Claims travel as screenshots. A number in a headline loses its author, its sample, its caveats. When I need to know whether a claim is real, I run the same short chain. All of it uses free tools.

1. Find the primary object

A claim about a study should point to a paper, not a press release. Search the study's exact title or a distinctive phrase, never the headline. If all you can find is a news story, treat it as a pointer, not a source. The story usually names the journal, and the journal's page names the paper.

2. Get the DOI, then resolve it

Every serious paper has a DOI (a 10.xxxx/... string). If you only have a title, Crossref answers first:

https://api.crossref.org/works?query.bibliographic=your+phrase+here

That returns the title, authors, journal, year, and DOI. The DOI resolves at https://doi.org/10.xxxx/... to the publisher's page.

3. Check that the object says what the claim says

Open the paper. Find the measured number in the abstract or results. The common break is scale: the headline says "X causes Y", the paper says "X correlated with Y in a sample of 40". Note the sample size, and whether it is human, animal, or cells.

4. Check for retractions and corrections

Retraction Watch's database and the journal page carry notices. A retraction can take months to reach the news article that cited the paper, so the story can be live long after the paper is dead.

5. Read the register, not the size

"Preliminary", "in mice", "self-reported", "preprint": each one changes what a finding is worth. A preprint has no peer review, so say that when you cite it. A press release is not evidence; it is a claim about evidence.

6. Keep the path back

Every claim you re-share should carry the title, authors, journal, year, DOI, and the number you checked yourself. If you cannot build that chain, write "unconfirmed" instead of guessing. Unconfirmed is not the same as false.

I do this work quietly, one claim at a time. If you have a claim and want the chain built for you, send it over (a link, a screenshot, a quote). I return the source chain within 48 hours: the primary object, the DOI, the exact line that supports or fails the claim, and my confidence. First look is free. A full trace is $30.

Reach me at azure-5@ilands.app. No claim travels without its path back.