kill jobs' at a large scale is not supported by most modern empirical research. Studies of real-world minimum wage increases, including comparisons of neighboring counties, generally find small or statistically insignificant employment effects.
- Raw untreated water is healthierRaw water, untreated water sold or collected without filtration or disinfection, carries a documented risk of pathogens and contaminants that water treatment specifically exists to remove. There is no scientific evidence that untreated water offers health benefits that outweigh these risks, and public health authorities uniformly recommend treated or otherwise verified safe drinking water.
- Reading in dim light permanently damages your eyesReading in dim light can cause temporary eye strain and fatigue, but ophthalmologists find no evidence that it causes any permanent structural damage to the eyes or lasting vision loss.
- Recovery scams targeting fraud victimsRecovery scams target people who have already lost money to a previous scam, falsely promising to recover the stolen funds for an upfront fee, and consumer protection agencies identify this as a distinct and growing secondary fraud that re-victimizes people already harmed by an initial scam.
- Recycling is pointlessRecycling rates and environmental benefits vary widely by material, with aluminum and paper recycling delivering substantial energy savings and emissions reductions, while contamination, weak markets for mixed plastics, and inconsistent municipal systems limit the effectiveness of some recycling streams.
- Red meat causes cancerIARC classifies processed meat as a Group 1 carcinogen ("carcinogenic to humans") and red meat as Group 2A ("probably carcinogenic"), based on consistent epidemiological associations with colorectal cancer, though the classification reflects strength of evidence, not overall magnitude of individual risk.
- Renewables can never provide reliable powerWhile wind and solar are variable rather than constant power sources, grid operators increasingly manage this variability through storage, transmission interconnection, demand response, and diverse generation mixes, and multiple regions now run for extended periods on very high shares of renewable electricity.
- Reptilian shapeshifters control world governmentsThe claim that shapeshifting reptilian humanoids secretly control world governments and impersonate prominent public figures originates largely from the writings of British author David Icke starting in the 1990s and has no scientific, biological, or documentary evidence supporting it.
- Returning to the gold standard would be betterWhether returning to a gold standard would produce better economic outcomes than the current fiat currency system is a contested policy question, not a settled fact. Most mainstream economists argue the gold standard amplified the severity of historical recessions, including the Great Depression, by limiting central banks' ability to respond to crises, though gold standard advocates raise genuine concerns about monetary discipline and inflation.
- RFK Jr.: Vaccines Cause AutismRobert F. Kennedy Jr. spent decades promoting a link between vaccines and autism, based on the retracted and fraudulent Wakefield study. As US Secretary of Health in 2025, he ordered the CDC to change its website position stating that vaccines do not cause autism, a move condemned by health organisations worldwide.
- Robert Malone Invented mRNA VaccinesRobert Malone credits himself with inventing mRNA vaccines and uses that claim to lend authority to a series of debunked assertions about COVID-19 vaccines. Scientists who worked alongside him describe his role as minor, and the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine went to Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman, not Malone.
- Romance scamsRomance scams involve fraudsters building fake romantic relationships online, often over weeks or months, before requesting money for fabricated emergencies, and they consistently rank among the costliest forms of consumer fraud reported to U.S. and UK authorities each year.
- Rubber tires protect you from lightningThe safety a car provides during a thunderstorm comes from its metal body acting as a protective shell, not from its rubber tires acting as insulation. Lightning can travel more than a kilometer through open air, so a few centimeters of rubber offers no meaningful barrier against a discharge carrying hundreds of millions of volts.
- Russian Disinformation OperationsRussia conducts coordinated online influence operations using troll farms, bots, and propaganda networks. The goal is not to misinform randomly, but to polarize societies and undermine trust in democratic institutions.
- Russian Election InterferenceDocumented efforts by Russian state actors to influence elections in the United States and Europe through hacking, strategic leaks, and coordinated social media campaigns.
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- Sandy Hook Was StagedAlex Jones spent years claiming that the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting was 'staged' by the government and that the victims' parents were 'crisis actors'. Two juries found him liable for defamation. The US Supreme Court rejected his appeal against the $1.44 billion judgment in October 2025.
- Scientists predicted global cooling in the 1970sA small number of media articles in the 1970s speculated about global cooling, but the scientific literature of that decade already showed more studies projecting warming from rising CO2 than cooling, and instrumental records confirm warming resumed and accelerated after the mid-1970s.
- Sea salt is healthier than table saltSea salt and table salt have virtually the same sodium content by weight, roughly 40 percent, and affect blood pressure and cardiovascular health identically. Sea salt does carry trace minerals from evaporated seawater, but the quantities involved are nutritionally insignificant.
- Seasons are caused by distance from the SunEarth's seasons are caused by the planet's 23.5-degree axial tilt, not by changes in its distance from the Sun. In fact, Earth is slightly closer to the Sun during Northern Hemisphere winter in January than during Northern Hemisphere summer in July.
- Secret FEMA concentration camps existClaims that FEMA operates secret concentration camps to imprison Americans under martial law are unsupported by any evidence. The theory has circulated since the 1980s and has been repeatedly investigated and debunked by journalists and fact-checkers, who trace the locations cited to ordinary military bases, prisons, and disused facilities.
- Sextortion email scamsSextortion scams threaten to release real or fabricated compromising images or claim to have recorded a victim through hacked devices unless payment is made, and law enforcement agencies report a sharp rise in cases targeting both adults and minors in recent years, including a growing number linked to teen suicides.
- Shaving makes hair grow back thicker and darkerShaving cuts hair at the surface of the skin without affecting the hair follicle beneath, and controlled studies find no change in the actual thickness, color, or growth rate of hair as a result of shaving; the appearance of coarser regrowth is a visual and tactile illusion.
- SIM-swapping fraudSIM swap fraud involves criminals transferring a victim's phone number to a device they control, often by social engineering a mobile carrier, allowing them to intercept one-time verification codes and take over bank, email, and cryptocurrency accounts protected by SMS-based authentication.
- Sitting too close to the TV damages your eyesSitting close to a television does not cause permanent eye damage; the belief traces largely to older cathode-ray tube sets that emitted small amounts of radiation later corrected by regulation, and modern ophthalmology finds no lasting harm from close viewing distance itself, though it may indicate an existing vision problem.
- Social Media Bots in DisinformationAutomated or semi-automated accounts used to artificially amplify messages, manipulate trending topics, and create false impressions of widespread public support.
- Solar panels are a scamThe claim that solar panels are a financial or environmental scam is not supported by evidence. Multiple independent analyses confirm that solar photovoltaic systems generate positive returns over their lifetimes and reduce greenhouse gas emissions substantially.
- Soros pays protestersThe recurring claim that billionaire philanthropist George Soros directly pays protesters to attend demonstrations has not been supported by any credible evidence across multiple independent investigations. Soros's Open Society Foundations fund civil society organizations openly, but no documentation shows funds directed to compensate individual protesters.
- Spinach is exceptionally high in ironSpinach does contain meaningful iron, but it is not exceptionally high compared with many other common foods, and a persistent legend attributes today's spinach reputation to a decimal-point error that historians of the claim have found little solid documentary evidence for. Spinach's iron is also less absorbable than iron from meat sources due to compounds that inhibit uptake.
- Standard household static can ignite gas stationsStatic electricity can ignite gasoline vapors, but the source is re-entering your vehicle during refueling, not your cell phone or ordinary ambient static. The Petroleum Equipment Institute documented 150 confirmed static fire incidents over two decades, none involving cell phones.
- Stretching before exercise prevents injuryResearch on stretching and injury prevention finds that static stretching before exercise does not reliably reduce injury risk and may modestly impair immediate strength and power output, while a proper dynamic warm-up shows more consistent evidence for reducing injury and improving performance.
- Subliminal advertising controls buyingSubliminal advertising, imagery or messages presented below conscious perception threshold, does not reliably influence consumer purchasing behavior according to decades of controlled experimental research. The scare originated from a fabricated 1957 claim about hidden movie theater messages that the claimant himself later admitted he never actually tested.
- Sugar makes children hyperactiveThe widely held belief that sugar consumption directly causes hyperactive behavior in children has been tested in numerous controlled trials, which consistently fail to find a causal link, suggesting the perceived connection is largely driven by parental expectation and the social context in which sugary foods are typically consumed.
- Superfoods have special disease-fighting powers'Superfood' is a marketing term, not a scientific or regulatory classification. Many foods labeled as superfoods do contain beneficial nutrients and antioxidants, but no single food provides dramatic, disease-curing health benefits on its own, and the term is not defined or regulated by food safety or nutrition authorities.
- Swallowed gum stays for 7 yearsThe claim that swallowed chewing gum remains in the stomach for seven years has no scientific basis. The digestive system moves indigestible gum base through the gastrointestinal tract at roughly the same pace as other food, typically within 24 to 48 hours, and it exits the body in stool like anything else that cannot be broken down.
- Sweating removes toxins from the bodySweat is primarily composed of water, sodium, and other electrolytes released for the purpose of body temperature regulation, and while sweat does contain trace amounts of some other compounds, research finds sweating is not a meaningful mechanism for eliminating toxins compared to the liver and kidneys.
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- Tech support pop-up scamsTech support scams trick victims into believing their computer has a serious security problem, then charge for unnecessary services or gain remote access to steal money and personal information, and they remain one of the most commonly reported fraud types affecting older adults.
- Teething causes high feverTeething can cause a slight rise in body temperature, irritability, and drooling, but it does not cause a true fever of 38 degrees Celsius (100.4 Fahrenheit) or higher. Any fever reaching that threshold in an infant reflects illness, not teething, and needs medical evaluation.
- The 2020 US Presidential Election Was StolenRoger Stone and a number of closely associated figures claim that the 2020 US presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump. That claim was rejected by more than 60 courts, by Trump's own Attorney General, and by the federal cybersecurity agency. Stone was convicted in 2019 on seven criminal counts of lying to Congress and obstruction of justice.
- The 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Was Properly OfficiatedThe deciding race of the 2021 Formula 1 season was not properly officiated under the FIA's own later assessment. The result stood, but the handling of the late Safety Car became one of the most controversial governance failures in modern motorsport.
- The alkaline diet changes your blood pHThe alkaline diet claims that eating specific foods can change the body's blood pH to prevent disease and improve health, but human blood pH is tightly regulated within a very narrow range by the lungs and kidneys regardless of diet, and no rigorous clinical evidence supports the diet's disease-prevention claims through this proposed mechanism.
- The Bermuda Triangle is supernaturally dangerousStatistical analysis by the U.S. Coast Guard, Lloyd's of London, and independent researchers has found that the Bermuda Triangle does not have a disproportionately high rate of unexplained ship and aircraft disappearances compared to other heavily trafficked ocean regions once normal shipping traffic volume and known hazards are taken into account.
- The Carnivore Diet Cures Depression and Autoimmune DiseasesJordan Peterson and his daughter Mikhaila Peterson claim that a diet consisting exclusively of beef, water, and salt - the so-called 'Lion Diet' - cured their depression, anxiety, and autoimmune conditions. No clinical trials support these claims, and nutritionists warn of serious health risks.
- The CIA definitively killed JFKClaims that the CIA orchestrated President Kennedy's 1963 assassination remain unproven despite decades of investigation. The Warren Commission and a 1979 House Select Committee both examined the evidence extensively; while the House committee found a probable second gunman based on acoustic evidence later disputed, no official inquiry has found credible evidence of CIA involvement.
- The Cult of TrumpDescribing Trump's movement as a "cult" is partly rhetorical, but the label is grounded in observable patterns of leader-centered loyalty, punishment of dissent, and resistance to contrary evidence. It is more accurate to say that parts of Trump's political movement show cult-like dynamics than to claim that every supporter is literally in a cult.
- The digital euro means total controlThe ECB's digital euro project is designed with privacy protections and is explicitly intended to complement, not replace, cash. Extreme claims that it would enable totalitarian financial surveillance are not supported by the design or legislation. Legitimate civil liberties concerns about the balance between privacy and compliance monitoring exist and are subject to ongoing democratic debate.
- The EU is banning cashThe EU has not banned cash and has no plans to do so. An EU anti-money laundering regulation sets a €10,000 cap on cash payments to businesses in professional transactions from 2027 onward, a targeted measure that does not affect everyday cash use, private transactions, or the right to hold cash.
- The FIA And F1 Favour Max VerstappenA popular fan claim says Formula 1 and the FIA systematically favour Max Verstappen, often using the sarcastic nickname 'Golden Boi' - with an i, not a y. The evidence shows real inconsistency and some controversial decisions that benefited Verstappen, but not proof of a formal, sustained institutional bias in his favour.
- The full moon increases crime and ER visitsDecades of research have found no reliable link between full moon phases and emergency room visits, violent crime, psychiatric hospital admissions, or other behavioral outcomes. The persistent belief in lunar effects on behavior is better explained by confirmation bias and selective memory than by any actual pattern in the data.
- The Great Reset conspiracyThe World Economic Forum did launch a real initiative called The Great Reset in 2020 to discuss post-pandemic economic recovery, but the conspiracy theory version, claiming it is a secret plan by global elites to abolish private property and impose totalitarian world government, is not supported by the initiative's actual public content.
- The Great Wall is visible from spaceThe Great Wall of China cannot be seen with the naked eye from space. Despite its immense length, it is too narrow, generally 5 to 10 meters wide, to resolve visually from low Earth orbit, and China's own astronauts have confirmed they could not see it during spaceflight.
- The Illuminati secretly controls the worldThe historical Bavarian Illuminati was a real but short-lived Enlightenment-era secret society founded in 1776 and dissolved by 1785 through official government suppression, and no credible historical or investigative evidence supports claims that a continuous secret organization by that name has controlled world governments, finance, or events since.
- The Mandela Effect proves parallel universesThe 'Mandela Effect,' widespread shared false memories, is a genuine and well documented psychological phenomenon, but it is evidence of predictable ways human memory reconstructs and errs, not evidence of alternate realities, parallel universes, or simulation glitches, as some popular interpretations claim.
- The MMR Vaccine Causes AutismAndrew Wakefield published a study in The Lancet in 1998 claiming a link between the MMR vaccine and autism. The study was retracted due to fraud and data falsification, Wakefield lost his medical licence, and dozens of studies involving millions of children have found no causal link.
- The Moon is hollow or artificialThe claim that the Moon is hollow, sometimes framed as an artificial construct, contradicts extensive seismic, gravitational, and sample-based evidence gathered by lunar missions. Seismometers placed on the Moon during the Apollo program and later gravity-mapping satellite missions have produced detailed internal structure data consistent with a differentiated, largely solid rocky body, not a hollow shell.
- The Moon landing was fakedThe Apollo 11 Moon landing in 1969, and five subsequent crewed landings through 1972, are supported by extensive physical, photographic, and independently verified evidence, including retroreflectors still used today and lunar samples studied by scientists worldwide.
- The North Star is the brightest starPolaris, commonly called the North Star, is not the brightest star in the night sky. That distinction belongs to Sirius, which appears roughly 20 times brighter than Polaris. Polaris is notable not for brightness but for its nearly fixed position above Earth's North Pole, which makes it valuable for navigation.
- The ozone hole causes global warmingThe ozone hole is caused by chlorofluorocarbons and related chemicals breaking down stratospheric ozone concentrated over Antarctica, a distinct and separate atmospheric phenomenon from global warming. Global warming is driven primarily by greenhouse gases trapping infrared radiation closer to Earth's surface, and the small amount of additional energy associated with the ozone hole is far too limited in scale to meaningfully explain the observed pattern of global temperature rise.
- The Proud Boys Are Simply a Brotherhood of Men Proud of Western CultureGavin McInnes, the founder of the Proud Boys, described them as a non-partisan brotherhood for men who are proud of the West. Canada designated the Proud Boys as a terrorist organisation in 2021. The group's leader - Enrique Tarrio - was sentenced to 22 years in prison for seditious conspiracy, but was pardoned by Trump on the first day of his second term.
- The tongue is the strongest muscleThe tongue is not the strongest muscle in the human body by any standard measure of muscular strength. Depending on how strength is defined, the masseter jaw muscle, the gluteal muscles, or the heart in terms of sustained endurance work are stronger candidates. The tongue is more accurately described as the body's most flexible and dexterous muscular structure.
- There is a permanently dark side of the MoonThe Moon has a far side that permanently faces away from Earth due to tidal locking, but this side receives just as much sunlight over a lunar month as the near side. The popular phrase 'dark side' historically referred to the far side being unknown or unmapped, not unilluminated.
- There is a secret Epstein "client list" of powerful abusersThe claim of a hidden Epstein "client list" of elite abusers is not supported. In early 2026 the DOJ released partially redacted files and stated no such list exists, angering some Trump supporters.
- There is no gravity in spaceGravity exists throughout space and never truly reaches zero. Astronauts aboard the International Space Station experience roughly 90 percent of the gravity felt at Earth's surface, but they appear weightless because the station and everything inside it are in continuous free fall around Earth, the defining condition of orbital flight.
- Timo Glock Deliberately Let Hamilton PassA long-running Formula 1 conspiracy theory claims Timo Glock intentionally slowed in the final corners of the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix to let Lewis Hamilton win the world title. The available evidence shows Glock was struggling on dry tyres in worsening rain, not intentionally yielding position.
- Trickle-down economics reliably worksThe theory that tax cuts for corporations and high earners substantially boost broad economic growth and wages through 'trickle down' effects has weak empirical support. Multiple large-scale studies, including a widely cited London School of Economics analysis of 50 years of data across 18 countries, find such tax cuts primarily increase income inequality without significantly boosting growth or employment.
- Trump Believes He Is Above The LawThe claim that Donald Trump believes he is above the law is supported by his Article II 'I have the right to do whatever I want' statement, his Supreme Court immunity case in which his lawyer accepted the SEAL Team 6 hypothetical, his retention of classified documents in defiance of subpoenas, gag-order violations, and his sustained personal attacks on the judges presiding over his criminal cases.
- Trump Derangement Syndrome"Trump Derangement Syndrome" is a political insult, not a recognized medical or psychiatric diagnosis. The term is mainly used to dismiss or pathologize criticism of Donald Trump rather than describe a clinically established disorder.
- Trump Has Narcissistic Personality DisorderThe claim that Donald Trump has Narcissistic Personality Disorder is supported by extensive public assessments from credentialed mental-health professionals - including Yale forensic psychiatrist Bandy Lee, his niece psychologist Mary Trump, the Duty to Warn psychiatrists, and George Conway's DSM-5-by-DSM-5 walkthrough in The Atlantic - though the APA's Goldwater Rule formally discourages diagnosis without examination.
- Trump Has Predatory BehaviorThe claim that Donald Trump exhibits predatory behavior is supported by the E. Jean Carroll civil jury verdicts for sexual abuse and defamation totaling $88.3 million, the Access Hollywood tape and his deposition confirming its statements, dressing-room accounts from Miss Teen USA contestants as young as 15, his recorded remarks about Jeffrey Epstein, and the 34-count hush-money felony conviction.
- Trump Is A BullyThe claim that Donald Trump is a bully is supported by his decade-long deployment of demeaning nicknames against opponents, attacks on Gold Star families, retaliation against impeachment witnesses Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch and Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, and a Committee to Protect Journalists tally of 1,339 hostile press tweets and 48 named attacks on individual reporters.
- Trump Is A CheaterThe claim that Donald Trump is a cheater is supported by adjudicated court findings of business fraud, a $25 million Trump University fraud settlement, a $2 million judgment for misusing Trump Foundation funds, a NY court verdict that he inflated his net worth by hundreds of millions, and a 34-count felony conviction for falsifying business records to hide hush-money payments.
- Trump Is A LiarThe claim that Donald Trump is a liar is supported by an unprecedented evidentiary record. The Washington Post Fact Checker logged 30,573 false or misleading claims during his first term, and PolitiFact rated roughly 76% of his checked statements as Mostly False, False, or Pants on Fire - the worst record of any major American politician they have tracked.
- Trump is a self-made billionaireDonald Trump has often portrayed himself as self-made, but major reporting shows he received very large financial support from his father, Fred Trump. The available evidence does not support the idea that his wealth was built independently from family money.
- Trump Is a Spoiled BratThe characterization of Donald Trump as a spoiled brat is supported by biographical evidence of extreme childhood wealth, a documented pattern of tantrums when challenged, and observations from biographers, politicians, and former associates.
- Trump Is A ThiefThe claim that Donald Trump is a thief is supported by a federal Espionage Act indictment for retaining classified government documents at Mar-a-Lago, a USA Today investigation documenting decades of unpaid contractors and over 200 mechanics' liens, the $2 million Trump Foundation judgment for self-dealing, and a $750,000 inaugural-fund settlement over inflated payments to Trump's own hotel.
- Trump Is CorruptThe claim that Donald Trump is corrupt is supported by his 34-count felony conviction for falsifying business records, a $2 million Trump Foundation judgment, a $25 million Trump University settlement, a $450M+ New York civil-fraud judgment, the Mar-a-Lago classified-documents indictment, and pardons of allies convicted in the Mueller investigation.
- Trump Is Emotionally VolatileThe claim that Donald Trump is emotionally volatile is supported by on-the-record accounts from his longest-serving Chief of Staff John Kelly, former National Security Advisor John Bolton, former FBI Director James Comey, and documented patterns of late-night social-media outbursts, real-time attacks on judges in his own cases, and Special Counsel Jack Smith's finding on January 6.
- Trump Is ErraticThe claim that Donald Trump is erratic is supported by documented patterns of policy reversals, contradictory statements within hours, and record-setting senior-staff turnover. Forbes documented 28 tariff flip-flops in mid-2025 alone, and Brookings recorded a 92% White House 'A Team' turnover by January 2021 - more than triple Obama's and double Reagan's rates.
- Trump Is InsensitiveThe claim that Donald Trump is insensitive is supported by a documented record of public statements and conduct - the 'shithole countries' remark, mocking disabled reporter Serge Kovaleski, the Puerto Rico paper-towel incident, attacks on the Gold Star Khan and Johnson families, and his 'not a war hero' statement about Senator John McCain.
- Trump Is RuthlessThe claim that Donald Trump is ruthless is supported by his mentorship under McCarthy-era fixer Roy Cohn, decades of unpaid contractors documented by USA Today, the 2018 zero-tolerance family-separation policy, the Muslim travel ban, and his January 2025 late-night firing of 17+ federal inspectors general in violation of the Inspector General Act.
- Trump said "every price" has come downTrump claimed in 2025 that all prices had fallen. This is false. Overall consumer prices continued to rise, with groceries up about 2.1% in the year to January 2026 and beef up roughly 15%.
- Trump said "Nobody knows what magnets are"In November 2025, Trump said "nobody knows what a magnet is" and "nobody knows what magnets are" while talking about Chinese control over rare earth elements and industrial supply chains. The quote is real, but it blurs basic physics with economic dependence on rare earth magnets.
- Trump said "Nothing bad can happen, it can only good happen"In September 2025, Trump said "nothing bad can happen, it can only good happen" while promoting an unproven Tylenol–autism link at a White House press event. The phrase went viral as a word salad, but the more serious issue was the medically misleading advice to pregnant women.
- Trump said a cognitive test showed his "extreme intelligence"In May 2026 Trump claimed on Truth Social that a cognitive test showed he had extreme intelligence. This is false. Standard cognitive tests such as the MoCA screen for cognitive impairment and do not measure or certify intelligence.
- Trump said Biden let millions cross the border with no vettingTrump said millions crossed the border illegally under Biden with no checks whatsoever. This is mixed. Crossings were high, but the claim that no vetting occurred is false, and Biden significantly tightened enforcement in his final year.
- Trump said gasoline was under $2 a gallon, sometimes $1.99Trump repeatedly claimed US gas prices had fallen below $2 a gallon, sometimes citing $1.99. This is false. The national average was about $2.95, the lowest state average was around $2.37 in Oklahoma, and no station in the GasBuddy database was below $2.
- Trump said he attracted $17-18 trillion in investmentTrump claimed to have attracted $17 to $18 trillion in new investment. This is not supported. The White House's own figure was $8.8 to $9.7 trillion, and most of that consisted of pledges and statements of intent rather than confirmed investment.
- Trump said he ended seven or eight warsTrump claimed in 2026 to have ended seven or eight wars. This is false. Fact-checkers found the conflicts he cited were either not formal wars or were still ongoing.
- Trump said taxes would rise 68% if his bill failedIn June 2025 Trump claimed that if his signature spending and tax bill did not pass, taxes would rise 68%. PolitiFact rated this false.
- Trump said the US inherited "the highest inflation in history"Trump repeatedly claimed his administration inherited the worst inflation in US history. This is false. When he took office in January 2025, annual inflation was about 3.0%, far below both the 2022 peak of 9.1% and earlier records such as 14.8% in 1980 and 23.7% in 1920.
- Trump said the Zarutska killer was an illegal immigrantIn his State of the Union address, Trump described the killer of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska as an illegal immigrant who crossed an open border. This is false. The suspect, DeCarlos Brown Jr., is a US citizen.
- Trump said there is "no inflation" in the USIn September 2025 Trump said the US had "no inflation". This is false. Inflation was positive at the time, and by April 2026 the annual rate reached about 3.8%, the highest since May 2023.
- Tucker Carlson Conducted Neutral Journalism by Interviewing PutinTucker Carlson travelled to Moscow in February 2024 and interviewed Vladimir Putin, claiming it was an act of impartial journalism. Fact-checkers documented that Carlson did not challenge a single one of Putin's lies about Ukraine, and historians described Putin's 45-minute historical introduction as 'complete fiction.'
- Turkey makes you sleepy from tryptophanTurkey contains the amino acid tryptophan, a precursor to serotonin and melatonin, but a typical serving does not provide nearly enough tryptophan to cause measurable drowsiness. Post-holiday-meal fatigue is much better explained by large portion sizes, high carbohydrate intake, and alcohol consumption than by the turkey itself.
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- UN Agenda 2030 conspiracyThe 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is a real, non-binding United Nations framework of 17 development goals adopted in 2015, but claims that it constitutes a secret, enforceable plan for world government or the abolition of national sovereignty are not supported by its actual legal text.
- Unexpected inheritance scamsInheritance scams falsely inform a target they are due a large unclaimed inheritance from a distant or unknown relative, then request fees for legal processing or taxes before funds can supposedly be released, closely resembling the long-running advance-fee fraud pattern known as the Nigerian prince scam.
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- Vaccines and autismDecades of large-scale epidemiological research across multiple countries have found no causal link between vaccines and autism spectrum disorder. The original 1998 study that sparked the controversy was retracted after being exposed as deliberate scientific fraud.
- Vaccines are a government tracking schemeThere is no evidence that vaccines contain microchips or tracking devices. This claim, which spread widely during the COVID-19 pandemic, misinterprets legitimate vaccine record-keeping systems and confuses unrelated technologies; no credible teardown, laboratory analysis, or supply chain audit of any vaccine has ever found a chip or tracking component.
- Vaccines cause infertilityNo scientific evidence links any vaccine, including COVID-19 vaccines, to infertility in men or women. Multiple large prospective studies, systematic reviews, and major reproductive medicine organizations have investigated this specific claim directly and found no supporting evidence.
- Vaccines cause SIDSVaccines do not cause Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Large epidemiological studies comparing vaccinated and unvaccinated infants find no increased SIDS risk from vaccination, and SIDS rates have declined substantially since the 1990s even as childhood vaccination schedules expanded, a pattern inconsistent with vaccines causing SIDS.
- Vaccines overwhelm the immune systemThe childhood vaccine schedule uses a tiny fraction of the immune system's capacity. Infants encounter and successfully respond to thousands of new antigens daily through ordinary environmental exposure, far exceeding the antigen load from the entire recommended vaccine schedule combined.
- Vaping is completely harmlessVaping is not harmless. E-cigarettes expose users to nicotine, ultrafine particles, and toxic chemicals, and have been linked to lung disease, cardiovascular strain, and nicotine addiction, particularly among youth. Current evidence suggests vaping is likely less harmful than combustible cigarettes for established adult smokers who switch completely, but that comparative claim is very different from vaping being safe.
- Vegetables and Fruit Are Toxic and Should Be AvoidedPaul Saladino, known as the 'carnivore doctor', claims that plant foods contain toxins and antinutrients that seriously harm human health and should be eliminated from the diet. Decades of nutritional epidemiology show the opposite: high consumption of vegetables and fruit is consistently associated with lower risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and all-cause mortality.
- Violent video games cause real-world violenceThe claim that playing violent video games causes real-world violent behavior is not supported by the strongest available evidence. Large-scale reviews, including a 2020 Oxford study and the American Psychological Association's own more cautious 2020 policy statement, find weak or inconsistent links between violent game exposure and serious real-world aggression or crime.
- Vitamin C megadoses cure colds and cancerHigh-dose vitamin C is widely promoted as a cure for the common cold and cancer, but rigorous clinical trials have found it does not prevent colds in the general population, shortens cold duration only marginally, and has not been shown to cure cancer.
- Volcanoes emit more CO2 than humansGlobal volcanic CO2 emissions average roughly 0.15 to 0.26 billion metric tons per year, while human fossil fuel burning and cement production emit about 37 billion metric tons per year, making human output more than a hundred times larger.
- Voter ID laws stop widespread fraudVoter impersonation fraud, the specific type of fraud photo ID requirements are designed to prevent, is documented as extremely rare in the United States across multiple large-scale studies. Voter ID laws are a genuine, actively debated policy tool, but the premise that in-person voter fraud is widespread is not supported by the evidence.
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- Water fluoridation safetyCommunity water fluoridation at recommended levels (0.7 mg/L in the US) is considered safe and effective for reducing tooth decay by major health bodies including the CDC and WHO. A 2024 NTP report on higher fluoride exposure and IQ has prompted renewed debate, but does not apply to water fluoridated at standard levels.
- WHO takes control of countriesWHO has no authority to impose health measures, lockdowns, vaccine mandates, or any policies on sovereign countries. Both the International Health Regulations (IHR) and the pandemic accord explicitly affirm national sovereignty and state that WHO recommendations to member states are non-binding.
- Wi-Fi harms the brainWi-Fi routers emit low-power, non-ionizing radiofrequency radiation at levels far below international safety limits. No established scientific evidence links typical Wi-Fi exposure to brain harm, cancer, or the symptoms described in "electromagnetic hypersensitivity."
- Wind and solar use more energy to build than they produceEnergy payback analyses show wind turbines and solar panels generate far more energy over their operational lifetime than was used to manufacture them, typically paying back their production energy debt within one to four years while operating for two to three decades.
- Wind turbines cause illnessThe term 'Wind Turbine Syndrome' is not a recognized medical diagnosis, and the scientific consensus from over 100 peer-reviewed studies is that wind turbines at proper setback distances do not directly cause physical illness. However, some people living near turbines do report annoyance, and evidence supports a causal link between turbine noise and feelings of annoyance.
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- You can hear explosions in spaceSound is a mechanical wave that requires a medium, such as air or water, to compress and expand as it travels. The vacuum of space contains far too few molecules for sound to propagate through it, making outer space effectively silent to human ears even during extremely violent events such as supernova explosions.
- You can target fat loss in specific body areas through exerciseThe idea that exercising a specific body part, such as doing abdominal crunches to lose belly fat, burns fat preferentially from that area is not supported by controlled research, which consistently finds that fat loss occurs across the body according to genetic and hormonal patterns rather than the specific muscles being exercised.
- You form accurate judgments in 7 secondsThe specific claim that first impressions form within exactly seven seconds is an oversimplified, widely repeated figure without a single clear scientific origin. Research does show people form rapid trait judgments from faces and behavior within milliseconds to a few seconds, but the precise 'seven second' figure is not a validated, universally agreed benchmark in the peer-reviewed literature.
- You must drink 8 glasses of water a dayThe specific recommendation to drink exactly eight 8-ounce glasses of water daily has no clear scientific origin and does not match current hydration guidance, which recognizes that fluid needs vary by individual and can be met partly through food and other beverages, not just plain water.
- You swallow spiders in your sleepThe claim that people swallow an average of four to eight spiders per year while sleeping is an urban legend with no scientific basis. Both spider and human biology make this scenario extremely unlikely, and no documented cases exist anywhere in the scientific or medical literature.
- You won a lottery you never enteredLottery and sweepstakes scams inform victims they have won a prize they never entered to win, then request an upfront payment for supposed taxes, fees, or customs charges before any prize is released, a request no legitimate lottery organization makes.