Science

Does a viral post retell a real-life story of a human-chimpanzee love affair resulting in the birth of a 12-year-old son? No, that's not true: Lead Stories found no credible evidence confirming the claim. Contemporary humans and chimpanzees have a different number of chromosomes, which makes interbreeding close to impossible. Lead Stories also found no evidence that the national park…

Does a real image showing blobs of material, both clear and creamy, provide information about human fertility? No, that's not true: Hive Moderation determined the image was 99.9% likely to be AI-generated, and Google's SynthID detection tool confirmed it was made with Google AI. Aside from the misspelled labels "feritle" and "non-feritle", the image does not provide additional information about…

Does real footage from an endoscopic camera show the junction between the esophagus and windpipe as food is swallowed? No, that's not true: The fake footage is designed to look like the view from a real medical camera in a person's throat, but it was AI-generated. Not only is the footage fake, but the anatomy is depicted incorrectly in both…

Does a real video show a man who helped a polar bear cub that could not walk until it could be released a year later? No, that's not true: This video was originally posted with a creator-added AI disclaimer label by an Instagram account that focuses on AI-generated videos. The same account published another video with a similar storyline the…

Have you seen viral videos showing houses being lifted up on hydraulic stilts to avoid floodwater? Lead Stories has spotted a number of such videos and found that many of them were created using artificial intelligence. While there are some real projects showing hydraulic lifts that raise a house in floods, the topic has been hijacked by AI content creators…

Is a video that shows a Tesla Roadster flying off the roof of a building in the middle of a city real? No, that's not true: An online tool determined the video was AI-generated. The footage does not match the video released of the Tesla Roadster flying car at SpaceX's McGregor, Texas test site. The video appeared in a post…

Did tech billionaire Jeff Bezos actually say that water should be prioritized for data centers over human consumption and 'Humans won't evolve humanity. AI will.'? No, that's not true: The claim originated from a self-described satire account whose profile picture mimicked the BBC logo. Lead Stories found no record of Bezos making such statements in any publicly available source. The…

Does a viral picture actually document a real-life event during which U.S. servicemembers shot "reptilians"? No, that's not true: Three online tools said that the image was AI-generated. Available government sources do not support the idea of such an encounter ever taking place. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on X where it was published on Oct. 10,…

Does a real video filmed from a helicopter show the excavation of Noah's Ark near the top of Mount Ararat? No, that's not true: This video is AI-generated. The OpenAI Verify tool found a SynthID watermark indicating that the video was made with OpenAI tools. The video appeared in a post (archived here) by the @JohnmichealC1 account on X on…

Have you seen viral videos showing dramatic encounters with whales at sea, frequently presented with a boat for scale? Lead Stories has spotted a number of such videos recently and has found that many of them were created using artificial intelligence. While there are many real whale watching videos of whales breaching or swimming beneath the surface, the popular topic…

Does a real video shot from the passenger window of a plane show the eye of Hurricane Polo? No, that's not true: This video was originally posted on Oct. 26, 2025, by an Instagram account that is labeled as an AI-generated profile. The video is also labeled as AI content on TikTok and the Hive Moderation tool determined it was…

Did Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville say "many airline pilots, flight attendants and air traffic controllers are part of the furry community"? Yes, that's true: The Alabama senator made the remarks about pilots, flight attendants and air traffic controllers being part of the 'furry community' during a speech on the U.S. Senate floor on Sept. 22, 2026. Video on the C-SPAN2…

Have you seen viral videos showing runaway medical robots? Lead Stories has spotted a number of such videos recently and found that many of them were created using artificial intelligence. They do not show real people or situations but are part of a viral trend showing technology out of control. This article is part of a series of stories examining…

Have you seen viral posts showing a map graphic with information about tremors felt all around a state? Lead Stories has spotted a number of such posts recently and found that many of them were created using artificial intelligence. The maps do not show real seismic data or official emergency preparedness recommendations, just alarmist clickbait. This article is part of…

Do studies show an 81% or 82% miscarriage rate in pregnant women vaccinated against COVID-19 in the first trimester? No, that's not true: The numbers are a long-running misrepresentation of early safety data on how mRNA COVID-19 vaccines affected pregnant people. The 81% and 82% figures come from miscalculating percentages from early, incomplete data -- no study actually found those…

Is Nate Ward, who confronted Dr. Anthony Fauci, then-director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser over the COVID-19 vaccine in 2021, dead? No, that's not true: Lead Stories found Ward alive and still living in the District's eighth ward. "Nate Ward is not deceased, because you're speaking to him right now,"…

Did U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. say, "Infertility is genetic. If your parents couldn't have kids, then you won't either"? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that Kennedy ever made this statement, either seriously or as a joke. Variations of this phrase circulated as a joke online for nearly four years before…

Does a real video show a live transparent squid and the organs inside its body? No, that's not true: Google's Gemini detected SynthID signals, determining the video was made with Google AI. There is a type of squid known as a glass squid, which make up the family Cranchiidae and include about 60 species. While the video is fake, there…

Did the FBI raid an "antifa" storage unit in Washington and find "aggressive algae" there? No, that's not true: The story originated on a Facebook page known for posting satirical content. The post on X removed the "Nothing on this page is real" disclaimer from the image used. Lead Stories found no credible news reports about the FBI raiding a…

Is a review of an unpublished draft study a statistically valid analysis comparing chronic disease outcomes in vaccinated versus unvaccinated children? No, that's not true: The analysis is based on a 2020 draft study that was never published because an internal review identified "serious flaws in the data and methodology," according to Michigan-based Henry Ford Health System. Public health and…