Fact Check: No, Marijuana does not contain Alien DNA from outside of our solar system
- By: Urvashi Kapoor
- Published: Jun 3, 2019 at 12:28 PM
- Updated: Aug 30, 2020 at 08:20 PM
A message is doing rounds on Facebook claiming that Marijuana contains “Alien DNA” from outside of our solar system, as per NASA. The viral post is also supported by a caption that says: I agree with Baba Ramdev’s suggestion of legalizing Marijuana in India as it has medicinal properties. Upon investigating we found out that NASA did not confirm any such news that Marijuana contains Alien DNA from outside our solar system.
Claim:
A Facebook post claims that Marijuana contains “Alien DNA” from outside of our solar system, as per NASA. The viral post is also supported by a caption that states: I agree with Baba Ramdev’s suggestion of legalizing Marijuana in India as it has medicinal properties. I agree with Baba Ramdev’s suggestion of legalizing Marijuana in India, as it has medicinal properties. As per Ayurveda, marijuana helps in curing knee pain and also maintaining proper blood circulation. As per NASA, marijuana is one such plant whose DNA doesn’t match with any other plant of the earth. Marijuana belongs to some other planet. The viral post is shared by the Facebook user ‘A.K.Mishra’ on May 29, 2019.
Investigation:
We started our investigation by looking at the comments on the viral post. Many users commented questioning the authenticity of the claim.
We performed a Google search using the keywords ‘NASA confirms Marijuana has Alien DNA’ and added the time filter.
We found a tweet dated 26 Apr 2019 by a Twitter user ‘Dacia J. Ferris’. The user had retweeted another tweet of ‘Physics & Astronomy Zone’ with a caption ‘As someone made entirely star stuff, I am shocked by this revelation’.
When we clicked on the tweet of ‘Physics & Astronomy Zone, we were redirected to a website link dated April 20, 2019.
On the website, we found the same image that was shared by the Facebook user.
When we read the article it stated that: “Since you’re now reading, you’ll almost certainly be interested in this research that looked into the clicking and sharing behaviors of social media users reading content (or not) and then sharing it on social media.” Which means, people on social media doesn’t read the entire thing and simply falls prey to the click-bait headlines.
The article further reads that: “Last April, NPR shared an article on their Facebook page which asked, “Why doesn’t America read anymore?“. The joke, of course, is that there was no article. They waited to see if their followers would weigh in with an opinion without clicking the link, and they weren’t disappointed.
When we clicked on the link mentioned in the article we landed to the website of National Public Radio, U.S. in which an article posted on April 1 (April Fool’s Day) stated: Why Doesn’t America Read Anymore? The article further reads: Congratulations, genuine readers, and happy April Fools’ Day! We sometimes get the sense that some people are commenting on NPR stories that they haven’t actually read. If you are reading this, please like this post and do not comment on it. Then let’s see what people have to say about this “story.”
We further investigated and found that NASA did not confirm any such claim.
We also found an article on Forbes titled: 59 Percent Of You Will Share This Article Without Even Reading It.
The article stated: IFLScience.com recently conducted a similar experiment, publishing an article titled Marijuana Contains “Alien DNA” From Outside Of Our Solar System, NASA Confirms. The article, as of now, has over 141,000 shares, and it isn’t about marijuana or alien DNA at all – it’s an experiment to see how many shares it could attract with an outrageous headline alone. IFLScience states within the post that “We here at IFLS noticed long ago that many of our followers will happily like, share, and offer an opinion on an article – all without ever reading it.” Forbes also mentioned about the fake story that Marijuana contains Alien DNA and how people fall prey to such stories without reading it completely.
The viral post is also supported by a caption that states: I agree with Baba Ramdev’s suggestion of legalizing Marijuana in India as it has medicinal properties. As per Ayurveda, marijuana helps in curing knee pain, maintaining proper blood circulation. As per NASA, marijuana is one such plant whose DNA doesn’t match with any other plant of the earth. It belongs to some other planet.
In an interview given to Quartz, Acharya Balkrishna of Ramdev-led Patanjali said: “In Ayurveda, since ancient times, parts of cannabis (hemp), for instance, have been used for medicinal purposes. So, we are looking at various formulations. We should ponder over the benefits and positive uses of the cannabis plant.”
As per a news report on Indiatimes: At a TEDx event, held recently in Panchkula, Balkrishna put his weight behind legalizing cannabis for medical purposes, and for opening business and employment opportunities in India.
Another claim from the Facebook user is: “As per NASA, marijuana is one such plant whose DNA doesn’t match with any other plant of the earth. Marijuana belongs to some other planet.” We investigated and found that NASA did not release any such report or statement.
Conclusion:
No, NASA did not confirm any such news that Marijuana contains Alien DNA from outside of our solar system.
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- Claim Review : Marijuana contains Alien DNA from outside of our solar system, as per NASA
- Claimed By : FB User: A.K. Mishra
- Fact Check : False
