Bogus No. 8 · Monday, November 9, 2026

The five fakes

What was fake, and the truth.

SPACE

1The first spacecraft to land softly on Mars was Chinese.Fake

2The Soviet Mars 3 made the first soft landing on Mars, in 1971.

1Your brain shrinks by half during deep sleep.Fake

2Brain size stays essentially the same through sleep and waking.

1Scorpions lay eggs in underground nests.Fake

2Scorpions give birth to live young.

1Goldfish are native to the Amazon River.Fake

2Goldfish are native to East Asia.

1Nephrons are the tiny filtering units of the liver.Fake

2Nephrons are the filtering units of the kidneys.

Five new rounds every day at midnight.