On September 3, 2025, a tragic accident has happened on Lisbon's historical funicular. What I am confused about is whether any similar accidents have happened in the past. For one, plenty of news sources make no mention about earlier accidents with the Lisbon funiculars, such as france24.com or rr.pt , to cite just two examples. This would be unusual if there had been any; at least some news outlets typically mention if something similar has happened before in the same context. Then, several ...| Recent Questions - Skeptics Stack Exchange
In an interview with Channel 4 News in the United Kingdom, newly-elected Green Party leader Zack Polanski said (YouTube link with timestamp): Most working-class people who are truly working class, don't own a car at all. I couldn't find anything to support this claim, but what I could find doesn't straightforwardly refute it. There is a government report, Inequalities in Mobility and Access in the UK Transport System, with the following chart (on page 24, or page 26 of the PDF): Figure 8. Hou...| Recent Questions - Skeptics Stack Exchange
There is this very haunting clip from an Oprah Winfrey interview from 1989 where this woman (the guest) claimed that she participated in child sacrifices when she was young and that she was brutally raped and molested by her family. Quote from a video on YouTube: "There are many Jewish families in the country who do it. My mom participated in it" -Guest Many anti-Semitic accounts shared this clip as "legitimate proof" of Jewish blood sacrifices. I want to know the real identity of this woman ...| Recent Questions - Skeptics Stack Exchange
Los Angeles Times said about Napoleon III: How changeable is taste. In the mid-19th century, when aluminum was rare and fantastically expensive, Napoleon III served his most honored guests’ meals on aluminum plates, while the B-list had to be content with gold or silver ones. This is a widespread legend. I've heard it repeated many times. But is it true?| Recent Questions - Skeptics Stack Exchange
There is a popular belief that startling a hiccuping person will cure their hiccups: This Straw Is Designed to Instantly Cure HiccupsLots of folks will try to scare hiccups away with a shock or surprise. Can a Scare Cure the Hiccups?The recent death of a Fort Hood U.S. Army soldier in Killeen, Texas, shows that a belief in the folk cure of scaring away hiccups can have tragic effects when taken to the extreme, but does the cure have any basis if administered within reason? 9 Unusual Cures For...| Recent Questions - Skeptics Stack Exchange
This article claims: While all efforts should be made to get emergency food aid to Africa during this famine, the tradition of US food aid in Africa is actually part of the problem. Giving food to the hungry seems like the epitome of charity, but under the current system it has stifled the growth of agriculture in Africa and helped continue the cash crop system forced on Africa during Colonialism. This Facebook meme extends the claim to all countries: This is not limited to Africa, either, an...| Recent Questions - Skeptics Stack Exchange
Dr. Gerald Schroeder published an article in Aish.com about the age of the Universe and the Jewish bible: So the only data I use as far as Biblical commentary goes is ancient commentary. That m...| Skeptics Stack Exchange
The video entitled "Start to Finish: What Happens When You Use a Shovel to Connect a River to the Ocean", posted by Blair Conklin, has 74 million views, and 27 thousand comments. In it, a trench is dug with a shovel, something any kid could do. We are led to believe it becomes this, I'm skeptical any of this real. If it is, rad. But I can't believe you can get from that trench to those rapids with any reasonable body of water.| Recent Questions - Skeptics Stack Exchange
According to the website Before It's News: With its smorgasbord of synthetic drugs, vaccines, surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, Western medicine or allopathy has earned the dubious honor of killing hundreds of thousands of people every year. A 2000 study by Dr. Barbara Starfield, MD, found that allopathy kills 225,000 per year in the US, while a 2003 study by Dr. Gary Null, MD and others, found that allopathy kills 783,000 per year in the US. Is this a fair summary of the research?| Recent Questions - Skeptics Stack Exchange
According to this article by the BBC (dated: 26th August 2025): A bright orange shark was recently discovered in Costa Rica (near Tortuguero National Park) Scientists say that this is the first time that a shark of this colour has been found. My questions are a) whether this happened, and if so, b) whether this was the first (and only) recorded instance of this phenomenon in a shark. Unfortunately, the article only uses pictures as evidence. This provides reason to doubt the claim as pictures...| Recent Questions - Skeptics Stack Exchange
In the popular YouTube channel Veritasium, generally known for rigorous research and not making false claims continuously, there was a video about lithium ion batteries, The Perfect Battery Material Is Dangerous. In that video, several times a claim was made that water-based electrolyte batteries are limited to 1.23 volts. Specifically, at first electrolysis was demonstrated, and it was said that at most 1.23 volts can be pushed through the electrolyte. It was also said that water-based elect...| Recent Questions - Skeptics Stack Exchange
A common claim among holocaust denial is that if Jews were killed, the 6 million figure is grossly exaggerated. A specific claim is that according to the World Almanac the world population of Jews increased (!) between 1933 and 1948 from 15,315,000 to 15,753,000. If the German government under Adolf Hitler had – as alleged – murdered six million Jews those losses should have been reflected in the Jewish population numbers quoted in the World Almanac. I see a few ways to explain this: The ...| Recent Questions - Skeptics Stack Exchange
My housemates don't want me setting up a home server because of fire hazard, I've seen very little, if anything, pointing to desktops causing fires, just laptop batteries (Can overheating laptops c...| Skeptics Stack Exchange
I came upon this quote on p.51 of National Geographic's Sublime Nature: Photographs That Awe and Inspire. I don't think da Vinci wrote in English, but what's this source? Wikiquote disputes it. ...| Skeptics Stack Exchange
There is a clip going around where a man yells "We like bacon", and being arrested for public disorder. This has been covered by The Telegraph and Sky News Australia. Given that the video clip seems to start with the words "we like bacon", I'm wondering if there isn't some context being left out. Can you tell me what that additional context is?| Recent Questions - Skeptics Stack Exchange
Several sources have claimed that the Phillipines was ranked the highest on a HelloSafe global survey: Travel Noire A new global safety survey by the financial site HelloSafe has named the Philippines the most dangerous country in the world — an unexpected twist for travelers planning their summer trips. VN Express The Philippines ranked first on a list of 10 most dangerous countries to travel following a global survey conducted by U.K.'s financial comparison site HelloSafe. Men's Journal F...| Recent Questions - Skeptics Stack Exchange
https://www.thecanary.co/trending/2025/08/20/nhs-waiting-lists-labour/ According to this article, NHS services are incentivised to avoid providing treatment and to drop patients in an attempt to make| Skeptics Stack Exchange
To my knowledge, the Vatican does not provide a public account of all the details of its finances. (The Institute for the Works of Religion does provide summaries of some financial information in| Skeptics Stack Exchange
Nick Turse (in a 2025 paper published by the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University): The war in Gaza has, since October 7, 2023, killed more journalists than th...| Skeptics Stack Exchange
In his Hater's Guide To The AI Bubble, Ed Zitron claims that, up to now, there is no business that is turning a profit from building on generative AI models like ChatGPT. Only companies that build ...| Skeptics Stack Exchange
A Forbes article and the University of Melbourne, among other sources, claim “Only Two-Thirds Of American Millennials Believe The Earth Is Round”, which seems to imply that one third of American| Skeptics Stack Exchange
There have been a number of news articles and social media posts (see: here, here, and here) claiming that Pope Francis' personal net wealth, at the time of his death, was estimated at just $100 (w...| Skeptics Stack Exchange
Ever since childhood I've been told that if you encounter an unfamiliar dog, you should not show fear, because if you do, the dog is more likely to become aggressive. I have been told that this is| Skeptics Stack Exchange
