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PeakMetrics / Fact Checks

Science & space fact checks

Explore claims publishers have checked about science & space. Read their original ratings and follow the evidence.

1,577 published reviews in this topic

Factcrescendo ThailandScience & space

เต่าตัวนี้คือเต่ากาลาปากอส ข้อมูลบอกว่าเกิดในปี 1832 ตอนนี้มีอายุ 191 ปี

Publisher’s rating: Misleading

The claim concerns a social-media image said to show a Galápagos tortoise born in 1832 and aged 191. The review finds that the image does not show Jonathan, the tortoise associated with those details: it reports that the image was traced to a Taronga Zoo Instagram post from 2014, and that the zoo identified the pictured Galápagos tortoise as A11, about 50 years old. Thus, the age and birth-year details do not describe the animal in the image. Evidence: “รูปภาพเต่ายักษ์ที่มีการแชร์กันตามโซเชียลมีเดียนั้นไม่ใช่โจนาธานแต่อย่างใด” and “ทางสวนสัตว์กล่าวว่าเต่ากาลาปากอสในภาพมีชื่อว่า A11 และมีอายุประมาณ 50 ปี” (S1). The review distinguishes the pictured animal from Jonathan. It says Guinness World Records records Jonathan as a Seychelles giant tortoise, born in 1832, and due to turn 191 in 2023. The misleading element is applying Jonathan’s details to a different tortoise pictured in the post; the age of 191 was not the review’s estimate for the photographed animal. Evidence: “เต่าที่อายุยืนที่สุดตามบันทึกของ Guinness World Records คือเต่ายักษ์พันธุ์ Seychelles ที่ชื่อว่า ‘โจนาธาน’ (Jonathan)” and “โจนาธานเกิดในปี 1832 และจะอายุครบ 191 ปีในปี 2023 นี้” (S1).

FACTLYScience & space

EctoLife is producing 30,000 lab-grown artificial babies every year

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

FACTLY examined a viral video said to show EctoLife producing 30,000 lab-grown babies every year. Its investigation found that the video depicts a proposed artificial-womb concept, not an operating facility. The review identifies Hashem Al Ghaili, a Berlin-based science communicator and biotechnologist, as the person who introduced the concept and says he confirmed that the depicted technology does not yet exist. The article reports that the concept was introduced in December 2022 and that Al Ghaili described EctoLife as a facility that could grow around 30,000 babies. That figure was therefore presented as a hypothetical capacity, not evidence that babies were already being produced at that rate. FACTLY also reports that Al Ghaili shared the same video on his YouTube channel and that he told USA Today the technology depicted does not exist and EctoLife is not a real company. The review distinguishes the concept video from research into artificial wombs. It mentions a 2017 experiment in which researchers at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia kept a pre-viable lamb fetus alive for four weeks in an amniotic sac designed to imitate the womb. The article says that such research does not establish the existence of a facility growing human babies outside the womb as shown in the viral video. Its conclusion is that the video is a depiction of a concept, not evidence that EctoLife is producing 30,000 babies annually.

dpaScience & space

Video toont wolken veroorzaakt door HAARP.

Publisher’s rating: Het filmpje werd in juli 2021 in Georgia, de VS, gemaakt. Te zien is een zogenoemde 'plankwolk' die voorafgaat aan een flinke onweersbui. HAARP, het onderzoeksprogramma gevestigd in Alaska, heeft er dus niets mee van doen en kan bovendien helemaal geen invloed uitoefenen op het weer.

El Detector / UnivisionScience & space

El núcleo de la Tierra se detuvo y esto guarda relación con los recientes terremotos en Turquía y Siria o con la posibilidad de generar tsunamis.

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The review examined whether the recent earthquakes in Turkey and Syria were connected to claims that the Earth's core had stopped, and whether a change in the core could generate tsunamis. It reports that elDetector consulted Yi Yang, a co-author of the study on changes in the inner core's rotation, by email. Yang said there was no direct connection: the study's results had no implications for the mechanisms of earthquakes or tsunamis. The review distinguishes a slowing rotation from a stop. It says the study found that the inner core began slowing around 2009, and quotes Yang clarifying that its rotation is currently slightly slower than the Earth's surface. The article also notes that the study's authors corrected it to clarify language describing the inner core's rotation, after the finding attracted media attention and was misunderstood. The article provides a separate explanation for the events named in the claim: it says earthquakes originate in the Earth's crust through tectonic plate movement, while tsunamis generally result from earthquakes beneath or near the ocean floor. Those accounts, together with Yang's statement about the study's implications, do not support a link between the core's changing rotation and the Turkey-Syria earthquakes or tsunami generation.

El Detector / Univision NoticiasScience & space

Video muestra ovni sobrevolando Miami.

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The claim concerns a viral video said to show a UFO flying over Miami. The review describes a 22-second recording filmed from a moving vehicle on a highway; a man calls the aircraft a UFO or “saucer,” and text over the video says it was seen in Miami. The review concludes the footage shows an aircraft, not a UFO. To identify it, the review reports consulting aviation historian Dan Grossman, who examined the images and said the craft’s size and shape—especially its gondola—matched a Zeppelin NT. Goodyear’s communications department said the blurry aircraft had the silhouette and navigation-light placement of its current blimp, and that one of its blimps flew over South Florida on February 9, 2023, the date the review traced the video to its original TikTok post. Goodyear did not confirm that the aircraft in the footage was one of its own. The review also reports that FlightAware’s history showed Goodyear aircraft N2A flying over South Florida several times on February 9, as well as on February 3, 7, and 8. Taken together, the expert’s visual identification and the flight records support the review’s conclusion that the video shows a blimp rather than evidence of an unidentified object. The footage’s quality did not allow the reviewers to establish the exact highway location, so the identification is supported by the aircraft’s appearance and flight activity rather than a precise location match.

dpaScience & space

Deze kaart toont de wereldwijde HAARP-locaties.

Publisher’s rating: HAARP is een onderzoeksprogramma gevestigd in Alaska en bestudeert de ionosfeer. Dat is de enige locatie van dat onderzoeksprogramma. De gedeelde kaart is een samenraapsel van willekeurige plaatsen en andere onderzoeksinstituten.