Straight Dope Archive

Was Ludwig van Beethoven of African ancestry?
By Cecil Adams
May 27, 2005
How do birds find bird feeders?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by Colibri
May 26, 2005
Why do cartoon characters only have three fingers?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by Euty
May 24, 2005
Was there genocide in early 20th century Armenia?
By Cecil Adams
May 20, 2005
Were there Nike missile sites on the Chicago lakefront?
By Cecil Adams
May 13, 2005
How come we can't decipher the Indus script?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by bibliophage
May 10, 2005
Does microwaving kill nutrients in food? Is microwaving safe?
By Cecil Adams
May 6, 2005
What exactly was the sin of Onan?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by Dex
May 3, 2005
Can a woman's menstrual cycle make her more susceptible to the effects of alcohol?
By Cecil Adams
April 29, 2005
What's the deal with the three wise men?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by Euty
April 26, 2005
Do tall people die younger?
By Cecil Adams
April 22, 2005
You'll put your eye out: Can the human eyeball be knocked out of the head?
By Cecil Adams
April 15, 2005
What's the origin of "cut to the chase"?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by dropzone
April 14, 2005
Was Walt Disney a fascist?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by Eutychus
April 12, 2005
Is it possible to be dyslexic in Chinese?
By Cecil Adams
April 8, 2005
What's up with Mormonism?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by Rico
April 5, 2005
Did the Catholic church in Ireland imprison wayward girls?
By Cecil Adams
April 1, 2005
How do they get the hole through a hypodermic needle?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by Una
March 29, 2005
Does PCP turn people into cannibals?
By Cecil Adams
March 25, 2005
Is brainwashing possible?
By Cecil Adams
March 18, 2005
How does a coin-op pool table know to return the cue ball when you scratch?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by Una
March 15, 2005
Could you jump off a bridge or a tall building and survive the fall?
By Cecil Adams
March 11, 2005
Why do you need to reach "escape velocity" to get away from earth?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by Chronos
March 8, 2005
Is it impossible to open a refrigerator door from the inside?
By Cecil Adams
March 4, 2005
What's the origin of "slapstick"?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by dropzone
March 1, 2005
Will looking directly at a solar eclipse make you go blind?
By Cecil Adams
February 25, 2005
How they salt peanuts in the shell, and other peanut facts
A Straight Dope Staff Report by Una
February 22, 2005
Do intravenous sedatives act instantly as depicted by Hollywood?
By Cecil Adams
February 18, 2005
What's the origin of "potluck"?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by Ken
February 17, 2005
What happened to Hitler's family? Is progeria really accelerated aging?
By Cecil Adams
February 11, 2005
What's the origin of "slush fund"?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by Dex
February 10, 2005
Why don't snowstorms produce lightning?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by Una
February 8, 2005
Can you get drunk on Listerine? How about vanilla extract?
By Cecil Adams
February 4, 2005
What's the origin of "slow boat to China"?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by Dex and SamClem
February 1, 2005
Are male fertility rates shrinking?
By Cecil Adams
January 28, 2005
What's up with the biblical story of drunken Noah? (Part 2)
A Straight Dope Staff Report by Dex
January 27, 2005
What's up with the biblical story of drunken Noah? (Part 1)
A Straight Dope Staff Report by Dex
January 25, 2005
Exercise! Does running burn more calories than walking?
By Cecil Adams
January 21, 2005
Is there an easy way to correct for inflation?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by Hawthorne
January 18, 2005
Were the witches of Salem a result of poisoning with ergot fungus?
By Cecil Adams
January 14, 2005
Is iceberg lettuce a drug?
By Cecil Adams
January 7, 2005
If St. Patrick didn't chase the snakes out of Ireland, what did?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by Colibri
January 4, 2005
Was Boston once literally flooded with molasses?
By Cecil Adams
December 31, 2004
Why do we have so many temperature scales?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by hibernicus
December 28, 2004
Was Einstein a plagiarist?
By Cecil Adams
December 24, 2004
Is good personal hygiene a recent invention? (Did the days of old really stink?)
By Cecil Adams
December 17, 2004
Why don't fish crash into the side of the fishbowl?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by Colibri
December 14, 2004
York, Pennsylvania: First capital of the United States?
By Cecil Adams
December 10, 2004
Did Vikings really wear horns on their helmets?
A Straight Dope Staff Report by bibliophage
December 7, 2004
Can a person be buried in the backyard rather than a cemetery?
By Cecil Adams
December 3, 2004
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