Arguments
Fact Briefs Summary Page
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. We announced this (renewed) collaboration in April 2024 in a blog post and have been publishing one fact brief on many Saturdays since then. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline.
List of fact briefs published on Skeptical Science and Gigafact
The table below will be updated regularly to show the already published fact briefs.
|
Fact brief question |
Fact Brief | Rebuttal | Gigafact |
|
Was an Ice Age predicted in the 1970s? |
sks.to/gfb-1970s | sks.to/1970s | On Gigafact |
|
Did global warming stop in 1998? |
sks.to/gfb-1998 | sks.to/1998 | On Gigafact |
|
Is Antarctica gaining land ice? |
sks.to/gfb-antarctica | sks.to/antarctica | On Gigafact |
|
Does breathing contribute to CO2 buildup in the atmosphere? |
sks.to/gfb-breath | sks.to/breath | On Gigafact |
|
Have climate models overestimated global warming? |
sks.to/gfb-model | sks.to/model | On Gigafact |
|
Is the ocean acidifiying? |
sks.to/gfb-acid-1 | sks.to/acid | On Gigafact |
|
Is ocean acidification from human activities enough to impact marine ecosystems? |
sks.to/gfb-acid-2 | sks.to/acid | On Gigafact |
|
Was the Medieval Warm Period a global event? |
sks.to/gfb-mwp | sks.to/mwp | On Gigafact |
|
Does temperature have to rise before CO2 does? |
sks.to/gfb-lag | sks.to/lag | On Gigafact |
|
Were scientists caught falsifying data in the hacked emails incident dubbed 'climategate'? |
sks.to/gfb-climategate | sks.to/climategate | On Gigafact |
|
Are polar bears endangered? |
sks.to/gfb-bear | sks.to/bear | On Gigafact |
|
Are carbon dioxide emissions from human activities enough to affect the climate? |
sks.to/gfb-co2 | sks.to/co2 | On Gigafact |
|
Does CO2 correlate with global temperature long-term? |
sks.to/gfb-correlate | sks.to/correlate | On Gigafact |
|
Is decreased cosmic ray activity driving global warming? |
sks.to/gfb-cosmic | sks.to/cosmic | On Gigafact |
|
Is recent global warming part of a natural cycle? |
sks.to/gfb-cycle | sks.to/cycle | On Gigafact |
|
Does manmade CO2 have any detectable fingerprint? |
sks.to/gfb-co2increase | sks.to/co2increase | On Gigafact |
|
Is more CO2 a good thing because it’s plant food? |
sks.to/gfb-plant | sks.to/plant | On Gigafact |
|
Do volcanoes emit more CO2 than humans? |
sks.to/gfb-volcano | sks.to/volcano | On Gigafact |
|
Are most glaciers growing? |
sks.to/gfb-glacier | sks.to/glacier | On Gigafact |
|
Is there an expert consensus on human-caused global warming? |
sks.to/gfb-consensus | sks.to/consensus | On Gigafact |
|
Has human-caused climate change increased extreme weather? |
sks.to/gfb-extreme | sks.to/extreme | On Gigafact |
|
Are we heading into an ‘ice age’? |
sks.to/gfb-iceage | sks.to/iceage | On Gigafact |
|
Can CO2 be ignored because it’s just a trace gas? |
sks.to/gfb-trace | sks.to/trace | On Gigafact |
|
Is global warming promoting biodiversity? |
sks.to/gfb-species | sks.to/species | On Gigafact |
|
Is methane the largest driver of recent global warming? |
sks.to/gfb-methane | sks.to/methane | On Gigafact |
|
Is sea level rise exaggerated? |
sks.to/gfb-sealevel | sks.to/sealevel | On Gigafact |
|
Are high CO2 levels harmless because they also occurred in the past? |
sks.to/gfb-pastco2 | sks.to/pastco2 | On Gigafact |
|
Is Greenland losing land ice? |
sks.to/gfb-greenland | sks.to/greenland | On Gigafact |
|
Is waste heat from industrial activity the reason the planet is warming? |
sks.to/gfb-waste | sks.to/waste | On Gigafact |
|
Is Mars warming? |
sks.to/gfb-mars | sks.to/mars | On Gigafact |
|
Is the sun responsible for global warming? |
sks.to/gfb-sun | sks.to/sun | On Gigafact |
|
Is climate change a net benefit for society? |
sks.to/gfb-impacts | sks.to/impacts | On Gigafact |
|
Do the 31,000 signatures of the OISM Petition Project invalidate the scientific consensus on climate change? |
sks.to/gfb-oism | sks.to/oism | On Gigafact |
|
Is the climate as unpredictable as the weather? |
sks.to/gfb-weather | sks.to/weather | On Gigafact |
|
Did Viking settlers enjoy a warm beach climate in Greenland? |
sks.to/gfb-green | sks.to/green | On Gigafact |
|
Was 'global warming' changed to 'climate change' because Earth stopped warming? |
sks.to/gfb-name | sks.to/name | On Gigafact |
|
Are CO2 measurements reliable? |
sks.to/gfb-co2data | sks.to/co2data | On Gigafact |
|
Was 1934 the hottest year in the global record? |
sks.to/gfb-1934 | sks.to/1934 | On Gigafact |
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Is modern warming just a rebound from the Little Ice Age? |
sks.to/gfb-lia | sks.to/lia | On Gigafact |
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Are human CO2 emissions driving current global warming? |
sks.to/gfb-driver | sks.to/driver | On Gigafact |
|
Is global warming just due to El Niño? |
sks.to/gfb-elnino | sks.to/elnino | On Gigafact |
|
Did CO2 contribute to early 20th century warming? |
sks.to/gfb-pre1940 | sks.to/pre1940 | On Gigafact |
|
Is climate science a high-paying profession? |
sks.to/gfb-money | sks.to/money | On Gigafact |
|
Is the greenhouse effect still debated among climate scientists? |
sks.to/gfb-settled | sks.to/settled | On Gigafact |
|
Are surface temperature records reliable? |
sks.to/gfb-temp | sks.to/temp | On Gigafact |
|
Is global warming actually happening? |
sks.to/gfb-warming | sks.to/warming | On Gigafact |
|
Has Arctic sea ice recovered? |
sks.to/gfb-arctic | sks.to/arctic | On Gigafact |
|
Has the greenhouse effect been falsified? |
sks.to/gfb-falsify | sks.to/falsify | On Gigafact |
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Has the IPCC overestimated climate change impacts? |
sks.to/gfb-underestimat | sks.to/underestimat | On Gigafact |
|
Are humans responsible for climate change? |
sks.to/gfb-agw | sks.to/agw | On Gigafact |
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Do errors in Al Gore's 'An Inconvenient Truth' disprove climate change? |
sks.to/gfb-gore | sks.to/gore | On Gigafact |
|
Does increasing CO2 have a noticeable effect? |
sks.to/gfb-greenhouse | sks.to/greenhouse | On Gigafact |
|
Is there empirical evidence for human-caused global warming? |
sks.to/gfb-evidence | sks.to/evidence | On Gigafact |
|
Are changes in solar activity causing climate change? |
sks.to/gfb-sun-2 | sks.to/sun | On Gigafact |
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Does the recent slowdown in Arctic sea-ice extent loss disprove human-caused warming? |
sks.to/gfb-arcticcycle-2 | sks.to/arcticcycle | On Gigafact |
About fact briefs published on Gigafact
Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact — a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all of our published fact briefs on the Gigafact website.
