From what percentage of our brains we use to how to treat a jellyfish sting, today we
look at 13 LIES You Still Believe!
Number 13.
“10 Percent”- The Lie: We only use ten percent of our brains.
The Truth: This couldn't be further from the truth as neurologists have proven that throughout
a day people use close to (if not) the full 100% of their brain capacity.
The myth seems to originate from a book by philosopher/psychologist William James called
The Energies of Man which was published in 1907.
In the book, William James wrote: “We are making use of only a small part of our possible
mental and physical resources”.
This idea over time via the telephone game developed into the 10% lie.
While Mr. James’ idea might be a good philosophical motivator for self-improvement, we can agree
that 1907 wasn’t the peak of neurological science.
Number 12.
“Einstein Got an F”- The Lie: Einstein flunked math.
The Truth: Einstein was actually a math prodigy who mastered differential and integral math
before he turned fifteen despite not starting school until he was 6 years old.
This myth may come from the fact that Einstein failed the entrance exam for Zurich Polytechnic
Institute but this was due him failing the natural science and language portions of the
test.
To his credit, the exam was in French (which he hadn’t mastered yet), he was only 16,
and he was later admitted to the Institute, which he graduated from.
Number 11.
“Pee Remedy”-The Lie: If you are stung by a jellyfish someone should urinate on the
wound.
The Truth: Not only is this like adding insult to injury but it actually could worsen the
injury.
When a jellyfish stings with its tentacles they attach to the skin and if you urinate
on an attached tentacle it may cause the jellyfish’s stinging cells called nematocytes to swell
and shoot more venom into the wound.
While pee may soothe the affected area after the tentacles are removed, it has no more
effect than warm water would.
The proper way to deal with a jellyfish sting is to deactivate the nematocytes and wash
the tentacles off with vinegar.
You should also use tweezers if you have to grab them off individually, as the commonly
recommended method of scraping them off with sand or a credit card could spread the venom
as well.
Afterwards applying heat to the area will render the venom inactive.
Number 10.
“Let them Eat Cake”- The Lie: Marie Antoinette didn’t care about the poor.
The Truth: Marie Antoinette was actually a consummate philanthropist and showed concern
for the poor throughout her life.
She also most likely never uttered the words “let them eat cake” as this had been attributed
to various aristocrats before her time and only became a part of her legend years after
the French Revolution.
It is true that she lived an overly indulgent lifestyle and probably was still despised
by the poor even though she thought she was helping them.
No matter how much money she gave, the excessive opulence that her and her husband King Louis
the XVI displayed would have been insulting to those living in unreasonable squalor.
So one could see why this myth seemed germane to the icon of the bourgeoisie and was perpetuated
for centuries.
Number 9.
“Kiddy Cafe” The Lie: That coffee stunts growth in children and teenagers.
The Truth: Though caffeine can cause tooth decay, sleep disorders and anxiety there is
no basis to the Old wives’ tale that coffee stunts the growth process.
This myth originated from outdated studies that linked caffeine to osteoporosis and diminished
bone mass.
But these results may have had nothing to do with caffeine altogether, as the subjects
of the study all had diets that were calcium-deficient and were elderly.
So just like many of these lies, this one can be traced back to paranoid parents jumping
to conclusions, selectively choosing facts and word-of-mouth information corrosion.
Number 8.
“Edison’s Invention”- The Lie: Thomas Edison invented the lightbulb.
The Truth: Though Edison was the first to produce a lightbulb that could easily be mass-produced
the electric light was actually invented 70 years before Edison did this.
A British scientist named Humphrey Davy invented the rudimentary arc lamp in 1806 which was
the first device to use electricity to create light.
Then in 1841, another Englishman, Frederick De Moleyns, first patented an incandescent
lamp that used a filament.
Even the incandescent carbon filament bulb which is commonly associated with Edison was
first created by yet another Brit named Joseph Swan a year before Edison’s commercially
viable model.
However, the bulb that Edison created was the first that could last for more than a
few hours and is the model that became the basis for all modern lightbulbs.
Though he did have over a thousand patents there are many other inventions that are commonly
credited to Edison that he didn’t invent such as: the storage battery, the record player,
wax paper, the telegraph, the fluoroscope, the movie camera and the electric chair.
Another misconception is that Edison created his inventions on his own when in fact he
had a laboratory that employed dozens of workers that tested and came up with inventions that
he would take credit for.
Number 7.
“Sleepwalker Scare”- The Lie: If you wake a person while they are sleepwalking you could
give them a heart attack, stroke or other sudden trauma due to fear.
The Truth: There is some danger in waking a sleepwalker but not from being scared to
death.
Most of the danger involves the disorientation of the person waking in mid activity they
might suddenly run into something, accidentally harm themselves or become violent.
There are many cases of people trying to wake sleepwalkers and end up being attacked by
them because of confusion.
Most of the time it is best to try and lead the person back to bed without waking them.
However, sometimes it’s necessary to wake a sleepwalker as physical injury can result
from the sleepwalker running into objects or trying to do unsafe activities while mostly
unconscious.
This is contrary to another myth that people can’t hurt themselves while sleepwalking.
If you have to wake a sleepwalker it is best to try and be as soothing as possible and
maintain your distance, though this can be difficult as sleepwalkers are usually in such
a deep state of sleep that it can feel impossible getting them to wake up.
Number 6.
“Horned Helms”- The Lie: The Vikings had horns on their helmets.
The Truth: Archaeologists have never found a helmet with horns that could be attributed
to or dated to the time of the Vikings.
As a matter of fact, archaeologists have only ever found one helmet that once belonged to
a Viking and it lacked the cliched cusped adornments.
The image of Vikings with horned helmets is a product of creative license combined with
the practices of ancient cultures that came long before the Vikings.
Historians have linked this portrayal to the paintings of 19th Century Scandinavian paintings
as well as Richard Wagner’s operas based on Norse mythology in which the actors wore
horned helmets.
These artists most likely drew inspiration from Ancient Greek and Roman playwrights and
authors who depicted the Germanic and Norse tribes of northern Europe as wearing helmets
that featured antlers, wings and horns.
The tribes that these stories chronicle would have lived hundreds of years before the age
of the Vikings.
But we can all agree that the mascot of the Minnesota Vikings would be much less intimidating
without the iconic horns.
Number 5.
“Swallow Your Gum”- The Lie: If you swallow gum it will take years to digest.
The Truth: Chewing gum is difficult to digest but it usually passes through the digestive
system within a few days.
It is still not recommended that you should swallow gum as the ingredients used are extremely
difficult for stomach acid to break down and can cause constipation.
The gum usually is forced out of the body by other consumed food and liquids, however,
if it is regularly swallowed, it can cause serious problems.
One young boy who chewed and swallowed an average of six pieces a day suffered from
extreme constipation for two years before doctors had to go in and remove the large
wad of gum stuck in his large intestine.
A one and a half year old- girl who constantly ate her gum had also swallowed several coins
which stuck to the gum inside of her stomach which became lodged in her esophagus.
Luckily, the doctors we able to remove the dangerous conglomerate, but it could’ve
been much worse.
Number 4.
“Scoot Back”- The Lie: Sitting too close to the TV can damage your eyes.
The Truth: This causes no long-term damage.
Parents may find their children sitting closer to their television because it is easier for
children to focus on objects when they are closer.
Sitting too close for too long can cause eye-strain, or may be a sign of someone being nearsighted,
but overall it will not harm the eyes.
However, sitting too close to the TV was dangerous when the practice of telling children to scoot
back became ingrained in parenting culture.
Up until the 1950s television sets put out small unshielded levels of radiation which
could damage the eyes if someone were to sit close habitually.
Television manufacturers eventually developed models that blocked any sort of harmful rays
from being emitted at unsafe degrees.
In addition, the LCD and Plasma televisions that are becoming more and more commonplace
today don’t put out any radiation at all.
Number 3.
“Food Cramps”- The Lie: You should wait 30 minutes before you swim after eating.
The Truth: The increased danger of getting a cramp from swimming directly after eating
is negligible compared to the odds getting a cramp in any other situation.
Modern science has shown that there is no data to link drowning scares or deaths to
full-stomachs.
While there is information that supports a slight increase in cramping when doing any
physical activity on a full stomach the added risk is so miniscule that no one should be
worried about swimming after eating.
In addition, the increase is mainly seen in incidents where the people ate excessive amounts
of food before participating in physical activities.
In fact, eating on an empty stomach can increase cramps by the same slim margin as well.
There are even certain foods, such as those high in potassium, that can reduce a person’s
chances of cramping up.
So why have parents been telling their children this for over one-hundred years?
The source of the myth is 1908 edition of a book called Scouting For Boys which states
“if you bathe within an hour and a half after taking a meal...you are very likely
to get a cramp”.
Whether the author, Robert Baden-Powell, was relying on some coincidental personal experience,
anecdotal evidence or just being a lazy fear-mongerer we will never know.
As it is a scouting guide, it might have been meant to suggest swimming in natural bodies
of water after eating could be dangerous due to the body being sluggish directly after
a meal.
But if you want eat cheeseburger while wading in the calm waters of a pool, go for it!
Just be sure to chew.
Number 2.
“Spider Snack”- The Lie: When you sleep you eat X number of spiders a night, a month,
or a year.
The Truth: Over a person’s lifetime the realistic number of spiders a person eats
while they sleep is between 0 and 1.
It is more likely that you will accidentally eat one while awake than for a spider to crawl
into your slumbering mouth.
Spiders are extremely sensitive to vibrations and use them to detect predators, and though
it is a sleep the human body is a hotbed for vibrations that would scare spiders off.
Whether or not you snore a nearby spider can feel everything from a person’s breath to
their heartbeat and would try to stay away.
There are a few reasons this is extremely rare: A) Most spider’s don’t have a deathwish
and their instincts would probably stop them if they got close a warm and loud human mouth.
B)
Though possible, it is unlikely anyone would sleep through a spider wandering about on
their face.
C) It is highly irregular for a person to arbitrarily swallow while sleeping, unless
they are dreaming of eating a cheeseburger in the pool.
So where did this idea come from?
It started as a small misguided notion in folklore and was perpetuated by internet hoaxsters
in the early days of e-mail who were purposely trying to trick as many gullible people as
they could.
They definitely succeeded in that and probably caused several cases of insomnia and arachnophobia
along the way.
Number 1.
“3 Seconds”-The Lie: Goldfish only have a 3 second memory.
The Truth: They can remember things almost five months in the past, as can most species
of fish.
Recent studies have proven that fish actually have a much higher capacity for memory than
once thought and can even be taught via classical conditioning methods, most notably through
sound.
This myth probably originated as a way for people to cope with the guilt of keeping their
pet fish in small bowls or tanks.