Library.

“The National Aeronautics and Space Administration confirmed that Earth will experience 15 consecutive days of total darkness in November 2026.”

NASA has not confirmed any planet-wide period of darkness in November 2026. The story recycles a repeatedly debunked hoax, and NASA’s official 2026 astronomy information lists only ordinary November events. No credible evidence supports either the alleged 15-day phenomenon or its attribution to NASA.

“Natural diamonds crystallize from carbon at depths of about 150 to 200 kilometers in Earth's mantle under temperatures of about 900 to 1,300 degrees Celsius and pressures of 45 to 60 kilobars, then reach Earth's surface through deep volcanic eruptions after remaining underground for hundreds of millions of years.”

The description accurately captures the usual formation and transport history of lithospheric gem diamonds. Its depth, temperature, and pressure ranges are representative, and kimberlitic volcanism commonly carries diamonds rapidly to the surface after long mantle residence. However, these conditions and timescales do not apply to every natural diamond, particularly superdeep and some relatively young fibrous diamonds.

“Cosmic radiation exposure on a commercial flight increases as the aircraft flies closer to Earth's magnetic poles.”

Commercial-flight radiation exposure generally rises toward Earth’s magnetic poles because geomagnetic shielding becomes weaker at higher magnetic latitudes. Multiple authoritative and peer-reviewed sources support this relationship. At the highest latitudes, exposure may plateau rather than continue increasing without limit.

“The Sun rises in the east.”

The standard astronomical description is accurate: Earth’s rotation makes the Sun appear to rise along the eastern horizon. Its exact position shifts northeast or southeast with season and latitude, and it rises precisely due east only around the equinoxes, but those variations do not contradict the ordinary wording.

“Most information on trophy hunting in Africa is contained in unpublished grey literature.”

The evidence supports substantial historical reliance on unpublished grey literature in African trophy-hunting research. A peer-reviewed 2007 study states the claim directly, and later work describes similar fragmentation and data scarcity. However, many later citations repeat that original assertion, while no current quantitative inventory confirms that grey literature still constitutes a strict majority.

“Trophy hunting in African countries does not contribute to wildlife conservation.”

Documented African programs show that well-regulated trophy hunting can contribute to conservation through funding, habitat retention, and incentives for communities or landowners to maintain wildlife. These benefits are neither automatic nor universal: weak governance, excessive hunting, and poor revenue distribution can erase them or cause harm. However, those failures do not support the categorical assertion that trophy hunting makes no conservation contribution.

“The Dead Sea is the lowest point on Earth's land surface.”

Standard geographic sources identify the Dead Sea as the lowest point on Earth’s land surface. The only significant caveat is that some subglacial bedrock in Antarctica lies far lower, but that is not normally counted as land surface. The Dead Sea’s exact elevation changes over time, but the claim’s core meaning is correct.

“At least 10% of pilots believe that the Earth is flat.”

The evidence does not support the claim that at least 10% of pilots believe the Earth is flat. The commonly cited 10% figure refers to the general public, not pilots, and no reliable pilot-specific survey was provided. Sources discussing pilots indicate that their training and operational practice are based on Earth’s sphericity, making flat-Earth belief among pilots a fringe view, not a documented 10%+ share.

“There are more than 20 active volcanoes in the world.”

Authoritative volcanology sources place the number well above 20 under any standard meaning of “active volcano.” Global Volcanism Program data show roughly 40–50 volcanoes in continuing eruption, and USGS-style broader counts of active or potentially active volcanoes are in the thousands. The claim is therefore clearly supported.

“The Earth is not a perfect sphere.”

Earth is measurably wider at the equator than from pole to pole, so it is not a perfect sphere. Authoritative geodesy sources describe it as an oblate spheroid or ellipsoid, and the real physical surface is even more irregular when modeled as the geoid. The small size of the deviation does not change the conclusion.

“During European colonial rule in Africa, European colonial powers attempted to undermine the intellectual legitimacy of Africans.”

Substantial historical scholarship shows colonial administrations and missionary school systems routinely privileged European knowledge, disparaged African cultures and languages, and treated African intellectual traditions as inferior. UNESCO, Stanford, and peer-reviewed studies describe this as a structural feature of colonial rule, not an isolated anomaly. Some colonial actors documented African traditions, but those exceptions did not overturn the wider pattern.

“During the Middle Ages, scholars thought the Earth was round.”

Historical evidence shows medieval scholars generally regarded Earth as spherical. Primary texts and standard scholastic teaching support that conclusion, especially in Latin Christian and university contexts. The common idea that medieval thinkers believed in a flat Earth is largely a later myth and often confuses popular belief with learned scholarship.

“The world produces 355 million tonnes of plastic waste annually.”

The claim is directionally accurate but slightly over-precise. The strongest published estimate in the cited evidence is 353 million tonnes of plastic waste in 2019, and other reputable sources summarize the global total as about 350–360 million tonnes per year. Using 355 million tonnes is a reasonable approximation, but stating it as an exact, year-independent annual fact overstates the precision of the evidence.

“Poor infrastructure, including inadequate roads, railways, and energy supply, limits the extraction and export of minerals across Africa as of April 2026.”

Africa's infrastructure deficits in roads, rail, and energy are well-documented as ongoing constraints on mineral extraction and export through April 2026, supported by authoritative sources including the US International Trade Commission, Brookings Institution, and the 2026 Mining Indaba. The claim's core assertion is accurate, though it slightly overgeneralizes: infrastructure quality varies significantly across the continent, exports do occur at record volumes despite elevated costs, and major corridor projects are underway to address the gap.

“The Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA), which merges COMESA, EAC, and SADC, was designed to boost intra-regional trade in Sub-Saharan Africa.”

The TFTA's core design intent — integrating COMESA, EAC, and SADC trade regimes to boost intra-regional trade — is strongly confirmed by the official agreement text, institutional announcements, and independent analyses. However, the claim contains two imprecisions: "merges" overstates the structural arrangement, as the three blocs continue to exist as separate entities under a coordinated FTA framework; and "Sub-Saharan Africa" is geographically inaccurate, since Egypt, a North African country, is a member state.

“The Earth is flat.”

Every credible source in the evidence pool — from NASA to academic institutions to science publications — directly refutes this claim. Centuries of independent empirical evidence, including horizon observations, shadow measurements, circumnavigation, and satellite imagery, conclusively demonstrate Earth is an oblate spheroid. No peer-reviewed or scientifically credible evidence supports a flat Earth model. Arguments citing ancient civilizations' beliefs or questioning observer accessibility rely on well-documented logical fallacies and do not constitute evidence for flatness.

“A water reservoir located approximately 700 kilometers below Earth's surface contains more water than all of Earth's oceans combined.”

Misleading. While scientists have found evidence of water locked within minerals in Earth's mantle transition zone (410–660 km deep), the claim that this reservoir definitively "contains more water than all of Earth's oceans combined" overstates the science. The most rigorous peer-reviewed estimates place transition zone water at 0.2–1 ocean equivalents. The widely cited "three times all oceans" figure is a conditional upper bound assuming 1% water content — not a confirmed measurement. The water exists as chemically bound hydroxyl in rock, not as liquid.

“Christopher Columbus did not set sail in 1492 to prove the Earth was round; educated Europeans already accepted the Earth's spherical shape before Columbus's voyage.”

The claim is well-supported. Multiple high-authority sources — including the Library of Congress and NASA — confirm that Columbus's 1492 voyage aimed to find a westward trade route to Asia, not to prove Earth was round. Educated Europeans had accepted Earth's spherical shape for centuries, drawing on ancient Greek scholarship and medieval thinkers like Thomas Aquinas and Roger Bacon. The flat-Earth myth surrounding Columbus was largely a 19th-century fabrication. The real debate in 1492 concerned Earth's circumference and the feasibility of the westward route.

“Diamonds are among the rarest gemstones on Earth.”

Diamonds are not among the rarest gemstones on Earth. While diamond formation requires specific geological conditions, diamonds are actually among the most common gemstones by volume — the International Gem Society calls them "likely the most common gem in nature." Numerous gemstones, including Red Beryl (1,000+ times rarer), Painite, Tanzanite, and Alexandrite, dramatically exceed diamonds in scarcity. The perception of diamond rarity was largely shaped by marketing, not geological reality.

“The Earth will experience a loss of gravity for seven seconds during the solar eclipse in August 2026.”

This claim is false. NASA has explicitly stated that a solar eclipse has "no unusual impact on Earth's gravity" and that Earth cannot "lose gravity" without losing mass. The claim originated from a viral social media conspiracy post. While eclipses produce tiny, ordinary tidal variations in local gravity (on the order of 0.0000178%), this is not a "loss of gravity" — and certainly not a seven-second global shutdown. No credible scientific evidence supports this claim.