Setting Up Your Home Office

There is a rumor going around online—on Reddit, Facebook, TikTok, and (I assume) Friendster—that gravity will stop working for seven seconds on August 12. Here is part of the warning posted online: In November 2024, a secret NASA document titled "Project Anchor" leaked online. The project's budget is $89 billion, and its goal is to survive a 7-second gravitational anomaly expected on August 12, 2026, at 14:33 UTC Key facts:• Duration: 7.3 seconds.• Expected casualties: 40-60 million. What will happen: 1-2 seconds: Everything not secured will rise (people, vehicles, animals).3-4 seconds: Objects will continue to rise to 15-20 meters.5-6 seconds: Panic and chaos will ensue …

Clones are everywhere. Last week I talked about the rumor that actor Selena Gomez is a clone or a double (she is not). This week, it's Jim Carrey. Many online are wondering whether the rubber-faced comedian/actor is not what he seems to be. Maybe he's a clone. Maybe he has a doppelgänger. Maybe it's a prank. This is all obviously dumb, but unlike the Selena Gomez story, there's some evidence that supports the idea. It's not good evidence, but it's at least a little more interesting than most conspiracy theories. Why people think Jim Carrey is a lookalikeThe theories started flying last week, when Jim Carrey was given the César Award in Paris. The 64-year-old comedian ha…

I've spend more time than I care to admit researching Selena Gomez today. The 33-year-old pop singer and star of Only Murders in The Building is at the center of an elaborate online conspiracy theory that been building steam all week. Why? In brief, many people online seem to believe Selena Gomez is a clone. Why people think Selena Gomez is a cloneIt started with the Epstein files. Last week, videos started showing up on TikTok claiming Selena Gomez was mentioned in the Epstein files. She was, but Gomez wasn't corresponding with Epstein; her name is mentioned in a July 21, 2017 message between Jeffery Epstein and Lana (NAME REDACTED) in which Epstein writes, "sorry , you …

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Memphis city council members Pearl Eva Walker and Yolanda Cooper Sutton (and many other people online) say that snow is fake. Sutton recently posted a video on her Facebook page to demonstrate the artificiality of snow. Over footage of her husband holding a snowball and a lighter, Sutton says, "So we decided to see what was really hitting the ground." Her husband holds a flame to the snowball, and it does not melt. “It’s not melting [it stinks] when you set fire to it OMG, Jesus Christ, what is happening!!!” Sutton asks. In the video's comment section, fellow council member Walker reportedly replied, "man made," and inc…

The pre-Super Bowl hype weeks have begun, and with them comes the annual American tradition of calling the NFL rigged. Local drunks, AM radio sports show hosts, and message board experts are all in agreement: The fix is in. Last year, the most interesting conspiracy theory held that the Pentagon rigged the entire 2024 NFL season so the Chiefs could appear in the Super Bowl and Taylor Swift could help Democrats get re-elected in 2024. (Oops.) This year's football truthers have a less esoteric theory for why the Chiefs are definitely going to win the Super Bowl: Follow the money. They make a compelling case, but they're wrong. Why "they" would fix the Super BowlThe rough …

Many people think the world is going to end in 2026. Man people think the world is going to end every year—maybe because the Bible said so, or The Simpsons said so—but this 2026-doomsday prediction seems to have a scientific basis. In a 1960 issue of Science magazine, Austrian scientist and polymath Heinz von Foerster detailed what he called the “Doomsday Equation,” a model he used to calculate the last day of civilization on earth. According to von Foerster (and probably Homer Simpson), The End is coming on Friday, November 13, 2026. Who is Heinz von Foerster?Foerster was not a crank. A pioneer in computer science, artificial intelligence, physics, biophysics, and other…

We're heading toward the back half of February—and according to your weird aunt on Facebook, this is an unusual, maybe magical month. Some say it is a "miraclein," a lucky calendar configuration that only occurs once every 823 years. Others say February 2026 is a "perfect month." Some say it is the beginning of an extremely unlucky year. Some say that a late-month planetary alignment will cause great upheaval. The February 2026 "miraclein"Though it is not a word used by astronomers (or even astrologers, to my knowledge), some are describing this month as a "miraclein," a month in which every day of the week falls four times during the month. This only happens every 823 y…

In a culture overwhelmed with ridiculous beliefs, an unlikely hero of rationality has emerged: reality star Kim Kardashian. Kim raised a healthy amount of skepticism of psychics in a recent TikTok video: In case you don’t follow the ins-and-outs of reality stars, Kim K.'s recent life cycle/plot development sees her trying to become a lawyer. She’s been taking an apprenticeship in the industry and presumably studying hard. She also consulted psychics, who read tea leaves or whatever and concluded that she would pass the California bar exam. Except, sadly, she did not. “Psychics are full pathological liars” —Kim Kardashian“All of the fucking psychics that we have met with,…

A recent outbreak of measles in West Texas has resulted in 159 cases of the disease in the state so far; 22 victims required hospitalization, and one has died. In response to the deadly outbreak, some Texas parents seem to be considering hosting "measles parties" instead of vaccinating their kids. Misinformation about measles can have deadly consequences, so here's a look at some ways people are getting measles wrong. Myth: Measles vaccines are potentially dangerousWhile a small percentage of people suffer side effects from the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine, they are almost always mild. The most common is a fever that hits between 5% and 10% of those vaccinat…

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Every few decades, the pop culture machine spits out a person who purports to have supernatural powers. In the 1980s, it was spoon-bending swami Uri Geller. In the 1990s and 2000s, it was “mediums” like John Edward, who supposedly talked to people’s dead relatives. In 2025, we have Oz Pearlman. To be fair, unlike the rest of these examples, Pearlman doesn't claim supernatural powers himself, but a lot of people seem to be taking his stage patter explanation for his mentalist tricks as the unvarnished truth. They're wrong. Oz (pronounced “Oh’s”) has a hell of a schtick. The 43-year-old dude seems like an unassuming nerd, un…

We are less than two weeks away from the 95th anniversary of the discovery of Pluto, the ice-caked, rocky sphere orbiting around 3.7 billion miles from the sun. To mark the occasion, The Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, where Pluto was discovered, is hosting its sixth annual "I Heart Pluto" festival. But should they? Is Pluto even a planet? According to a recent YouGov poll, 35% of Americans think Pluto is not a planet. It's something else, according to them. But they are all wrong—kind of. To get to the bottom of Pluto's planet status, I tracked down planetary scientist Dr. Will Grundy—who you might recognize from academic papers like "Measurement of D/H and 13…

A recent YouTube video from channel The Ultimate Discovery makes some claims that might surprise fans of actor Gene Hackman. According to the video, FBI agents searching Hackman's home following his death discovered a "hidden passageway concealed behind the library wall" that led to a "vast, eerie underground warehouse" containing documents, antiques, old photographs, and parts of unidentifiable machines. The walls were covered in runes and symbols that seem to be of ancient origin and could not be translated. Not only that, the bunker connects to larger network of tunnels, "similar to the catacombs of Paris." It's a pretty good story (if you can swallow the pre…

I'm posting this on March 17,St. Patrick's Day, the day we celebrate the patron saint of Ireland, and Irishness in general, by dancing to accordion-and-fiddle-based music, dyeing a river green, and enjoying a wee drink or three. But there's a lot people get wrong about the holiday, so allow me to clear up some myths. St. Patrick's Day wasn't always a day for partyingThe association between boozing it up and March 17 is relatively recent. St. Patrick's Day was observed in Ireland as early as the ninth century but it was largely a somber remembrance, not a celebration—it marks the anniversary of St. Patrick's death, after all. It was a day when the dietary restrictions of L…

This week, people are wrong about teleportation. A common science fiction trope, teleportation is the transfer of matter or energy from one point to another without traversing the physical space between them. Widely repeated claims of teleportation have been cropping up since at least 1583, when occultist John Dee supposedly vanished from his home in England and reappeared at the same moment in Prague. The most recent report comes from Gregg Phillips, who was appointed to lead FEMA's office of response and recovery in December. On a January episode of the Onward podcast, Phillips said, "I was with my boys one time, and I was telling them I was gonna go to Waffle House...t…

This story seems straight out of a Hollywood thriller: Up to a dozen scientists working on some of the U.S.’s most advanced and sensitive aerospace and nuclear programs have disappeared or died in mysterious ways over the last five years. The FBI is working with the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense, and local law enforcement to find answers. The House Oversight Committee launched its own investigation. Congressman Eric Burlison said the mystery has “all the hallmarks of a foreign operation.” The president called it “pretty serious stuff." Congressman James Comer suggested someone is targeting the nation’s nuclear program. Rep. Tim Burchett alleged a cover-…

This week, there has been a lot of chatter in the weirder parts of the online world about the supposed discovery of a hidden complex of underground chambers beneath the Great Pyramids of Giza in Egypt. It seems a team of researchers announced they'd used SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) to reveal a number of underground buildings beneath the Khafre Pyramid. This discovery could offer proof the ancient Egyptian civilization was far more advanced than is generally believed, and possessed technology that rivals our own. It could change everything we think we know about humanity itself! In other words, big if true. Spoiler: It's not true though. All signs point to the “discov…

Did you know you can customize Google to filter out garbage? Take these steps for better search results, including adding my work at Lifehacker as a preferred source. With Halloween around the corner, let's take a look at a spooky and supposedly true story going viral this week. Recently, a 911 call surfaced of a North Carolina man calling authorities because he thought he saw a bloody man by the side of a desolate country road. While he was speaking to the operator, something landed in the bed of his pickup truck, causing the 911 caller to start screaming "It's not human! It's not human!" Check out the video: My first reaction upon seeing this was the same as yours: …

Because it’s Christmas time, I’ve been digging into myths and misconceptions we have about the holiday: Yuletide misinformation is rampant, and I’m setting the record straight. Last week I dug into who Santa Claus really is, with side quests about St. Nicholas bringing children back from the dead and the religious war between Santa and Kris Kringle. One thing I didn't talk about? His elves. Christmas elves feel like they’ve been around forever, and people have strangely consistent ideas of what they’re all about—they’re small, they wear green, they make toys out of some innate magical compulsion, they love shelves— but that variety of elf is a recent invention; “real” el…

A lot of people are wrong about low testosterone. The "low testosterone" hashtag on TikTok features over 20,000 videos from real doctors, fake doctors, real doctors who seem like fake doctors, bodybuilders, wellness weirdoes, straight-up scammers, and, seemingly, everyone else. Some of the content is accurate, some is wildly inaccurate, some is in the middle, but the overall impression is a confusing miasma where solid medical information is given equal space with people recommending boosting your testosterone by exposing your privates to direct sunlight for 10 minutes a day. So let's clear this up a little. What low testosterone actually isTestosterone is a hormone prod…

Did you know you can customize Google to filter out garbage? Take these steps for better search results, including adding my work at Lifehacker as a preferred source. Are you ready for The Rapture and the days of turmoil to follow? Because, if some corners of the Evangelical Christian community online are correct, it's happening today (or maybe tomorrow) just in time for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish feast of The Presidentets. Whether true believers will meet Jesus up in the air this week remains to be seen, so I'm keeping an open mind, but I wanted to lay out what to expect, should the Rapture occur. According to the New King James translation of 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, "T…

It’s Christmas time, so I’m taking a look at myths related to the holiday. Last week, I focused on myths about Jesus. This week I’m taking a look at that other beloved Christmas icon: Santa Claus, the central figure in the secular holiday mascot pantheon, who is so mysterious, we can’t even agree on his real name. I’m sure he’s innocent of any crimes, but Santa has many aliases. Among many other sobriquets and honorifics, the guy who brings presents in December goes by Jolly Old St. Nicholas, Kris Kringle, Père Noël, and Father Christmas. That’s a lot of fake identities, but what is his real name? And who invented him? Did Coca-Cola invent Santa Claus?There is an often …

Did you know you can customize Google to filter out garbage? Take these steps for better search results, including adding my work at Lifehacker as a preferred source. While sometimes there's a big piece of misinformation that a lot of people latch onto—like The Rapture or the existence of "MedBeds"—the fractured nature of the information sphere has all but killed the overarching conspiracy theory. No longer do big ideas like "we never went to the moon" unite the dumbest minds; instead, the algorithm creates bespoke conspiracy theories. So instead of joining the Flat Earth Society, you might think the actual year is 1728, or that AI secretly imagined a British comedian fro…

Season's greetings and all that. In honor of this most special time of the year, I'm taking a look at commonly held Christmas myths and misconceptions. I busted a ton of Jesus myths a couple weeks ago, then got secular and finally revealed the truth about Santa Claus, so this week I'm doing a round-up of seasonal misinformation, both religious and secular. Religious Christmas mythsJesus was born in a stableThe Gospels aren't specific about where where Jesus was born, other than "Bethlehem." Here's how Luke 2:4–7 is traditionally translated: "And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room f…