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Your hourly fact checks

All English Fact Checks

False: It is possible to predict earthquakes. Supposed “predictions” of forthcoming earthquakes routinely circulate on social media, with posts suggesting that they are scientifically sound. (Source: Associated Press - AP News)

False: Video shows a maintenance worker sticking “duct tape” on a Spirit Airlines aircraft before takeoff. THE FACTS:A TikTok userposted a videoonTuesdaycapturing a maintenance workeroutside an airport terminalrolling and patting tape along the engine nacelle of a Spirit Airlines aircraft. (Source: Associated Press - AP News)

False: "Healthy pilots are suffering from myocarditis and dropping dead on flights” because of the COVID-19 vaccines. There is no evidence that causally links adverse side effects from COVID-19 vaccines to incidents of pilots dying or becoming incapacitated on flights.There were several incidents in March of pilots falling ill on flights, but no details support claims they were related to vaccine effects.The Federal Aviation Administration and the International Air Transport Association say they have seen no credible evidence to support claims there has been an increase in pilot deaths or incapacitations due to vaccines. (Source: PolitiFact)

False: The ocean is "flat" and "contained" by land features that jut up from a flat (not spherical) earth. Sea level is uneven across the planet. Several factors influence the ocean’s varied topography, including underwater mountains, underwater cliffs and undersea currents. Gravity holds the ocean down to the planet. (Source: PolitiFact)

False: Antarctic sea ice at record high, ice sheet not melting Fact check: Despite claims in old video, Antarctic ice melting, sea ice set record lowShow Caption Hide Caption Melting ice could displace 187 million people by 2100 We’ve known for a while that ice sheets in Greenland, in the Antarctic are melting, but the issue has become much worse, much faster than we thought. Buzz60The claim: Antarctic sea ice at record high, ice sheet not meltingAn April 15 Instagram video shows a clip from the 2016 movie "Climate Hustle" in which two skeptics of human-caused climate change talk about Antarctic ice. Judith Curry, former professor at Georgia Institute of Technology, says Antarctic sea ice extent – defined as the area of ocean occupied by a certain percentage of sea ice – is setting record highs. Antarctic sea ice recently reached a record low, though there is not a statistically significant increasing or decreasing trend in Antarctic sea ice extent. In January, Antarctic sea ice extent was the lowest on record for that month, according to National Snow and Ice Data Center. (Source: USA Today)