Daily Archives: July 15, 2021
No evidence three presidents died because they refused vaccines for their nations
A meme shared on Facebook features actor John Krasinski in The Office with a whiteboard with edited text, which says: “3 countries refused the covid vaccine”, followed by: “Now all 3 of their presidents have died unexpectedly”. Beneath the image are the names of the former presidents of Haiti (Jovenel Moïse), Tanzania (John Magufuli) and… Read More »
Viral social media picture doesn’t show world’s oldest living land animal
A picture of a tortoise, claimed to be the oldest known living land animal in the world, has been shared widely on social media. It’s true that the oldest known living land animal in the world is a tortoise named Jonathan, at almost 190 years old. But the picture shared on social media is not… Read More »
Churchill’s photograph has not been removed from Google
A Facebook post shares a picture of Winston Churchill with the text: “As Google have removed him let’s share him all over Facebook.” The post was published on 17 June 2020, but it is still being widely shared, with more than 36,000 shares so far. It seems to refer to the disappearance of Churchill’s photograph… Read More »
Your fuel tank won’t explode if you fill it during a heatwave
A post on Facebook, shared more than half a million times, warns that filling a fuel tank in hot weather could cause the tank to explode. “Due to [an] increase in temperature in the coming days, please don’t fill petrol to the maximum limit. It may cause [an] explosion in the fuel tank. Please fill… Read More »
Facebook post about wolves makes howling errors
A Facebook post shows a photo of a wolf pack, with text alongside the photo explaining their formation. It claims that while on the move the pack organises a formation based on strength, with the “alpha” wolf pulling up the rear and controlling the direction of the entire group, while the old and sick wolves… Read More »
Shift Work Disorder: 17 Ways to Manage it Better
Are you having trouble sleeping? Or do you feel like you can barely stay awake when you need to? Are you left tired and irritable, lacking the joy and motivation that life once brought? If these complaints are tied to your long or rotating work schedule, you may be suffering from shift work disorder—a common… Read More »
Acidic foods don’t test positive for Covid
A number of Facebook posts have claimed that tomatoes, raspberries, blackberries and lemons produce positive lateral flow test results for Covid-19. This isn’t true. The photos in both posts show pictures of fruit accompanied by a completed lateral flow test with two lines next to areas marked “C” and “T”. These lines indicate a positive… Read More »
This isn’t a real image of the Northern Lights from space
An image claiming to show the Northern Lights from space has been going viral on Facebook. The post says the image comes “courtesy of NASA” which is true. But the image is not a real photo from space but a computer generation. As Snopes reported back in 2018, the image is a still image taken… Read More »
Stonehenge wasn’t built in the 1950s
A video claiming that Stonehenge is a modern fake has been widely viewed on Facebook. (At least one other post has made similar claims.) Stonehenge isn’t fake, just to be clear. The video appears to come from TikTok. It begins with the caption: “And you thought Stonehenge was real?!” It then shows a series of… Read More »
Adverse event reports after vaccines are not necessarily due to vaccines
A Facebook post claims that, in the USA there have been 387,087 reports of adverse events “of this evil shot in the arm”, presumably referring to the Covid-19 vaccine, up until 18 June 2021. As we have said before, the fact that an adverse event was reported after a vaccination is no proof that it… Read More »