From radio hosts to teachers to text books to school kids to email
forwards to motivational speakers. The same tried and true tales come
out that are meant to prove a point - except many of them are completely
wrong. These 20 cases are all common misconceptions that continue to be
bandied about, despite having been proved wrong over and over - and no
matter how many times we point them out, people still believe them.
20. Albert Einstein struggled at school
It’s a great myth
told by many a parent of struggling child: “Johnny has trouble with
math, but that’s okay, Albert Einstein failed it!” Look, there are many
celebrities who floundered academically. Musicians and artists
especially. Einstein? Einstein was a whiz at physics and mathematics
from an early age, despite what Ripley’s Believe Or Not would have you
believe. When asked about the claim, Einstein responded “I never failed
in mathematics. Before I was fifteen I had mastered differential and
integral calculus.” He was constantly beyond his classmates, and was
generally an excellent student.
19. JFK said he was a donut
When talking to West Berlin
during the Cold War, JFK announced with solidarity to the gathered
crowds “Ich bin ein Berliner” - ”I am a Berliner”, a statement which was
met with roaring and applause. However, in the wake of the speech an
odd myth popped up: that they were laughing at JFK because he called
himself a donut. See, there’s a German donut that’s known as a Berliner,
and the argument is that his speech was grammatically wrong, and should
have said Ich bin Berliner, and using ein made it sound like he was a
donut. Which is completely off. Berliners don’t even call the donut
that, they call them Pfannkuchen, and his grammar was fine. It’s just an
attempt to pick apart an incredible speech.
18. Cops have to tell you they are one if you ask
File this
under things to not believe if your dealer tells you them. A police
officer does not have to tell you they are one if asked directly. Think
about it for a second, what sense would that even make? So asking a
hooker if she’s an undercover officer won’t stop you from being caught
in that sting. If it did, there would be no such thing as a drug bust,
as all undercover agents would be found out very easily. What entrapment
actually is, is when they get you to commit a crime you wouldn’t do
normally. Like saying “hey kid, break this window!” and then arresting
you for it. That’s entrapment.
17. The flavor map
“No, see, you can only taste flavors with
certain parts of your tongue, so if it’s too bitter, just taste it with
the tip!” The whole flavor map of the tongue thing? Complete BS. There
are no areas of the tongue that only taste certain things, and this map
misses out the deliciousness of the fifth taste type - umami. Every part
of the tongue tastes every type of flavor. This misbelief sprung up
from a mistranslated German article from 1901, and has been conclusively
disproven since at least 1974 - yet you still see it bandied about
constantly - especially by wine drinkers.
16. Searing seals in the juices for a better steak
Searing
makes for badass steaks. I’m not going to even question that. Short
bursts of extreme heat create delicious crunchy outer layer - but
there’s a much repeated belief that it somehow “seals in the juices”
creating better, softer, moister meat. Wait, you think that searing a
steak magically makes it impermeable? No, what actually happens is that
the Maillard reaction creates the brown crust which is just really delicious, and makes it taste better. That’s it.
15. You can’t microwave metal
If you can’t microwave metal,
why do some of them have metal trays inside? Metal isn’t inherently bad
for microwave ovens, it’s just insanely dangerous in some forms. In
general, it’s better to completely avoid it, but if you understand
what’s going on there are ways. The trick is that you need to prevent
arcing in the metal, which are the lighting bolts that shoot around and
blow stuff up - something usually associated with metal coming to a very
sharp point. That’s why fork tines are especially bad. You can buy
metal objects specifically designed to be microwave friendly.
14. Science can’t explain how Bumblebees fly
This gets busted
out every time someone tries to shill some crappy psuedo-science,
quantum entangled, homeopathic remedy for anything. “But, but,” they cry
“science can’t explain how bumblebees fly!” Which is completely wrong,
and scientists have been able to accurately and completely describe the
methods for decades. The story originates in the 1930s, where a book
used the fact that then current theories couldn’t account for the
aerodynamics of some insects as a way to show that more research was
needed. We’ve known how they fly for decades, and it’s not even vaguely a
mystery anymore. Short answer? They fly like helicopters, they have
“reverse-pitch semirotary helicopter blades” for wings.
13. Daddy longlegs are the most poisonous spiders
Here’s how
the myth goes, as repeated by schoolkids and lazy radio hosts the world
over: daddy longlegs are the most poisonous spiders in the world, but
their teeth and jaws are so small that they can’t pierce human skin, so
you’re perfectly safe. There are a bunch of problems with this one.
Firstly, there’s no “daddy longlegs” species. Different bugs are called
this all over the world. The most common is probably Pholcus
phalangioides, which can bite you, and will leave a little burning
sensation for just a couple of seconds, as it is venomous. There are
even non-spider insects who share this name and are tarred with the same
rumor.
12. Glass is a liquid
If you’ve ever been to a really old
building and noticed how the glass in windows is warped and wobbly, one
of the common explanations is that glass is actually a super-viscous
liquid, and over the course of hundreds of years, it has drooped in its
frame, and if given enough time it will pool on the ground. Which is
nothing but bullshit. Glass is an amorphous solid. The reason that old
glass is thicker at the bottom than the top? Early manufacturing was
imperfect, so the panes tended to be larger on one side than the other.
Installing this larger side on the bottom of the frame is more stable
than putting it at the top, so that’s how it was generally done.
11. You need eight glasses of water a day
A myth that the
peddlers of bottled water would love to have us believe. The fact is, we
don’t need eight glasses of water a day. This is a misunderstanding of
an old piece of research that said we need eight glasses of fluid a day,
and that it can come from water, or any liquid (including juice, coffee
and sodas) and from food, too. Our body is incredibly adept at
absorbing liquid from everything we consume, not just water, and
everything we ingest will help keep us hydrated. Even though coffee
makes you pee, you still absorb more than you lose. Just drink when
you’re thirsty, and you’ll be fine.
10. Sugar makes kids hyper
Feeding your kids sugar doesn’t
make them hyper, them being kids makes them hyper. There’s no evidence
whatsoever that there’s a link between sugar and hyperactivity. Through
double blind studies - even of kids with ADHD or “sugar sensitivity” -
it’s impossible to tell the difference between those with a sugary diet
and those with none. The more likely culprit is that events that tend to
have lots of sugar are also ones where kids are more likely to get
really excited - carnivals, birthday parties, Halloween and the like.
Kids are just spazzes like that.
9. Homosexuality is unnatural
It always pisses me off when
people describe being gay as “unnatural.” Unnatural? If it’s unnatural,
why is it incredibly common in the animal kingdom? Here’s a partial list
of just some - SOME - of the animals which exhibit
same sex
attraction/mating/cuddling/whatever. Bears, giraffes, elephants, rats,
lions, cats, cheetahs, dolphins, dogs, chicken, emu, penguins, frogs,
lizards, rattlesnakes, black swans, gulls, ibises, vultures, pigeons,
bonobos, sheep, macaques, and so on and
so forth. There are plenty more, and I haven’t even got into insects. If
you don’t like gay people, that’s on you. Just don’t try and blame it
as being “unnatural” when nature is full of it.
8. If you drop a penny from the Empire State Building, it’ll kill anyone it hits
A
penny dropped from the top of the Empire State Building will reach its
terminal velocity of around 30-50 MPH as it descends, and as it weighs
just a single gram, it will definitely not have enough power to do any
damage. Yeah, it might sting a bit, or even leave a bit of a welt, but I
doubt it would do anything more permanent than a nasty bruise and an
awesome story. A roll of pennies, on the other hand, would have a much
higher terminal velocity, and with a significantly greater mass would
probably do some real damage.
7. Aeroplanes generate lift due to “equal transit time”
This
is one that actually is in many textbooks, and a prime example of why
you should trust wikipedia for everything. Yes, everything. Even that.
The wrong explanation is that the wings of an aeroplane have more
surface area on the top than the bottom, but that the air takes the same
amount of time to cover both, so this generates a pressure differential
and then lift. Why it actually works is remarkably complex, but part of
it is easy to demonstrate. Next time you’re in a car, stick your hand
out the window. Tilt your hand to 45°, palm facing down/the direction
you’re travelling. The force of the air pushing against your palm will
generate lift, forcing your hand skyward. Holy shit, you just disproved a
textbook!
6. NASA spent millions inventing the space pen, while Russians used pencils
The
story goes a little like this. NASA astronauts found their pens
wouldn’t work in space, having trouble getting the ink to the tip in
microgravity. So they spent years and billions of dollars developing the
space pen. The Russians used pencils. It’s also completely false in
every aspect of the story. The Fisher Space Pen with its pressurized ink
canister was developed privately, and then sold to Russia and NASA.
Prior to that, both sides used pencils and grease pencils to write, but
pencils are actually a horrible idea in 0g. Broken off bits of graphite
and shavings of wood can float away, lodge inside of electronics, start
fires, and destroy missions. Using space pens has probably saved lives
and billions of dollars. It’s not a story of
government overspending.
5. Thomas Crapper invented the flush toilet
Humans have been
shitting in holes for their entire existence, but the invention of the
flush toilet changed all that. As any schoolkid knows, Thomas Crapper
invented the flush toilet, so saying crapper isn’t a bad word, so I
shouldn’t get into trouble! Unfortunately, he didn’t. The flush toilet
was invented by Sir John Harrington in 1596. Crapper did make it better,
though. Nor was his name the reason crap was used as a word for feces,
that was older too. Sorry kids, saying crap is still a bad word.
4. Napoleon was short
The popular image of Napolean is that
of a belligerent midget, yelling orders to offset his perceived
inferiority for being so damned short. Which is nonsense. Napoleon was 5
foot 2 inches - in French feet. That’s a measure substantially larger
than current ones. By current measurements, he would be 5 feet 6.5
inches, or 1.686 metres. While a bit on the small side by current
views, in the 1700s that was pretty normal. This misconceptions comes
from the affectionate nickname “the Little Corporal”, assumed to come
from his closeness with his troops.
3. You can see the Great Wall of China from the moon
Another misconception that seems to never die is the oft cited fact that the Great Wall Of China is visible from
the moon/space.
Even as a kid I knew this made no sense, and I can’t believe people
still think it. The wall is only 10 meters wide at its thickest point.
If we could see 10 meter resolution from the moon, every building on the
planet would be visible. In fact, there are no man-made objects visible
from the surface of the moon, though the lights from cities are plain to
see. For comparison, to see the wall from the Moon, you’d need to be
able to see an individual human hair, two miles away. Objects have to be
at least 70 miles wide to be seen unaided from the Moon.
2. Christopher Colombus’s contemporaries thought the world was flat
The
popular myth told to children is that Columbus had trouble raising
funds for his trip west because his contemporaries believed the world
was flat, and that he would sail off the edge. That’s ludicrous. The
real reason he had trouble was because he was a moron on a suicide
mission that just happened to hit land. We’ve known the Earth was round
since Ancient Greece, and have had a pretty good estimate of its size
since about then. Every sailor in the world knew it, just from sailing
out far enough that the curvature of the Earth was visible. Columbus
stupidly believed that the Earth was much smaller than it actually was,
and that by sailing west from Europe he could circle the globe and hit
India, thus saving the long overground treck. His numbers were
completely wrong, and if he hadn’t lucked into landing on another
continent, his entire fleet would have died.
1. We only use 10% of our brains
What? Just…what? How does
this make sense? Why would we have these horrible lumps of grey flesh in
our heads if we didn’t use them? Our brains make human
birthing
one of the hardest in the animal kingdom. It’s the reason we give birth
to our babies far more prematurely than most other animals, and have to
rear them for years before they can even walk - because if they
developed any more in the
womb,
their heads would be too big for birth. The fact that we’ve had relatively
accurate brain maps for decades should prove this fact wrong. How in
the world would it make sense that we use less than the entire thing -
barring brain injury? Sorry Tony Robbins, we don’t have 90% of our
brain’s power left to unlock.
Source : http://www.popcrunch.com
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