Brian’s Bullshit-Free Zone

Brian’s Bullshit-Free Zone

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Brian’s Bullshit-Free Zone
Brian’s Bullshit-Free Zone
No, Nat Geo, science hasn't "solved one of history’s greatest adventure mysteries"
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No, Nat Geo, science hasn't "solved one of history’s greatest adventure mysteries"

Take this "new" explanation for the Dyatlov Pass "mystery" with a very large grain of salt.

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Brian Dunning
Sep 28, 2023
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Brian’s Bullshit-Free Zone
Brian’s Bullshit-Free Zone
No, Nat Geo, science hasn't "solved one of history’s greatest adventure mysteries"
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In their newest email newsletter, National Geographic has published an article “Has science solved one of history’s greatest adventure mysteries?” The article itself is paywalled, but the claim it makes is that the famous Dyatlov Pass mystery has finally been solved. The mystery claims that nine Soviet students on a skiing holiday were found dead in impossibly bizarre circumstances; this “new explanation” comes from a recent paper claiming that an unusual type of slab avalanche was possible in the vicinity where the bodies were found, and thus the mystery is solved. They were probably all killed in their tent by the avalanche, and the bodies scattered about the mountainside. The implication is that an avalanche has always been dismissed previously, due to the gentleness of the slope where they camped.

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