All fact-checks

5 briefs, each one written because somebody asked. Search, or browse by subject.

Swallowed chewing gum does not sit in the stomach for seven years; it usually passes through the digestive tract in days.

You do not usually lose most body heat through your head; the head matters, but mostly when it’s exposed and the rest of you isn’t.

Usually no; the safer move is to wake them gently or steer them back to bed, because the real risk is confusion or injury while sleepwalking.

Coffee does not make kids shorter; genetics and nutrition matter far more, while caffeine’s real risks are sleep and appetite.

Decades of studies, including one man's 60-year experiment on his own hands, find no link between knuckle cracking and arthritis.