Articles on Mythbusting

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February 16, 2017

How we do FactChecks at The Conversation

Sunanda Creagh, The Conversation and Wes Mountain, The Conversation

We build in extra checks and balances, including blind peer review by a second academic expert, additional scrutiny and editorial oversight.

A Roman Feast by Roberto Bompiani (late 19th century). via Wikimedia Commons

January 19, 2017

Mythbusting Ancient Rome – the truth about the vomitorium

Caillan Davenport, Macquarie University and Shushma Malik, The University of Queensland

Roman decadence reached its peak with the vomitorium: a room where feasting elites threw up to make room for more food. Or so the story goes ...

Africa’s future looks bright – if it embraces its many innovators. Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters

May 10, 2016

It’s time to bust the myth that Africa doesn’t produce scientific innovators

Stewart Maganga, Nelson Mandela University

There are plenty of innovators, scientists and inventors in Africa doing remarkable work today. So why does the myth of Africa being devoid of scientific innovators persist?

Instead of dying out, Anti-Semitic myths have withstood the test of time.

November 11, 2014

The greatest zombie lie ever told

Asa Simon Mittman, California State University, Chico

Eight hundred years ago, a monk named Thomas of Monmouth wrote a bogus account of the life of St. William, a Christian boy supposedly abducted by “the Jews” of Norwich. A boy – “like an innocent lamb…

May 1, 2014

Jiggy Mazda and the spiders from cars

Chris Buddle, McGill University

Recently, the car manufacturer Mazda recalled 40,000 cars because of a “spider invasion”. This is not the first time it has happened with Mazda cars. In 2011, a similar reason was given for recalling 52,000…

February 5, 2014

The truth is out there – so how do you debunk a myth?

John Cook, The University of Queensland

Debunking myths requires an understanding of the psychological research into misinformation. But getting your refutation out in front of lots of eyeballs is a whole other matter. Here, I look at two contrasting…

Top contributors

John Cook
Research Assistant Professor, Center for Climate Change Communication, George Mason University
Chris Buddle
Associate Professor, McGill University
Asa Simon Mittman
Professor of Art History, California State University, Chico
Caillan Davenport
Lecturer in Roman History and ARC DECRA Research Fellow, Macquarie University
Stewart Maganga
Doctoral Candidate, Nelson Mandela University
Shushma Malik
Lecturer in Classics and Ancient History, The University of Queensland