Quiz

BuzzFeed Staff, UK 

BuzzFeed

Can You Tell If These "Facts" Are True Or False?

Earth's orbit around the sun is slightly elliptical. And it reaches its closest point to the sun [in January](http://www.space.com/3304-earth-closest-sun-dead-winter.html). But it's not our distance from the sun that causes seasons, it's the way Earth tilts on its axis.

True!

Here's the [patent](http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=thduAAAAEBAJ).

Amazingly, true!

_Home Alone_ came out in [1990](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099785/), the first moon landing happened in 1969. 1990-1969=21. And 1990+21=2011.

We do share DNA, but it's [only 50%](http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/evolution/what-is-the-evidence/morphology/dna-molecules/).

False!

Just try it. Or [read this](http://discovermagazine.com/2010/nov/20-things-you-didnt-know-about-language).

They actually become [two inches](http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/5-8/features/F_How_Youve_Grown_5-8.html) taller while in space, on average.

False.

The truth is even weirder: they actually have [three hearts](http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/stories/2012/08/08_17_2012_octopus_video.html).

Here's the [maths](http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/2009/08/31/paper-folding-to-the-moon/). Good luck trying to fold a piece of paper in half more than seven times though.

Narwhals use clicks and whistles to communicate, like most toothed-whales. They use their tusks for sensing their environment.

This "fact" seems to have originated from claims made by plastic surgeon Anthony Youn MD, [writing at CNN](http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/12/05/smoking-can-make-your-nipples-fall-off/) and [widely](http://gizmodo.com/5865525/smoking-may-make-your-nipples-fall-off) [reported](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2070561/Smoking-make-nipples-fall-Plastic-surgeon-warns-gangrene-following-breast-lift.html) [elsewhere](http://www.news.com.au/technology/science/dr-anthony-youn-warns-smoking-could-cause-nipples-to-fall-off/story-fn5fsgyc-1226214900016). The catch is that it only applies to people undergoing a breast lift or reduction, who smoke in the month before and after surgery. So most smokers can relax (about the nipple thing, at least).

Phew – it's false.

Otters are not venomous. Male platypuses, on the other hand, do produce [venom](http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/platypus/).

There are somewhere between 10 and 200 billion billion stars in the universe. And there are somewhere between 2.5 and 10 billion billion grains of [sand on Earth](http://www.universetoday.com/106725/are-there-more-grains-of-sand-than-stars/#more-106725).

True.

Congratulations! Your bullshit detector is amazingly well-tuned and you can always tell when something is too good to be true. Keep up the good work.

Hooray! You can (mostly) tell the difference between fact and fiction. If there was a school exam in this stuff, you'd get an A.

Well done! A lot of the time you can tell the difference between fact and fiction, but not always. Just remember – if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Oh no, your bullshit detector is terrible.You struggle tell the difference between fact and fiction. Either that, or you want these things to be true so badly you're just lying to yourself. That's ok, just don't make any life decisions based on them and you'll be fine.

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Can You Tell If These "Facts" Are True Or False?

For more true facts, follow @TrueFacts on Twitter!

Can You Tell If These "Facts" Are True Or False?

For more true facts, follow @TrueFacts on Twitter!

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