DebunkThis
Debunking pseudoscience, myths, and spurious hogwash since 2010.
We are an evidence-based Reddit/Lemmy community dedicated to taking an objective look at questionable theories, dodgy news sources, bold-faced claims, and suspicious studies.
Community Rules:
Posting
Title formatting on all posts should be "Debunk This: [main claim]"
Example: "Debunk This: Chemicals in the water are turning the frogs gay."
All posts must include at least one source and one to three specific claims to be debunked, so commenters know exactly what to investigate.
Example: "According to this YouTube video, dihydrogen monoxide turns amphibians homosexual. Is this true? Also, did Albert Einstein really claim this?"
NSFW/NSFL content is not allowed.
Commenting
Always try to back up your comments with linked sources. Just saying "this is untrue" isn't all that helpful without facts to support it.
Standard community rules apply regarding spam, self-promotion, personal attacks and hate speech, etc.
Links
Suggested Fediverse Communities
• RFK Jr. Watch @lemm.ee - Discuss misinformation being spread by antivaxxer politician, Robert F Kennedy Jr.
• Skeptic @lemmy.world - Discuss pseudoscience, quackery, and bald-faced BS
• Skeptic @kbin.social - The above, just on Kbin
• Science Communication @mander.xyz - Discuss science literacy and media reporting
Useful Resources
• Common examples of misleading graphs - How to spot dodgy infographics
• Metabunk.org - a message board dedicated to debunking popular conspiracies
• Media Bias / Fact Check - Great resource for current news fact checking + checking a source's political bias
• Science Based Medicine - A scientific look at current issues and controversies
• Deplatform Disease - A medical blog that specifically counters anti-COVID-vaccine claims
• Respectful Insolence - David Gorsky's blog on antivax shenanigans, politics, and pseudoscience
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It is plausible. Some (possibly most) whales use sound (low quality sonar) to figure out where the shore is. Most food is within a few miles of shore (unless ocean currents push or heat the food at the bottom in a certain way in some oceans where there is tones of food in the ocean for miles.
Regarding this specific claim, if there were to be large masses that react to sonar (wind farms) that are in a grid, it could seem like a "shoreline" to a whale, and it could confuse the whale enough to beach while trying to find food, a mate, or a place in the ocean to rest and breathe. However, with the given information there is no conclusion other than "there might be a correlation" without more data.
In contrast, certain costal military bases have submarines that accelerate so fast that the propellers cause cavitation (sudden phase change of water from liquid to gas from low pressure). These submarine's cavitations & related cavitation collapses creates a kind of "turbulence" underwater but it sounds MUCH MUCH worse. Whales have been distressed in those areas for a while and after a generation or so, only the adolescents or "foreigner" whales get confused enough to beach anymore. Again, there is not enough information to have a conclusion other than "I think this is a correlation, we weren't tracking that before, but it seems to explain what we are observing".