The Straight Dope - Fighting Ignorance Since 1973

Straight Dope Archive

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

Was Boston once literally flooded with molasses?

By Cecil Adams
December 31, 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

York, Pennsylvania: First capital of the United States?

By Cecil Adams
December 10, 2004

Can a person be buried in the backyard rather than a cemetery?

By Cecil Adams
December 3, 2004

Is the grass always greener on the other side?

By Cecil Adams
November 26, 2004

Was the author of Peter Pan a pedophile?

By Cecil Adams
November 19, 2004

Did 90,000 people die of typhoid fever and cholera in Chicago in 1885?

By Cecil Adams
November 12, 2004

Have Great Britain's restrictive gun laws contributed to the rise in violent crime?

By Cecil Adams
November 5, 2004

Have we ever had a killer in the White House?

By Cecil Adams
October 29, 2004

Does shark cartilage prevent cancer?

By Cecil Adams
October 22, 2004

What's up with popup ads?

By Cecil Adams
October 15, 2004

What's the difference between premium and regular gas?

By Cecil Adams
October 8, 2004

What's wrong with cousins marrying?

By Cecil Adams
October 1, 2004

Is there more flatulence in a vegetarian diet?

By Cecil Adams
September 24, 2004

Does ball lightning really exist?

By Cecil Adams
September 17, 2004

Is the increased use of high-fructose corn syrup responsible for the rise in obesity?

By Cecil Adams
September 10, 2004

Is a diamond's price a true measure of its value?

By Cecil Adams
September 3, 2004

What's the true story on Benjamin Franklin?

By Cecil Adams
August 20, 2004

Did Mahatma Gandhi sleep with virgins?

By Cecil Adams
August 13, 2004

Were Ethel and Julius Rosenberg Soviet spies?

By Cecil Adams
August 6, 2004

Does barbecuing cause cancer?

By Cecil Adams
July 30, 2004

What happened to Mercurochrome?

By Cecil Adams
July 23, 2004

Did the Reagan-era USDA really classify ketchup as a vegetable?

By Cecil Adams
July 16, 2004

Can human growth hormone slow aging?

By Cecil Adams
July 9, 2004

Eat or be eaten: Is cannibalism a pathology as listed in the DSM-IV?

By Cecil Adams
July 2, 2004

Did Western gunfighters really face off one-on-one?

By Cecil Adams
June 25, 2004

Is phi a mystical number as claimed in The Da Vinci Code?

By Cecil Adams
June 18, 2004

#1 with a bullet: Why is the U.S. military budget so high?

By Cecil Adams
June 11, 2004

Did the Nazis make lampshades out of human skin?

By Cecil Adams
June 4, 2004

Before Roe v. Wade, did 10,000 women a year die from illegal abortions?

By Cecil Adams
May 28, 2004

Remembering the Alamo (and the death of Davy Crockett)

By Cecil Adams
May 14, 2004

Does chewing celery consume more calories than it provides?

By Cecil Adams
May 7, 2004

How does nitroglycerin stop heart attacks?

By Cecil Adams
April 30, 2004

Do cannonballs explode in flaming fashion as depicted in "Pirates of the Caribbean?"

By Cecil Adams
April 23, 2004

Can you get amnesia from a blow to the head?

By Cecil Adams
April 16, 2004

Is the Children's Crusade fact or fable?

By Cecil Adams
April 9, 2004

Was Abraham Lincoln gay?

By Cecil Adams
April 2, 2004

Is suicide against the law?

By Cecil Adams
March 26, 2004

Can Tupperware cause botulism?

By Cecil Adams
March 19, 2004

More on memes: The Teeming Millions lose their minds

By Cecil Adams
March 12, 2004

The Mole People revisited

By Cecil Adams
March 5, 2004

Who owns the major U.S. media outlets?

By Cecil Adams
February 27, 2004

Are Pygmies really human?

By Cecil Adams
February 20, 2004

What's a meme?

By Cecil Adams
February 13, 2004

Does the United States lead the world in prison population?

By Cecil Adams
February 6, 2004

What's the true story on South American Nazis?

By Cecil Adams
January 30, 2004

Does caffeine stunt your growth?

By Cecil Adams
January 23, 2004

prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 next

Does meditation make your brain work differently?

Send questions for Cecil Adams to: cecil@chicagoreader.com

Send comments about this website to: webmaster@straightdope.com

Advertise on the Straight Dope! Your direct line to thou- sands of the smartest, hippest people on the planet, plus a few total dipsticks.

Publishers - interested in subscribing to the Straight Dope? Write to: sdsubscriptions@chicagoreader.com.