Everyday Life4 min
A popular story traces the phrase to machine-gun belts in Second World War fighter planes. We followed it back through old newspapers and tested the belts, along with the kilts, concrete trucks and ships.
Animals & Nature4 min
Everyone knows the picture of an ostrich with its head in the sand. Here is what zoologists have seen ostriches do when danger comes, and how an ancient Roman writer started the story.
History4 min
Few quotes are pinned on anyone as firmly as "Let them eat cake" on Marie Antoinette. We checked where the line first appears in print and who it was first said about.
Science5 min
Panes in very old windows are often thicker at the bottom, and a popular explanation says glass slowly flows. We looked at the physics of glass and at how old panes were made and fitted.
Animals & Nature4 min
The three-second memory is the most famous thing about goldfish. Here is what decades of experiments say about how much a goldfish can learn and how long it remembers.
History5 min
It is often said that people before Columbus believed the Earth was flat. We checked what medieval scholars wrote about the Earth's shape, and where the story came from.
Science5 min
The idea that we use only a tenth of our brains turns up in films, adverts and self-help books. Here is what brain scans and neuroscience say, and where the 10% figure came from.
Everyday Life4 min
A widely shared story says "rule of thumb" comes from an old law on how thick a stick a man could beat his wife with. We traced the phrase and the legend back to their sources.
Animals & Nature4 min
Matadors wave red capes, and many people believe the colour is what enrages the bull. Here is how cattle see colour, and what experiments show about why a bull charges.
History4 min
Horned helmets are the classic image of a Viking. We checked what archaeologists have found in Viking Age graves, and where the horned look comes from.
Science4 min
The old saying promises that lightning never strikes the same place twice. Here is what lightning records show about where strikes land, and where the saying came from.
Science claims checked, strange truths and popular myths alike: the brain, physics, space, weather and the body's everyday workings.
Historical claims, famous quotes and surprising facts, checked against the sources.
Animal and nature claims checked, from cube-shaped wombat droppings to goldfish memory.
Everyday beliefs, household 'rules' and sayings: where they come from and whether they hold up.
