98 percent of Harvard students can't solve riddle - but 83 percent of nursery kids can

According to one YouTube who shared the riddle, she claimed that 98% of Harvard students failed to solve it whilst yet 83% of nursery school children figured it out without much difficulty

This riddle might cause you to bang your head against the wall but you probably shouldn't do that. The best and brightest minds at Harvard University in America, the equivalent of Cambridge here in the UK have been unable to solve this pesky riddle. AYouTuber who shared it claimed that 98% of Harvard students failed to solve it, yet 83% of nursery school children figured it out without much difficulty, reports On Air With Ryan Seacrest.

In her video, the YouTuber, OnlyJayus, light heatedly poked fun at those who couldn’t solve the riddle by adding, "If you can't solve this, you're dumber than a kindergartner." You are probably wondering what this riddle is that has left many scratching their heads but is solvable by young children, well here it is:

"I turn polar bears white and I will make you cry. I make guys have to pee, and girls comb their hair. I make celebrities look stupid and normal people look like celebrities. I turn pancakes brown and make your champagne bubble. If you squeeze me, I'll pop, but if you look at me, you'll pop. Can you solve this riddle?"

If it’s all a bunch of words to you and nothing makes sense, then don’t worry you aren’t the only one. As well as those at Harvard University hundreds of people in the comments were baffled too. One commenter wrote: "The actual answer was "I don't know" but Harvard students try to answer it while kindergarteners just answer the truth.”

Another confidently wrote: "The answer is ‘no.’ Harvard students try to analyse and match the hints to an answer, but kindergartners simply give up because it’s too complicated. A kindergartener would just say 'no' to all the confusion, whereas a Harvard student will overthink it." A third person speaking their truth said: “I forgot every sentence right after she started the next sentence.”

Another commenter said: "The reason why the answer is “no” because at the end it said “Can you solve the riddle“, so answer “no”.” For many the answer “no,” is easy to accept because adults tend to overthink and want to logicalise situations looking for answers whereas kids will simply just say they can’t solve something."

But are they right? Well maybe. But many across the internet, think there is another answer. One person commenting on a Kidztalk forum refused to accept the answer “no.” He added: “All riddles have an answer or means to solve them. Otherwise, they’re not riddles, they’re a paradox.”

Those not accepting the answer to be "no" concluded the answer to this riddle is: pressure. One person who guessed this answer justified it by writing an explanation, they said: “The answer is pressure. Pressure turns polar bears white (stressful environments can cause changes in fur colour). Pressure can make you cry (emotional stress). Pressure makes guys have to pee (bladder pressure). Pressure makes girls comb their hair (social pressure to look good). Pressure makes celebrities look stupid (public scrutiny). Pressure makes normal people look like celebrities (through achieving under pressure). Pressure turns pancakes brown (heat and pressure in cooking). Pressure makes champagne bubble (carbonation pressure). If you squeeze a balloon (pressure), it will pop. If you look at your veins under high pressure, they can pop.”

Which answer do you accept? Are you willing to accept “no” - which many across the online world have accepted or do you think the answer “pressure” is correct because it doesn’t make sense to have no answer to a riddle?