real- real- or pseudo - science the test (from alex bosse, a graduate student at the university of...
TRANSCRIPT
Real-Real- or Pseudo-
ScienceThe Test
(From Alex Bosse, a graduate student at the University of California, San Diego who maintains a website – www.museumofhoaxes.com-- that includes some far-fetched
hoaxes that have bedazzled generations of the gullible).
Question 1
• Cockroaches can survive for up to 1 month with their heads cut off.
ANSWER
Question 2
• Sharks do not get cancer.
ANSWER
Question 3
• Long tailed, South American monkeys link their bodies to form living ‘bridges’ across rivers.
ANSWER
Question 4
• The Laws of Physics change over time.
ANSWER
Question 5
• Turtles, once they reach maturity, do not continue to grow old.
ANSWER
Question 6
• Lemmings commit suicide by hurling themselves, en masse, off cliffs.
ANSWER
Question 7
• There is a small village in Ecuador, called Vilacabamba, whose inhabitants have an average lifespan of more than 100 years.
ANSWER
Question 8
• Lightening occasionally imprints photographic-like images of surrounding scenery onto the skin of those it has struck.
ANSWER
Question 9
• Physicists recently announced that they were able to slow down light waves.
ANSWER
Question 10
• Gravity has a stronger pull at the earth’s poles than it does at the equator.
ANSWER
Question 11
• The following picture is a real picture.
ANSWER
Question 12
• The following picture is a real picture.
ANSWER
Question 13
• The following product is a real, scientifically verified, product to help female boars ‘get in the mood.’
ANSWER
Question 1
• Cockroaches can survive for up to 1 month with their heads cut off.
ANSWER = TRUE
Unlike mammals, cockroaches do not bleed. They do not need their heads to breathe. They only require their heads to eat.
If you marked False, give yourself a ‘skeptics’ point. Next Question
Question 2
• Sharks do not get cancer.
ANSWER = False
Sharks definitely get cancer. However, they get it far less often than humans do.
If you marked True, give yourself a ‘gullible’ point. Next Question
Question 3
• Long tailed, South American monkeys link their bodies to form living ‘bridges’ across rivers.
ANSWER = False
The idea of monkey chains is a myth that was started by early European explorers of South America.
If you marked True, give yourself a ‘gullible’ point. Next Question
Question 4
• The Laws of Physics change over time.
ANSWER = True or False
Some current research in physics does seem to indicate that the laws of nature have subtly changed since the birth of the universe, but other research disputes this conclusion.
This question cannot be graded! Next Question
Question 5
• Turtles, once they reach maturity, do not continue to grow old.
ANSWER = True
Turtles, unlike humans, do not continue to age once their bodies reach maturity. Injury, predation, or disease eventually kill them.
If you marked False, give yourself a ‘skeptics’ point. Next Question
Question 6
• Lemmings commit suicide by hurling themselves, en masse, off cliffs.
ANSWER = False
The Lemming suicide myth was strengthened by a 1958 Disney documentary, White Wilderness, in which the filmmakers herded some hapless lemmings off a cliff to portray this ‘natural’ behavior.If you marked True, give yourself a ‘gullible’ point.
Next Question
Question 7
• There is a small village in Ecuador, called Vilacabamba, whose inhabitants have an average lifespan of more than 100 years.
ANSWER = False
A 1971 census reported a high number of the village’s 819 residents as being over the age of 100. However, it was a hoax, probably perpetuated to attract tourists.
If you marked True, give yourself a ‘gullible’ point.Next
Question
Question 8
• Lightening occasionally imprints photographic-like images of surrounding scenery onto the skin of those it has struck.
ANSWER = False 19th century scientists dubbed this phenomenon ‘keranography,’ and claims of its existence still appear. An actual example of it, however, has never been documented. Lightening leaves marks when it strikes, but scientists haven’t found it to have any unique photographic properties.
If you marked True, give yourself a ‘gullible’ point.Next
Question
Question 9
• Physicists recently announced that they were able to slow down light waves.
ANSWER = TrueIn January 2001, researchers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics reported this amazing achievement. The researchers used supercooled vapor to slow down the velocity of the light waves to zero, thereby freezing the energy of the light in an atomic ‘spin wave.’
If you marked False, give yourself a ‘skeptics’ point. Next Question
Question 10
• Gravity has a stronger pull at the earth’s poles than it does at the equator.
ANSWER = True The earth is not perfectly round. It flattens out somewhat at the poles. In addition, the centrifugal spin effect at the equator slightly counteracts the pull of gravity. Together, these conditions would explain the difference of about 1 pound in your weight at these two locations.
If you marked False, give yourself a ‘skeptics’ point. Next Question
Question 11
• The following picture is a real picture.
ANSWER = True
This picture catches a jet at the precise moment that it is breaking the sound barrier. What you see is a visual image of the ‘shockwave’ that you would hear as a ‘sonic boom.’ Capturing this picture took a humid day, split-second timing, and no small amount of luck.
If you marked False, give yourself a ‘skeptics’ point. Next Question
Question 12
• The following picture is a real picture.
ANSWER = False The photograph of the helicopter is used in web page describing the U.S. Air Fprce’s HH-60G Pave Hawk Helicopter. The photograph of the jumping shark was taken by underwater photographer Charles Maxwell off the coast of South America. The anonymous photoshop hacker flipped the picture of the helicopter and pasted in the jumping shark.
If you marked True, give yourself a ‘gullible’ point.
Next Question
Question 13
• The following product is a real, scientifically verified, product to help female boars ‘get in the mood.’
ANSWER = True Boarmate is a spray containing synthetically produced ‘boar odour’ (5[alpha]-androst-16-en-3-one) that is normally produced from the boar’s submaxillary glands. It was developed by the UK Meat Research Institute and the UK Meat and Livestock Commission “as an aid to the farmer to overcome difficulties that arise in identifying sows and gilts that are ready for insemination.”
If you marked False, give yourself a ‘skeptics’ point.
Next Question