Category: The Straight Dope

Ahoy, matey. Pirates are often depicted with a parrot on their shoulder. What’s the basis for this? Was there a specific pirate from history or literature that had a feathered friend? –Craig, Phoenix What were the origins of the skull and crossbones, as seen on pirate-ship flags? –Kelly, Cypress, Texas Concluding our two-part colloquium on […]

Everyone is familiar with the idea of buried pirate treasure, and maps where “X marks the spot.” But is there any evidence of such a practice? Were there ever any pirate treasure maps as described? –Jimmy Breck-McKye, South Yorkshire, UK With Talk Like a Pirate Day still fresh in memory and Halloween coming up, now […]

Major plot points in some recent movies have involved the evacuation of a town due to its being intentionally flooded by a new dam. Has this ever happened in real life? Are there submerged towns scattered about this great land containing untold riches, ripe for harvest? –Mattyj, via e-mail Has this ever happened? You’re kidding, […]

My dad and I were discussing how long meat kept in the freezer remains safe for consumption. He mentioned that an organization called the Explorers Club had thawed out a prehistoric woolly mammoth, cooked it, and eaten it. This seemed dubious at best to me, so I thought I’d ask that great font of wisdom, […]

A speaker at a recent school board meeting claimed the vocabulary of the average American grade school student was 25,000 words in 1945 and about 10,000 today. This is pretty disturbing if true. What do you think? —Dave Evans, Bellingham, Washington I’ll tell you what I think: with nonsense like this spreading unchecked, we should […]

I’ve learned a few things working with chemotherapy agents in research, such as the vast majority kill cancer cells by the same mechanisms that cause the cancer in the first place. In the lab we use very small amounts and are very careful about our waste disposal, but I was wondering: what happens when patients […]

Box scores tell you how a baseball team has done. Stock listings tell you how a stock has performed. But I’ve never seen a mechanism indicating whether weathermen have any idea what they’re talking about. Does anyone keep track of how accurate they are? —Steven Goldberg, via e-mail Is there any evidence that computer tracking […]

When drying my hands in a public bathroom, I frequently have the choice of an electric hot-air dryer or paper towels. Since the label on the hot-air dryer proclaims it is environmentally friendly and reduces paper towel waste, I generally use it. But the dryer requires no little electricity, the production of which is often […]

We’re often told that some people facing serious illness are “fighters” and that helps them survive or, conversely, that some people “give up” or the like. My question is, are such phenomena scientifically validated? Is willpower really a factor in whether you live or die? —Nelamm18, via e-mail Tough call. On one hand, I’ve always […]

I was watching an episode of Nature on PBS about sea turtles, and at one point the narrator mentioned vast deposits of methane at the bottom of the ocean in solid form. Then he gave some vague warning that the warming oceans may unleash all this methane into the atmosphere. What’s the straight dope on […]

What are the supposed healthful benefits of sea salt? Does it have any minerals that standard table salt doesn’t? Could current sea salt contain human-induced toxins of one sort or another, due to pollution, that salt formed millennia ago wouldn’t? —Kerinsky, via e-mail The main thing sea salt has going for it is happy vibes. […]

In mythology class the other day, my teacher mentioned that Agamemnon’s death mask had been found, which coupled with the discovery of Troy in the 19th century makes me wonder if the war and characters Homer described were real. What’s the evidence, and what’s the straight dope on this so-called death mask? —Briana, Montana Forget […]

I’ve come across several references recently to the alleged fact that the introduction of federal automobile fuel efficiency standards in the United States has increased the number of automobile deaths. The only sources cited are “free-market” think tanks. Is there any empirical evidence for this claim? If the federal government banned small cars, would highway […]

In Chinese restaurants I always see statues of Buddha with long earlobes. I sometimes ask the folks who work there what significance this has. So far, even the Buddhists (three now) have no idea. Do you? —Eric Bottos, via e-mail What’s the difference between the fat Buddha and the regular Buddha? One report I’ve heard […]

Why did banks settle on that very 70s futuristic—and downright awful-looking—font as the standard typeface for the routing and account numbers on checks? Is there something inherently superior about it? If so, why isn’t it found on more official documents? —B. Yankee, via e-mail Stop right there, B. You don’t want to even use “70s” […]