Paradox Files
Logical contradictions and conceptual puzzles that expose the limits of human reasoning. These cases examine situations where common sense fails, where perfect solutions become impossible, and where our fundamental assumptions about reality come into question.
The AlzChem Loop – Inside the Creatine Consensus Factory
Influencers call it a universal brain booster. European regulators rejected the claim. We audited the funding trail to discover why the science on social media doesn’t match the official safety records.
The Vegetarian Gap – The Creatine Intelligence Illusion
The "universal brain boost" claimed by creatine marketing vanishes in clinical trials of healthy omnivores. An investigation into the gap between the vegetarian "deficit" and the omnivore "ceiling."
The Border Wars – Did Devon Invent the Cornish Pasty?
The law says a pasty must be Cornish. A 1510 ledger from Plymouth disagrees. We audit the medieval records that challenge the £300m PGI monopoly.
The Cornish Pasty Claim About an Arsenic Handle
The legend claims the crimp was a disposable handle against arsenic. However, archival photos show miners using ‘crib bags’ instead. We test this theory against estimated daily energy needs to see if the story is history or fakelore.
Cornish Pasty – The Ingredient Audit
The law insists on beef, yet 1862 wage logs prove the miner could not afford it. We audit the ‘pig economy’ to reveal how the PGI protects an upmarket feast rather than the working-class reality.
Cardan Grille Anachronism – Can a Sixteenth-Century Mask Fit the Voynich?
Does the Voynich Manuscript hide text written through a Cardan grille? We test the dates, the device’s history, and the text’s behaviour to see if a sixteenth-century mask could plausibly fit a fifteenth-century book.
The Voynich’s Two Voices – A Field Guide to A and B
Statistical fingerprints in the Voynich Manuscript split the text into two dialect families, Currier A and Currier B. We map where each sits in the book, which hands wrote them, and what that distribution implies.
The Voynich Paradox – When Evidence Points Both Ways
Evidence suggests the Voynich Manuscript is a meaningless hoax. Yet statistical analysis proves its text behaves like a real language. This investigation isn't about deciphering the book, but exploring the paradox at its heart.
The Credibility Paradox – Who Decides What’s True?
A respected doctor's fraud destroys vaccine trust. Anonymous sources expose presidential cover-ups. We investigated why our credibility filters fail catastrophically, who really decides what's true, and why it's about to get much worse.
Philip K. Dick’s VALIS Experience – Timeline, Testimony, and Missing Evidence
What really happened during Philip K. Dick’s 1974 VALIS experience? This investigation maps the confirmed facts, missing records, and unresolved contradictions still debated today.