Original article (in Serbian) was published on 11/9/2024; Author: Teodora Koledin
Articles in which readers are offered an answer to the question of how long they will live are not rare, and we can encounter this type of information relatively often. The possibilities are varied – to take a quiz, a six or ten-second test, measure your weight, waist, blood pressure, pay attention to the shape of your navel, retina, lines on your hand, and grip strength, and then determine how much time you have left based on that.
For more than seven years, the same fake news on this topic has been periodically published on various media web portals. It deals with a study by Swedish scientists whose results supposedly showed that based on foot size, one can estimate life expectancy. We could say that this rather scant explanation already sounds suspicious. However, it was obviously not suspicious enough for many portals, since information about this ‘study’ has been shared on as many as 24 web portals in Serbia and at least 16 web portals in the region (as far as we were able to find).
38 is a Lucky Number
In our archive, we recorded that the first news about this study was published by the web portal Kurir under the title “Shoe Size Tells When You Will Die” with an additional note that the research is “unusual, but true!”
The author of this article, for example, wears a shoe size 38, which, according to the study’s results, is the “most long-lived”, so she did not worry much for herself. However, if she wore just one size larger – she would live between five and nine years shorter. This raises the question: what methodology was used to determine this?
The media reports that this study was conducted back in 2009 by Hans Bjors, a state epidemiologist from Stockholm. He supposedly used “computerized data” from people all over Sweden to discover that shoe size is “definitely linked to longevity”. He tracked parameters such as the age at which people died, as well as the causes of death. The most important part of this fake news is certainly the alleged results that allow you to calculate your life expectancy.
Where (And When) Was This Study First Mentioned?
First, we tried to use advanced search techniques to find the research and its author. However, we were unsuccessful. There is also no epidemiologist named Hans Bjors from Stockholm in the Google Scholar database, nor are there any of his scientific papers. Our search for the source of this ‘study’ led us to the web portal Weekly World News.
The Path of Fake News
Currently, several articles from foreign web portals presenting the ‘results’ of this research are available online. Some of them are cited as sources in the texts of our media, such as the web portal The Beat 92.5 (2021), which took its information from the British Express (2017).
Express, in its article, included a video of scientists discussing how the life expectancy test can ‘change lives’. However, upon closer analysis, we found that the video features authors from Boston University – Paola Sebastiani and Tomas Perls, who conducted an entirely different study during a similar period.
Almost two years before Express, an identical article (without the video) was published by the British Telegraph, which also marked the original source – the American media Weekly World News.
Don’t be fooled by this seemingly generic name, as here are some of the headlines you can find on their web portal:
“Scientists Create a Time Machine That Erases Mondays” (1)
“Human Zoo Opens in Indiana” (2)
“Baby Rentals: For Millennials Who Just Can’t Commit” (3)
Unfortunately, scientists did not invent a time machine that erases Mondays. Fortunately, there is no human zoo opening in Indiana. And there is no company that will rent you a baby – with or without comprehensive insurance. All of these are satirical news articles, written in a serious tone to give the impression of legitimate journalistic work.
They explicitly disclaimed responsibility back in 2004, advising readers to “suspend disbelief for enjoyment”, and this advice can still be found in the website’s terms of use section. Regardless, their satirical news has been spread by other media as true on multiple occasions, and some of them can be found on the fact-checking web portal Snopes.
Editorial Policy: “Complete Fabrication”
One of the former journalists of Weekly World News, Mark Miller, wrote in 2007 about his experience with this media outlet, defining its editorial policy:
“At first, I was confused about whether to write true odd news, general satire, or complete fabrication. So I asked. The answer was clear and loud: complete fabrication”.
However, not everything published by this media has been complete fabrication, which is why the claims about Hans Bjors and the study required further verification. In rare cases, journalists from this tabloid would base their news on facts, which they would then completely distort and present in a very sensationalized manner.
And although the article about the scientific study linking foot size and lifespan doesn’t sound as absurd as the aforementioned headlines (but you have to admit it certainly doesn’t sound convincing), it is not the only one of its kind. Weekly World News has repeatedly published bizarre, almost always fabricated studies. For instance, they reported on research predicting that dolphins would rule the Earth in two hundred years, as well as a study whose results “showed” that watching the Super Bowl causes impotence in men.
Michael Forsythe, a journalist who wrote for this media, explained in an interview how the paper rarely encountered legal issues because journalists would always check whether there was a person with the same name and surname in a given city. In this case, that is Hans Bjors – a state epidemiologist from Stockholm.
“No One With That Name Works for the Stockholm Region”
Although there is no available information online about a man with this name, listed occupation, and from this specific city, we contacted two institutions that, according to their responsibilities, should know whether this researcher exists.
Charlotte Schelberg, head of communications at the Center for Epidemiology and Social Medicine in Stockholm, confirmed to us that “no one with that name works for the Stockholm region or for the Karolinska Institute as an epidemiologist”. We received the same response from Madeline Sverd Hus, head of public relations and head of the department at the Karolinska Institute, who emphasized that she has no knowledge of a person by that name or of any study that led to such findings.
Considering that many web portals describe Hans Bjors as a “state epidemiologist”, we also considered the option that a person by that name might have held this position at some point. Indeed, there is a role of state epidemiologist (Swedish: statsepidemiolog) in Sweden, and the appointment is handled by the Institute for Infectious Diseases. However, from 2005 to 2013, this position was held by virologist Anika Linde. Neither before nor after her was there a “main character” of this fabricated news – Hans Bjors – in the role of state epidemiologist.
Who Spread the Fabricated Research?
Finally, we want to note that part of the web portal distanced itself from the validity and accuracy of this method, but even in those cases, the headline and introductory part of the text were often misleading. We did not record any note suggesting that this was a fabricated study.
List of media in Serbia that shared the news about the study:
NajZena (1, 2)), Kurir (1, 2), Srbija danas (1, 2), Espreso (1, 2), Alo, Krstarica, Blic zena, City magazine, Gloria, Direktno, Hepi televizija, 24sedam, Republika, Srpske vesti, Pink, Kafe.rs, Dnevnik, Srecna republika, 025.rs, Lajk.rs, Vojvodina uzivo, Telegraf, Domino magazin, B92.
List of media in the region that shared the news about the study:
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Radio Bobar, Hype, RTV BN, Glas srpske, Dnevni avaz, Raport, Fokus, BL Portal, Novi.ba.
Croatia: Klik.hr, Net.hr, Index, Jabuka tv, Teen 385.
Note: By the time this article was published on the SeeCheck website, portals Espreso and Kurir had corrected the false statements in accordance with professional standards.
