# I’m looking for scientific statements of fact **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 18, 2022, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-m-looking-for-scientific-statements-of-fact/969866 "2022-08-18T05:38:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2022, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-m-looking-for-scientific-statements-of-fact/969866/21 "2022-08-18T15:33:56Z")
Most people have more than the average number of legs. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2022, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-m-looking-for-scientific-statements-of-fact/969866/22 "2022-08-18T15:41:12Z")
> [@DorkVader](#): > > > [@naita](#): > > > > And: 200 years ago 11 was prime. > > Ok the way that’s worded seems to refer to interest rates but my brain wants to reject that(i dunno, in favor of fish and trees maybe?) so it is refering to interest rates, yes? Prime numbers. It’s a “Mitch Hedberg” type of statement. (“I used to do drugs. I still do, but I used to, too.”) ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2022, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-m-looking-for-scientific-statements-of-fact/969866/23 "2022-08-18T16:17:21Z")
Arrrrgh! 🤦‍♂️ Should have listened to my brain instead of trying to over think it. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2022, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-m-looking-for-scientific-statements-of-fact/969866/24 "2022-08-18T16:33:28Z")
The Vatican has 5.9 popes per square mile. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2022, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-m-looking-for-scientific-statements-of-fact/969866/25 "2022-08-18T19:31:20Z")
> [@DorkVader](#): > > Arrrrgh! 🤦‍♂️ Should have listened to my brain instead of trying to over think it. I stole it from a SMBC on how to freak out mathematicians with a technically true statement. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.E](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.e/32/8932_2.png) [@Mr.E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.E)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2022, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-m-looking-for-scientific-statements-of-fact/969866/26 "2022-08-18T19:42:56Z")
At sea level on Earth, pure water boils at 100°C and freezes at 0°C. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2022, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-m-looking-for-scientific-statements-of-fact/969866/27 "2022-08-18T19:56:05Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > > [@Pleonast](#): > > > > “Most animals have wings.” > > > > Because counting by individuals, most animals are insects. > > I’m not sure that holds up. Most animals are actually arthropods, and not all insects have wings, for instance only about 8% of ants do. Well, insects are a type of arthropod, so that’s an asymmetric comparison. But I can’t find a good cite for my claim. It could be I’m misremembering and it’s most animal _species_ have wings. Beetles seem to be everywhere and are incredibly diverse. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2022, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-m-looking-for-scientific-statements-of-fact/969866/28 "2022-08-18T21:06:30Z")
It’s a joke. It’s based on the idea that there are large values of 2 and small values of 5, and this refers to imprecision in computer representations of numbers and the use of rounding. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2022, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-m-looking-for-scientific-statements-of-fact/969866/29 "2022-08-18T21:08:44Z")
> [@Mr.E](#): > > At sea level on Earth, pure water boils at 100°C and freezes at 0°C. Is there much more to know about this? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2022, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-m-looking-for-scientific-statements-of-fact/969866/30 "2022-08-18T21:09:28Z")
> [@pjd](#): > > Can you confirm that you edited that so i don’t > get mod-whacked for changing a quote please ?! Yes, I deleted trees because of reflection I didn’t think it would fit because nobody treats “tree” like a single clade in the first place. I’m just surprised that the edit didn’t show up in your quote—I thought Discourse did that. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2022, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-m-looking-for-scientific-statements-of-fact/969866/31 "2022-08-18T21:14:14Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Most animals are actually arthropods Most animals are nematodes. > **[There are 57 billion nematodes for every human on earth; Understanding them...](https://news.byu.edu/there-are-57-billion-tiny-wormlike-nematodes-for-every-human-on-earth-now-we-know-where-most-of-them-live)** > > Study details first global analysis of world's most abundant creatures ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2022, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-m-looking-for-scientific-statements-of-fact/969866/32 "2022-08-18T21:23:10Z")
Most drivers believe that they are above average. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2022, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-m-looking-for-scientific-statements-of-fact/969866/33 "2022-08-18T22:41:02Z")
Nobody has ever died from the AIDS virus. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2022, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-m-looking-for-scientific-statements-of-fact/969866/34 "2022-08-19T02:15:04Z")
If you go faster than light you go backwards in time. Humans didn’t evolve from apes. There exists a woman such that if she is sterile the human race will die out. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2022, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-m-looking-for-scientific-statements-of-fact/969866/35 "2022-08-19T02:31:43Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > There exists a woman such that if she is sterile the human race will die out. Adam and Eve never met or knew (or “knew” each other) ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2022, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-m-looking-for-scientific-statements-of-fact/969866/36 "2022-08-19T03:32:38Z")
I’m not talking about Adam and Eve, I’m talking about a woman alive today. It comes from the strict sentential logic definition of “if then”. Logically “If A then B” is equivalent to the statement that either A is false or B is True. So if Mary is not sterile then statement “If Mary were sterile the human race would die out” is True So so long as there exists a non-sterile woman a exists for which the statement “If that woman were sterile the human race would die out” is true Of course if there are no non-sterile women exist the statement is still true since then the human race will die out and I can pick any woman to make the statement true. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2022, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-m-looking-for-scientific-statements-of-fact/969866/37 "2022-08-19T15:07:24Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > I’m just surprised that the edit didn’t show up in your quote—I thought Discourse did that. Maybe discourse is intelligent enough to know that my comment wouldn’t make sense with the edited version. Yes, that’ll be it. Yes. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2022, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-m-looking-for-scientific-statements-of-fact/969866/38 "2022-08-19T15:11:08Z")
Every substance is poisonous. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2022, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-m-looking-for-scientific-statements-of-fact/969866/39 "2022-08-19T15:40:36Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > Most drivers believe that they are above average. ISTM that like Mr.E’s statement about the boiling and freezing points of water, this doesn’t meet the OP’s criterion of being “deceptively and woefully incomplete”. The initial impression that the average person would get from that statement is in fact an accurate reflection of reality. Compare that to a statement like “Most animals have wings”, which could initially mislead the hearer into thinking that it means that most mammals and reptiles have wings (since that’s the sort of creature we colloquially call an “animal”, as in “animals, birds, fish and insects”), which of course is false. You need the additional awareness that “oh yeah, strictly speaking ‘animal’ means any organism in the kingdom Animalia and a lot of those have wings” to make that statement seem plausible. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2022, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-m-looking-for-scientific-statements-of-fact/969866/40 "2022-08-19T16:04:34Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Every substance is poisonous. And every substance is not poisonous. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-m-looking-for-scientific-statements-of-fact/969866.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-m-looking-for-scientific-statements-of-fact/969866.md?page=3)